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THERE WAS A TIME when all you’d use Fair&Lovely for was to get married. But Fair&Lovely grew with time; now you want to be fair not only to get married but also to get back at a boy who’s been ignoring you all this while (obviously because you were dark) and to get a job (especially if you are interested in becoming a model or an air hostess). And now Fair&Lovely has discovered that boys might want to be fair too in order to win girls, so they have been blessed with Fair&Handsome. No more stealthy use of your sister’s or bhabhi’s fairness cream! Quite often termed Indian’s ‘colonial mentality’, the obsession with being fair (read beautiful) afflicts us to this day.
On the other hand, ‘tanned’ skin seems to be all the rage in Europe and America. I have seen tourists baking themselves in the scorching heat of India to get that ‘tan’. I believe part of that is aimed at going back to the home country and enticing reactions such as “Oh, you look so tanned! Where have you been?” which obviously helps to brag about the ‘adventurous’ holiday in the dark Orient.
I was aware that the ‘bronze look’ is catching up in the West but it was only after I came to London that I discovered how huge the tanning industry actually is! The risk of cancer doesn’t seem to dampen spirits either. Is it the ‘imperialist fantasy’ of the sexually charged and promiscuous Oriental Other that fuels the tanning industry?
Some would argue that both the industries (fairness and tanning) are exact equivalents — both capable of imparting Otherness; both products of consumerism targeting women as their biggest potential market; both make women believe that they have to change their skin colour to be more attractive and ‘appealing’. But leaving aside the health risks involved in the process of changing one’s skin colour, somehow the idea of Westerners trying to make themselves dark does not seem as offensive as the constant bombarding of adverts for fairness creams on Indian television. I have never been able to accept that both industries have the same implications.
After all, I have never come across a European or American girl who lacks self-confidence and believes she is ugly because she is ‘too fair’. The opposite is not true. There are plenty of Indian girls, who for the sole reason that they are dark (maybe only slightly darker than the ‘average’ colour), have receded into a shell cursing their luck that they were born so. And it is obvious that this debilitation of confidence is caused by the way parents or the society looks at the girl child. A particularly dark Indian girl child is looked upon with pity and a kind of remorse from the moment she lies in her cot because of the long string of societal connotations (and negative implications) attached with the girl’s dark colour. A white girl baby, on the other hand, is not ‘judged’ or considered to be ‘doomed’ for her skin colour per se. Undeniably, as the white girl grows up she may feel the need to be more sexually appealing by changing her skin colour, but that does not make her consider her natural skin colour to be a curse.
The difference is the two situations is the difference between ‘colonial mentality’ and ‘imperialist fantasy’. While tanning, as an imperialist fantasy, does not make white skin colour any inferior, fairness as a colonial mentality, strongly establishes the degraded status of black/brown skin colour. The point being that tanning, as a fashion statement in the West, is not institutionally racist like the fairness propaganda in India is.
But perhaps there is a ray of hope here — the adaptation of tanning or dark skin colour as a fashion statement in the West has been inevitably picking up in the Indian film industry as well, with actors boasting their tanned or bronzed look. However, we are still a long way from rescuing skin colour from the chains of racism and consumerism.
Similar to grass is greener on other side of the fence – grin. Sadly a very human condition of judging ourselves as inferior or superior on aspects that have little or noting to do with who we are. Can you imagine a tiger trying to darken or lighten his strips to be more attractive or confident? Also related to elitism, ethno-centrism, sexism, and racism – which is also a human specific affliction. All too sad – sigh. When will we grow to be as smart as tigers, or even ants?
I moved to the US two months ago. I live in a university town, and while the majority of people are white Americans, there are a number of south Asians as well. It is quite common to see Indian boys gawking at white American girls and gushing about ‘how gorgeous they look’. This despite the fact that there are equally gorgeous girls from other parts of the world,except that they differ in skin color.
Hi Anusree,
Thanks for your comment. It’s an apt example of how Indians, even the so-called ‘Generation Y’, is caught up in this colonial mentality and I don’t think I need to spare any words to say how damaging it is.
