We all are beautiful

The recent Miss America crowning of Nina Davuluri, an American lady of Indian origin attracted a lot of media attention in India as well as in the US. Here in the US, it was somewhat controversial because of many racist comments on Twitter about her origin (some thought she was Arab or Muslim or from some non-American country), most of them were angry that how come a person with non-American looks could win Miss America beauty contest. All this was because of her looks and origins. I am personally not at all interested in these beauty pageants, they are heavily commercialized events and solely intended for the marketing purposes of beauty products targeting specific markets, these titles are awarded to target markets of specific countries or ethnic groups, and there is no real purpose behind these contests except to attract media coverage and make money. Every country has its own version of Miss, Mr, or Mrs something. But this post is not about these pageants or their relevance but about some people's obsession with fair skin. Some people are obsessed with fair skin so much that having dark skin is considered ugly and unfortunate. I already wrote one post about the definition of beauty but in this post, I want to focus on the stigma associated with dark skin in some cultures.

Most contestants entering beauty contests fit into the commercial definition of beauty as far as their bodies and looks are concerned. The only difference in developed places like the US or Europe is that the skin color variety is more, one can find both dark and fair-colored (and in between) contestants participating in the event but in most Asian countries by default, all contestants are fair skinned even though in some countries (like India) most people are dark skinned. This is not because dark-skinned people are not allowed to compete or are being barred from participating but because they don't make the cut, they either don't participate or get rejected in preliminary screening. The main reason behind this is an obsession of people from these countries with fair skin. One can clearly see this just by looking at the names of some of the most popular skin care products in India like "Fair & Lovely" or "Fair & Handsome." The companies or people who advertise and sell these products don't even see anything wrong in these names or in the contents of their advertisements. 

I have no idea where this skin color bias has originated. I think at least in India it can be linked to the presence of the British or Europeans, they were very powerful and ruled the region for a long time, so I think people relate white skin with some kind of superiority. Maybe the same logic can be applied to some other places in the world where white skin is considered as more superior to dark one. Apart from this, I don't think there is any other reason, according to me any skin color is beautiful white, black, brown, dark, or fair all are beautiful, at least I can not pick one over another. Therefore, the preference for one particular skin color in people's minds must have some social reason as it has absolutely nothing to do with beauty. Commercialization of beauty products has resulted in aggressive marketing of all brands, in this process they don't care what they show in their ads or what they claim their products can do. All they want is to sell their product at any cost and they take advantage of these types of social perceptions. They also encourage people to mold themselves to fit into their definition of beauty. In India, I have seen the stigma associated with dark skin. Parents of children with dark skin worry about their kid's future, especially about their marriage. Parents of a girl child are more concerned, they even have to pay more dowry in many cases just because of the dark skin of their daughter.

People who think fair skin is better or more beautiful than dark don't even realize that indirectly they are being racist. Calling someone ugly just because of their skin color is a form of racism. We need to question this attitude and object to all advertisements that encourage such thinking no matter which company is making them and which celebrity is endorsing them. These companies have the right to sell their product in any market but they should not advertise them in a racist way. The advertisement that Shahrukh Khan did for Fair and Handsome is really disgusting. I wonder how he didn't realize how disgusting that ad was. I hope people get over this false notion that one skin color is more beautiful than another. We all come in different colors, shapes, and sizes, we all are beautiful no matter which advertisement says what. We need to remove the stigma associated with any skin color. A person's skin color or external appearance should not be the criteria to judge that person and brand them as beautiful or ugly. I think our society has evolved to such a level where we can understand that beauty is more than just external appearance and we all are beautiful, no matter what shape, size, or color.  

Thanks for reading and please share your views about this topic. 

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing] 

Links:

1. http://www.darkisbeautiful.in/

2. Dark is beautiful-Lakshmi Krupa

3. http://www.nanditadas.com/nanditawrites30_inc.htm

4. Dark is beautiful

5. India's unfair obsession with lighter skin