Colourism, Black Complexion Matters
Dark is good, Dark is beautiful, Dark is love… TOO
I belong to a society where you hear certain utterances every now and then, “how beautiful and fair (white) she is!” and, “do something, your complexion is so dark, have some fairness cream, facial or treatment for it”, and, “that foundation is soo good, you know it made my skin so glowing and lighter” etc.
Black Complexion matters
We should accept that black complexion matters. Zara Abid, one of Pakistan’s top fashion models (died in recent PIA Plane Crash, 2020), said that at the start of her career she had to face discrimination due to her skin color. One of her shots for Hello Mag (2019), she was given black skin tone while wearing everything darker than her own complexion. People on social media criticized her for being blacker than her actual skin tone. Well, she defended herself by saying, “Yes, the shoot enhanced my colour because I would like to empower my darker-skinned population as there is a lack of representation amongst our dark-skinned girls… On multiple occasions, I have been made 2–3 tones lighter so why not darker?”
Of course, if models and people in everyday life can enhance their skin lighter then why to criticize someone who likes to enhance darker tone???
My niece has a dark skin tone. She is 8 years old and she is very talented. She has some great acting skills and even she has her own Youtube channel for this. My other niece is a photographer. When she did her photo shoot, she decided not to give her any lighter skin tone. She is talented and should get her chance in her own skin tone. Why to give her such filters that she doesn’t own? Why not embrace it?
Once a heard some girl saying, “I have struggled so hard to have this fair complexion”. Sad part of the story was that when she said, “you would be terrified to see my previous photos, I was hideous.” According to her, she was hideous when she was dark and now she is very presentable.
Well, who is to blame? Her? Nope. She is the victim of the society that prefers lighter skin tone.
Advertisement Industry is Also Giving us a “Message”
I have seen many ads on my television screen where girls and boys were shown as sad, depressed and jobless. You know why, because their skin tone is dark. Then, magically, someone hands over some fairness cream to them and they use it. Now, they can get everything they want.
In one ad, a girl is talking to her teacher after completion of her education. Teacher says that only talent won’t matter, you need to prepare for interview and the girl says with determination, “I am prepared for that”. After that, she uses fairness cream and gives interview with FULL CONFIDENCE. She gets job and becomes a very successful woman. At the end, she is giving a cream to another girl. So, the chain goes on…
THIS SHOULD BE CHANGED.
THAT TREND NEEDS TO BE CHANGED.
DARK SKIN SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS BEAUTIFUL