It’s very similar to Indians ogling at white tourists. An American friend of mine, who is originally South Korean, toured India with her white, blonde, blue-eyed American boyfriend. And guess what she reported – she didn’t get as much attention and consideration as her boyfriend did – and I think we all know why!
Hi Ned,
Rightly said – if this is what man is like, it is certainly a false belief that man is superior to animals!
I’ve often thought that it’s also caste as well as class related, particularly in India. I’m not well versed with the different castes and communities, but I’ve noticed, and a few other people have told me that the ‘higher’ castes are often fairer than the ‘lower’ castes. And of course, when it comes to class – It’s the poorer people who usually work in the fields, or spend long hours under the sun, which makes them darker.
Whenever a family attains a certain level of economic prosperity, the practice is to keep the women at home. In many places still, having your wife work is seen as a blot on the men’s masculinity and ability to provide. That way, the women don’t have to go outside in the sun and work.
I think you can even correlate this with the Western mindset. From the classics that I’ve read, such as Jane Eyre, and especially Gone with the Wind – fair skin was always seen as an asset for women. Perhaps because the poor people became dark as a result of their farm work? After the Industrial Revolution, the poorer classes worked in the factories – making them pale. The richer ones played sports and tanned as a result of their leisure activities, now making tanned skin an asset.
My theory is that this obsession with fair skin is a combination of sexism, caste, economics, racism, a colonial hangover – all working together.
The difference is that in the West, it’s just another (possibly unattainable) beauty ideal. While in India, fairness is definitely related to class and vestiges of casteism.
Eg. I’m a dark skinned Maharashtrian. When I stayed in Delhi for a year, I was mistaken at least two times for a maid (not that it bothered me). And once, while waiting for a haircut at a beauty parlour, another client who came in asked the receptionist if I was free to wash her hair. Again, I wasn’t offended by the mistake, only disturbed at how deep the discrimination went.
I should add that all these incidents happened when I was in Indian clothes. As Western dress is also a marker of class.
Hi Arya and Ec,
Very interesting comments – I do see the points you’ve made and can only concur that the fairness industry feeds not only on racism but also class-ism and casteism.
I was talking to a friend yesterday and she also pointed out that the craze for tanning is class related – rich people could go on holidays (and as you say play expensive sports) and showed it off with tanned skin. So, that’s one aspect that certainly needs to be taken into perspective here.
[…] The Fairness of Tanning | ULTRA VIOLET Some would argue that both the industries (fairness and tanning) are exact equivalents — both capable of imparting Otherness; both products of consumerism targeting women as their biggest potential market; both make women believe that they have to change their skin colour to be more attractive and ‘appealing’. But leaving aside the health risks involved in the process of changing one’s skin colour, somehow the idea of Westerners trying to make themselves dark does not seem as offensive as the constant bombarding of adverts for fairness creams on Indian television. I have never been able to accept that both industries have the same implications. (tags: race class india body.politics) […]
To add – South Indians are often considered darker than North Indians and sometimes looked down upon.
Color discrimination is prevalent in India for the past 50 years and nothing has changed since our mother’s time. I heard my mother telling stories of how fairer girls got good grooms easily while the hunt was harder if the skin tone was darker. Even today when women are educated and working but they are still judged by their skin colors when it comes to marraige. An ordinary girl with no intellect, no proper education or achievement, no qualities to impress anyone gets married to a highly educated and well placed groom. While a qualified girl with so many impressive qualities is rejected outright for lack of fair skin. The parents of grooms sneer at the thought of a dark woman to be considered as their daughter in law. In Indian families people even compare their ‘bahus’ as to who got the ‘fairer’ deal and is thus considered blessed to be blessed with a fair skinned bahu.the parents of a dark but highly qualified girl is made to feel minuscule and even cursed for having a dark-skinned daughter and they are made to compromise as far as groom is considered. they cannot dream of having a well placed groom for their ‘poor’ girl.