One of the vagaries of nearing your mid-twenties in India is the absolutely frantic search for a "suitable match". Now, while this frenzy among parents exists regardless of whether you are a girl or a boy,the females are in a different sort of predicament. It starts with a simple option provided when a net-savvy girl or her overzealous parents build an online matrimony profile- 'complexion'. Ah! such a simple question and numerous options- very fair, fair, wheatish, wheatish brown, dark. A foreigner reading this would break into peals of laughter. Alas ! they live in a simpler world where people are either white or (decently put as) colored.
So apparently we live in a society proud of terms like gender equality and women empowerment ( more on that later..). Then this discrimination on the basis of skin color is baffling. And if you choose to believe that the educated masses look beyond such trivial details as color and looks, it is time for a reality check.
Recent data shows the sale of skin whitening creams increase at a rate of 15-20% per year. It is indeed a booming industry. The funny situation is that the actresses/actors endorsing these creams are themselves dusky,helped on by heaps of makeup and graphic editing (in case of print). This is an oft-debated topic- Do Indians (South Asians, in general) go too far with the fair-skin obsession?
Girls (and now guys too, if you believe the skin lightening creams' ads 'for men') here are made to believe that fair equals beautiful. It doesn't matter if your nose,teeth are displaced or you are near-bald as long as your skin is paler than tissue paper.
The comforting fact though, is in educated society, this discrimination is never made at home. At least for our mom and dad, it don't matter whether you are black or white, you are the most beautiful girl/boy in the world.
So apparently we live in a society proud of terms like gender equality and women empowerment ( more on that later..). Then this discrimination on the basis of skin color is baffling. And if you choose to believe that the educated masses look beyond such trivial details as color and looks, it is time for a reality check.
Recent data shows the sale of skin whitening creams increase at a rate of 15-20% per year. It is indeed a booming industry. The funny situation is that the actresses/actors endorsing these creams are themselves dusky,helped on by heaps of makeup and graphic editing (in case of print). This is an oft-debated topic- Do Indians (South Asians, in general) go too far with the fair-skin obsession?
Girls (and now guys too, if you believe the skin lightening creams' ads 'for men') here are made to believe that fair equals beautiful. It doesn't matter if your nose,teeth are displaced or you are near-bald as long as your skin is paler than tissue paper.
The comforting fact though, is in educated society, this discrimination is never made at home. At least for our mom and dad, it don't matter whether you are black or white, you are the most beautiful girl/boy in the world.
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