Picture Credits- nccj.org
Google defines it as the discrimination against individuals with a darker skin tone, typically among the same racial or ethnic group. But please believe me when I say that colorism in our country is much more than mere discrimination. It is a toxic trait, a choice of putting people down for the color of their skin and making it an anomaly against conventional beauty.
The obsession of Indian people with fair skin is extremely ironic given the climate of the country and the high melanin index of a majority of the population. Colorism is a deeply rooted societal problem in India, propagated by its very own people and which continues to grow even to this date.
The History of Colourism in India
Picture Credits- Deccanherald.com
Looking at our history, India was not always so obsessed with the fairness of its people’s skins. In fact ancient Indian texts like the Rigveda and the Mahabharata mention and celebrate dark-skinned heroes and heroines like Krishna and Draupadi. The notion of colorism first entered the Indian subconscious with the advent of the Mughals.
The seeds of colorism that the Mughals planted only blossomed into giant thorns with the colonial invasion of India. The western rulers, the lords, and the viscounts were all white and preferred the lighter-skinned people over dark-skinned ones to employ in the administrative services. And this is probably where the problem began.
The discrimination of the whites against Indians and their practice of awarding fair-skinned people with important jobs and positions in their empire paved the way for colorism in India. Because now it was not about your race but the shade of your skin. This also made a further rift among the Indians themselves.
Amidst such practices and subtle brainwashing by the Britishers, the common Indian man too began to idealize fair skin and started considering the color white as the epitome of everything alluring and powerful.
Indian Society - An Ardent Propagater of Colourism
The blame for colorism cannot all be put on the foreigners. The fact that this unfair prejudice regarding people’s skin color has been going on for decades even after independence is all on us, as a society. It is in fact the Indian people who perpetuate this obsession with the color white.
The Indian society has gone on to isolate darker-skinned people or disregard them through a variety of mechanisms. Bollywood movies continue to portray the antagonists as dark-toned, while the protagonists are almost always fair, pun-intended. To be honest, it seems like they have taken this whole idea of good as white and evil as dark a little too seriously.
Even when they try to include or normalize dark-skinned characters, they do so by darkening the face of an otherwise fair actor, which is in fact more problematic. Moreover, the whole idea of selling “fairness creams” in the market adds to the whole issue. It makes young people feel like there’s something they need to fix to fit into this unjust social construct of beauty.
Women - Likely Prone to be the Victims of Colourism
Picture Credits- Feminismindia.com
Although colorism affects both men and women, it is just to say that when it comes to Indian women, a fair skin tone is just another box among a plethora of such boxes that women have to check to fit into the socially constructed standards of beauty.
Since you are a kid and if you come from a place like me, no matter what you do or what you achieve, you’ll always be judged on how you look and not just by outsiders.
Indian women often feel the need to aspire for a fairer skin tone also because it makes the ole task of managing to land a good husband a little easier. When it comes to the whole institution of marriage there are several things wrong when it comes to our country and the matrimonial advertisements seeking a “milky white” bride comprise one of them.
Furthermore, a recent study states that Indian mothers-in-law make skin color one of the prime factors while choosing a prospective daughter-in-law. The recent Netflix docu-series on Indian matrimony called ‘Indian Matchmaking’ displayed the same unfair phenomenon in various of its episodes.
In a society where people often see the fairness of skin as the fairness of character, colorism also creates inequality in terms of opportunities. The whole patriarchal view of reducing women employees to just a “pretty-face” often leads to employers giving job opportunities to only fair-skinned people. In fields like entertainment, hospitality, and modeling being fair is a major qualification for women in India.
The Effects of Colourism- Its Influence Over Young Minds
Needless to say, it completely shatters your self-image and confidence to live in a society that only sees your skin color when it looks at you. It makes you not love yourself and even think that you are not deserving of love, just because you do not fit into the unjust societal mold of beauty.
All your achievements, your medals, and your academic excellence seem like nothing when you are compared to people, other girls in terms of beauty, and told that you would have been so beautiful only if you had a fairer complexion. It makes you obsess over possibly the only thing in your life that you cannot change no matter how hard you try and as a teenager, it breaks you.
The Way Forward
The issue of colorism is not going to go away with a single rebranding, an Instagram post, or this article but it is important to remember that the shade of your skin does not define you, at least not at the places and among the people that really matter.
What matters is the person you grow up to be and the efforts you make at improving what’s inside. You have no control over the world that is outside you, so take care of the little universe that lives within you.
Written By - Sakshi Singh
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