How Modern Beauty Standards Have Promoted Colorism All Over The World

Around the world, colorism has remained a neglected issue that continues to discriminate. Although this has not been a widely-acknowledged matter, it has as devastating effects as its counterparts, racism and casteism.

PERCEPTION OF DARK SKIN

“She is pretty for a dark-skinned girl”. Maybe a typical dark skinned girl might hear this in the streets or people in general.The perception that dark skin is inferior to lighter skin has been around centuries. Dark skin has been associated with other “unfavorable” traits like a wide nose, curly hair, and fuller lips. People with dark skin may be mistreated throughout their life, and they are usually chastised by others with light skin that they are inferior because of their skin tone. It is seen all around the world in different time periods, and the repercussions of this lingering thought continues to affect many around the world today.

Some countries may have subtle hints or highly visible discrimination on skin tone. This is called colorism. It may be thought of as a subtle form of racism, but it is as detrimental and can even affect ethnic groups collectively.

WHY IS DARK SKIN THOUGHT OF AS INFERIOR?

The thought that dark skinned were “unclean” or “unpurified” came from the misconception when two vastly heterogeneous cultures collided. Many countries that have adopted this belief have gone through many periods of colonization by external forces. As an example, this can be seen through the western forces influencing the Asian subcontinent. When Britishers colonized India, they left an impression that lighter skin was superior due to the collision of vastly different cultures. In this case, the western forces failed to acknowledge the cultural ways of these groups, including nature-oriented practices, such as daily activities that were performed predominantly outside; whereas, the western nations had an industrial lifestyle that were less nomadic and agricultural. The lack of acknowledgement of the climate and effect on skin tone resulted in colorism and these impressions.

Britishers treating African like animals and low-lives, just because of their darker skin.

An apt example of this was when the Spanish conquistadors reached the land of the Mayans. They were taken aback by the religious practices the Mayans followed, as it was vastly different from what was practiced in Europe. The major misnomer these conquerors made was that they didn’t understand the significant importance of these practices for the Mayans, and thought of these practices as “uncivilized”. Essentially, they began to judge the entire population of Mayans as “savages” and “uncouth animals”. The significantly darker skin tone of these indigenous peoples compared to the invaders was taken into account, and essentially the idea was developed that dark skin is “dangerous” and “filthy”.

COLORISM AROUND THE WORLD

This idea has spread around the world, even more so as Europe became powerful and expanded their empire to all other nations. Many of the countries, in which this idea is prominent, began to discriminate their own kind by adopting the principles the European colonizers followed.

This idea can also be seen as an analogy or in a daily life situation that someone might correspond to. For instance, they might see a dirty stain, so they will clean it and it will become white again. This ideology is applied in skin color as, which can also lead to the reason behind colorism. These subtle hints can be seen across through ads, casting choices, and popular companies that promote skin-lightening. The emphasis on light skin in our modern beauty standards has started to popularize skin-lightening products, as seen with Nigeria’s significant percentage of population using these harmful treatments. Other dangerous consequences may include attacks and bullying of people with darker skin.

INDIA

“Fair and Lovely” is the first and most popular skin lightening treatment used in India, endorsed by several Bollywood celebrities. This idea that fair skin is something one should have is promoted through these ads through many instances where the female with dark skin is questioned and discriminated against. The skin-lightening industry is all of Asia alone has amounted to $13 billion dollars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYyQwvLpOAQ

Many Bollywood actresses that have entered the industry with darker skin have often been seen undergoing skin lightening treatments and heavily endorsing skin-whitening ads over the years. Because these actresses are at a position of prestige where they can communicate to a mass amount of people, the common Indian citizen may get swayed by this and feel that dark skin is not beautiful. Additionally, there is a huge dearth of Bollywood actresses with duskier skin. The average actress in India has a skin tone five shades lighter than the skin tone of an average Indian.

The ideology about light-skinned is beautiful and dark skin is not very surprising, because lots of charity-based Indian advertisements showcase dark actors as poor people in need. They are usually portrayed looking dark, wearing ragged and torn clothes and saris. In other words, skin color is associated with pity, not something to feel beautiful or proud about.

However, this ideology in India stemmed from years of oppression under foreigners. India was ruled by the British for over 250 years. That includes around four generations of family members that were under the British regime, and possibly believed that darker skin was inferior. These eurocentric standards of beauty were brought over to India, as well as many other parts of Asia and are deeply rooted in the minds of some Indians.

Actress Priyanka Chopra’s post on Black Lives Matter received a lot of hate because in the past she had endorsed skin lightening creams. In many of her movies, colorism against those with darker skin were subtly displayed.

CHINA

The preference of lighter skin over dark skin is still believed by people today in China. For example, in a detergent ad, a Black man and fair Chinese woman were seen flirting. As the man reached for a kiss, the woman was disgusted and threw detergent on him while stuffing him in a washing machine. As the man emerged from the rough ride in the washing machine, he was seen to be a fair skinned Chinese man. This ad received a lot of flak and pointed out the inherent prejudices in the society. China has established themselves as a country with little immigration, and this ad just seemed to aggravate things further. There are still persistent preferences of lighter skinned over darker skinned as seen in modeling and advertisement cast choices.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDcBFCo8gKU

Like many other countries, it has its ancient roots. Many scholars have written that white skin can make up for other defects in a woman and extremely light skin can be a major plus point for the likability of a woman. Royalty in China can be seen having extremely light powder on their faces and rosy cheeks, which is present in ancient portraits and has cultivated this thought today.

NIGERIA

The effect of the standard beauty standard has affected many countries by the fact that a large percentage of the population uses skin bleaching and such tools. In Nigeria, 77% of women in Nigeria use skin lightening products, according to the WHO (World Health Organization). These products are quite harmful for the skin, which impacts the population negatively. This phenomenon that has been set by the western world has lowered self-esteem, impacting the mental and physical aspect.

This beauty standard stepped foot in the colonial times when European empires invaded the lands of Nigeria, which was not a country at that time. They said that skin color was a reflection of moral and intellectual qualities, and since they were light skinned, they were leaders of the world. They created an impression that white was superior to black, changing the Nigerian community beliefs. In Nigeria, lighter skinned people are treated better than darker skinned.

Due to the strong belief in colorism that were set into the minds of Nigerians, bleach and skin lightening products became successful. Many celebrities and high positioned people were light-skinned. Some of them had been dark-skinned, but used these products to achieve more respect. Since this belief could not be changed, people surrendered to this ideology and took in this product. This phenomenon still lies in the Nigerian society and continues to leave lighter skinned superior.

THE COMMENTS MUST STOP!

Colorism has shaped and limited our minds to accepting what is considered “beautiful”. If asked, people might say the sharp nose, blue-ish eyes, straight hair, and fair skin. People could say hazel-brown eyes and full lips. But many don’t include dark skin tone in their picture of “beauty”. Many fail to acknowledge the beauty of curly hair or other types of features that are not commonly depicted in the front face of magazines or fashion shoots. This is because of the lack of representation in media that facilitate the neglection of other types of beauty. For those actors, who endorse such brands, it may just be another million dollar advertisement, but it is deeply etched into the minds of many, and needs to be erased as soon as possible.

By: Medha SundarRajan, Meenakshi SundarRajan, and Shriya Venkataraman