Dark skin also matters

I HAVE heard it said many times: “The boy is nice but is dark-skinned,” or in a sympathetic voice about a prospective bride: “She is very educated. She has beautiful features and nice long hair. Pity, she is not fair.”

Forget about race, religion, economic status and gender – skin colour discrimination is still alive and thriving in our society.

Colour shaming has prevailed in Indian society since the time people were treated differently based on the social and cultural meanings attached to the amount of melanin in their skin.

Indians in South Africa inherited from their forebears the caste system that dominated every aspect of life in India. In Tamil Nadu, Brahmins, who were the highest priestly caste, had lighter skin colour than the lower peasant castes. Brahmins in Uttar Pradesh had fairer skin than the scheduled castes in Bihar.

During British rule in India, skin tone prejudice became formally engrained; the colonisers kept light-skinned Indians as allies, giving them extra advantages over the darker-hued populace that had been subjected to hard physical labour in the sun.

Hence, fair skin came to be associated with high caste and was the epitome of beauty and better financial and social status, while dark-skinned people fell to the bottom. The effect of such prejudice is such that it hampers self-esteem, personal relationships and even puts a person in mental distress.

Older readers will recall the notorious skin-lightening creams such as Artra and Super Rose, which were popular locally for women and Ambi Extra Skin Lightening for men. There is a previous generation of Indians and blacks who still has the damage evident on their faces – the battle scars of their fight against dark skin.

Initially, the creams seemed to work – taking away the blackness. The skin would become smooth and yellowish, giving a lovely complexion, all pimples and blemishes vanishing like magic. With progressive use, however, the hydroquinone in the products would eat up the skin, making it very thin and vulnerable.

The skin would turn reddish, then blue, and lastly, purple. And nothing could remove those dark patches around the eyes and on the upper cheeks. Hence, many women resorted to using layers of foundation and powder as well as those big owl-like sunglasses to hide the blights of their vanity.

Sorisha Naidoo, Durban socialite and businesswoman, learnt the hard way that beauty was only skin deep and that external attractiveness had no relation to goodness or essential qualities.

She received criticism from some people because of her dark skin after winning the Miss India South Africa title in 2002. She was hurt that people focused on the complexion of her skin, and she, therefore, decided to bleach her skin, which was an irrational move. Her skin became too light and had also developed vitiligo, a condition in which the skin lost its pigment cells, causing discoloured patches.

She has said in interviews with lifestyle and glamour magazines that she has done lots of introspection and has come to realise that what people think about skin colour does not matter. What is important is the inner nature of the person.

In India, there have been reports of women who have committed suicide after being taunted by friends and relatives over their skin colour, showing just how dangerous the fixation with complexion can be.

While growing up, girls with darker skin tones are called derogatory names. They are bullied in schools, on playgrounds, and even within homes, where unflattering comparisons are made with siblings who may have a fairer complexion.

In matrimonial columns in most newspapers in India, skin colour is almost always emphasised – prospective brides are described as being fair, wheat-ish, light or dark brown, but never as dark.

Popular media constantly reinforces the notion of “light is right” by publishing touched-up photographs of actors and models. And this makes many women with darker skin tones grow up feeling inadequate, even ugly.

Skin colour plays a significant role in electoral processes in India – there is greater support for the potential candidate with fair skin tone. This may explain why most Indian politicians are depicted in posters with a lighter skin tone than they actually have.

Indians spend billions of rand per annum on fairness products; cosmetic advertisements constantly remind consumers that success in marriage and the job market is only a fairness cream away.

Unfair & Lovely – a tease on Fair & Lovely, a skin-lightening cream popular throughout Asia – is a Hindi-language social comedy film due to be released in November and which explores India’s preoccupation with fair skin. The film comes at a critical time when women are being encouraged to discard their fairness creams, and society is being encouraged to stand firmly against misnomers that promote fair skin.

Is fair skin still a highly sought-after symbol of beauty in this day and age? Yes, very much so, it would seem, judging by the advertisements in social media for pigmentation therapy and skin brightening. Laser clinics target women in wealthier suburbs by promising to restore luminosity.

A non-invasive solution for skin whitening, with the use of a laser to destroy melanin, is offered in Durban “especially for Asian skin” – obviously targeting Indians.

It is common that an Indian bride will ask the make-up artist (mercifully, they were not around when I got married) to ensure she looks lighter on her wedding day. Often the face is so unnaturally fair that it appears as if the wrong head is sitting on the darker neck.

A study at the University of the Western Cape last month found that a sizeable percentage of black, Indian and coloured students used skin lighteners despite knowing the dangers of some of the products.

Lead researcher Dr Farzana Rahiman, from the medical bioscience department, said around three-quarters of the students were motivated by fashion and what they thought appealed to the opposite sex.

Colour discrimination has also played a huge role in the Indian film industry. Bollywood films often feature songs that glorify fair skin and deride darker skin shades.

Fortunately, there are small signs of progress in India towards ridding prejudice around skin colour, and this should be emulated in South Africa. The Advertising Standards Council of India has issued guidelines that ads should not reinforce negative social stereotyping on the basis of skin colour or portray people with darker skin as being inferior or unsuccessful in any aspect of life.

It is time to start recognising the fact that skin colour is not a reflection of someone’s character or beauty. Rather than being obsessed with skin colour, we should embrace diversity and inclusivity, accepting and respecting differences in people.