I was reading an article about "Why the world still favours white models" on Daily Life and it brought back many frustrating memories and realities like crashing waves against my mind.
The article discusses how the fashion industry is dominated by the white face, even in countries like Brazil where over half the population is either of Black and/or multi-racial decent. "In its entire 118-year existence," the article states, "Vogue has featured just 14 people of colour on its cover." The article argues that despite its shameless and constant misrepresentation of other skin tones, the fashion industry feels no impedance when using exotic, Eastern inspired backdrops for their photo-shoots. Coloured people often embody the role of props or a second grade subject complementing the white person in the foreground. And quite often their few black models only exist as a result of tokenism, to uphold a facade of integration and racial diversity to it's audience when in fact the reality is dishearteningly to the contrary.
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I won't delve too deeply into the discussion of racism in fashion. What affects me more is when similar attitudes are reflected in communities where a vast number of people are of a darker skin tone, but still have to face this continuous harassment by the media and society which insists on portraying their skin colour as detestable and unattractive.
Below is a recording of an advertisement for Fair Look cream. I have seen this ad playing on Indian television only a few weeks ago. This is a prime example of how media is contributing to a certain lack of self-esteem visible in dark-skinned people. The cream claims to lighten your skin tone and eliminate blemishes. The ad also features a number of alleged users of the brand, with obviously fake before and after shots of each person.
"Before, people used to call me Uncle. Then Fair Look removed all the marks and darkness on my face, and now I look younger!" One male user exclaimed. "I used to completely avoid sleeveless tops and skirts before because my arms were so black! But after using fair look I've become so white it's hard to believe!" Another female user cries breathlessly, "and now I can wear anything!"
Dark skin is hideous. Dark skin equates to an acne-prone, rough and aged appearance. Dark skinned people cannot wear whatever colour or style of clothing they choose. Dark skinned people have trouble finding a job. A dark skinned woman is unwanted for marriage or relationships. The sub-continental community is inundated with these ugly stereotypes. This is a disgusting and dangerously subtle form of racial apartheid in advertisements and TV shows that regularly go unnoticed by it's complicit viewers. But the psychological impacts are inevitable, and sadly many of our dark-skinned friends have conceded to their state of imposed inferiority. But where did this worship of fair skin spring from?
Some say it is because of the British colonial era, that is, as the rulers were fair toned, Indian people aspire to be like them. Others go further back than that, to a time when the Aryans came to India and founded the religion of Hinduism. In the ancient Hindu scriptures, the Vedas, the term used for caste is varna, or 'colour'.
"...in the context of the arya's disparaging comments about the 'black' dasa (or the indigenous population of India) is often taken to mean that the higher castes also considered themselves to be fairer-skinned. This is now disputed. According to the Mahabharata the 'colours' associated with the four castes were white, red, yellow and black; they sound more like symbolic shades meted out by those category-conscious brahmanical minds..." (India: A History, John Keay, 2000)Whether the justifications are rooted in Hindu scripture or British colonialism is besides the point. It is safe to say that the reasons for it are unscientific, racist and although each individual is entitled to a personal preference for a particular skin colour, these ideas have no place in the media, and fair skin or any other trait should not be exalted and imposed as an immovable standard of beauty by society.
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Now, what does science say?
Skin colour, has evolved primarily as a regulator for vitamins in our body. I will quote extensively here to explain the natural history of skin colour development from the linked source:
"Between 4.5 million and 2 million years ago, early humans moved from the rain forest and onto the East African savanna. Once on the savanna, they not only had to cope with more exposure to the sun, but they also had to work harder to gather food. Mammalian brains are particularly vulnerable to overheating: A change of only five or six degrees can cause a heatstroke. So our ancestors had to develop a better cooling system.
...Early humans probably had few sweat glands, like chimpanzees, and those were mainly located on the palms of their hands and the bottoms of their feet. Occasionally, however, individuals were born with more glands than usual. The more they could sweat, the longer they could forage before the heat forced them back into the shade. The more they could forage, the better their chances of having healthy offspring and of passing on their sweat glands to future generations."Increased sweat glands in the body went hand in hand with less bodily hair, as less hair ensured that humans dried up faster when perspiring. However, hairless skin was susceptible to sunlight. The evolution of melanin was hence required to control the entry of UV light in our bodies. Excess UV light reduces folate in our bodies - a component of vitamin B complex. Inhibition of folate is detrimental to sperm production, and correlates with neural tube defects in infants. Hence melanin has evolved for dispersing the adverse effects of increased sunlight exposure.
"Unlike folate, vitamin D depends on ultraviolet light for its production in the body. (It is) believed that people who live in the north, where daylight is weakest, evolved fair skin to help absorb more ultraviolet light..."
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Rather than feeding useless messages of shallow intolerance towards people of colour in the media, the world would be much better off if they had dedicated advertisements to educating people about the essential vitamins they should keep under check, the dangers of tanning and skin cancer, bleaching products and alike, and to maintain a balanced and healthy diet.
People should be encouraged to be confident about their unique qualities, and not present any one characteristic as being more desirable than another. Every person appears beautiful to their loved ones and most importantly, to themselves. And no filthy advertisement should attempt to pollute this idea!
