‘Fairly’ beautiful

Published : 30 Sept 2014, 03:58 PM
Updated : 30 Sept 2014, 03:58 PM

The word fair is defined in Webster dictionary as "not dark.[1]" However, this word has so much more of a connotation than just that when it comes into the South Asian perspective.

The fascination with being light skinned dates back to the era of Queen Elizabeth I, she used ceruse, a white lead based powder to whiten her skin. It is believed that she died due to lead poisoning as a result of daily use of Ceruse[2]. Yes, even then, this concept of being light skinned was never healthy. In Asia as a whole, women are driven to be as light as possible, in South Asia, being pale, captures much more than chromatic qualities, it includes perceptions of culture and vastly emphasise on all associated morals.[3] This is to stress the belief that people with darker skin must be of a poorer and lower class because being dark is associated with working in the fields and outside whilst being light skinned means one is from a rich enough background to not have to work outside. This is very representative of countries such as India and Nepal where there is an institutionalized caste system due to Hinduism being very integrated within the culture. The lower caste known as the Dalits or untouchables are in general dark as they work outdoors and the Brahmins, the highest caste in Hinduism would remain indoors and were therefore lighter skinned[4]. However this epidemic is not just confined to the borders of South Asia, it is rampant in all of Asia, Africa and even some parts of Latin America. In Vietnam for example women cover themselves from head to toe, in heavy clothing, wearing masks and gloves as well so that they stay light skinned. I remember having encountered an old woman in a piping hot beach in Hoi An, Vietnam, who was so heavily clothed that she could barely walk, when I asked her why, she answered, "I don't like the dark skin." This one sentence sums up how South Asia feels about it.

As the old saying goes, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Or in Bangladesh's case, beauty is in the eyes of the oppressor. No you did not misread that, that's what I wrote, "oppressor". Bangladesh and its people remain to be subjects of its British colonial past as they adopt the dirt left behind by their coloniser. I don't mean dirt in its literal sense, I mean dirt in the sense of the backward way of thinking.  We have held onto all the horrible things the Brits have taught us like: condemning homosexuality/sodomy, creating a very classist system and among all these horrible things one of the worst, an affinity, which almost borders on obsession, with white/light skin.I am honestly yet to meet a Bangladeshi person who has not mentioned that someone looks beautiful because they are "fair".

Go to a department store in Bangladeshand you will find shelves full of creams, lotions, soaps, face washes that claim to make one light skinned or, to use the more colonial term for it, "fair." These products are found in majority of households in Bangladesh. The richer population of the country goes to beauty parlours to consistently bleach their skin and consult laser treatment for ways to further lighten their skin. The lower middle class people use fairness products in the hope of achieving similar results. A huge factor that fuels this obsession with being light skinned are advertisements. The advertisement industry has a strong hold on people and their perception of what should and should not be beautiful. What appalls me the most about advertisement of fairness products is not just the fact that they market fairness as something that is a requirement to be considered beautiful, but the fact that they try to market it as if women are empowered by these fairness products. Each advertisement depicts a female who is either unemployed, refused jobs or unable to find a husband but as soon as they use fairness products they find themselves somehow empowered by the colour of their skin and everyone around them is at awe by their confidence and newfound beauty. This is nonsensical. Women, in fact, no one should have to measure their self worth using skin colour as an indicator.

A recent conversation with a CEO[5] from a well-known company in Bangladesh revealed that they will never hire a dark female to work on a front desk or as a customer service executive. When I asked them why, they said to me that it's because they are not "presentable" and that they have to think about what "sells" and what the public wants. So apparently a dark customer service female is somethingwhichpeople of a country full of dark people don't want. I used the term "something", not "someone", because when a person is reduced to JUST the colour of their skin then s/he is not being treated as a human being, rather simply as an object. The reason why I argue about women is because men don't get as much of a backlash as women on this matter, in fact not even half as much. Because in Bangladesh women are considered to be ornamental – they are the creatures you marry because they look good next to you and to people around you, take care of your children and cook for you. Arguably, more and more women are working these days, but this mind frame is still very much there in the country. If you don't think it's true, ask anyone in your household what their perception of a "beautiful" girl is. Better yet, ask yourself. Chances are, the first thing to pop into your mind will be "Forsha/Fair."   We, the people of Bangladesh, have reduced the women in our country to just that– the colour of their skin.

[2]Sandbeck, E.2009 "Green Barbarians: Live Bravely on Your Home Planet". Simon & Schuster, New York.

[3] Phillips, A. 2004 "Gendering Colour: Identity, Feminity and marriage in Kerala". Wilferd Laurier University, Ontario, Canada.

[4]Dahal. D. R, Gurung. Y. B, Acharya. B., Hemchuri. K. Swarnakar. D. (2002) National Dalit Strategy Report: Part I. Situational Analysis of Dalits in Nepal.

[5] Name of individual and company not mentioned to protect identity