Sonam Kapoor delightfully proves my point. Thanks to Jezebel.com.
This link leads to a BBC From Our Own Correspondent article just posted about the prevalence of skin whitening creams in India. It appears inspired by the same genital whitenining wash as my own blog post from several weeks back, which was in turn inspired by Jezebel.com posting the video advertisement on their website.
One up on the BBC? Oh, yes.
On a more constructive note: the apparently growing awareness of the whitening trend could force more people in India and eslewhere to question the ramifications of creating a beauty standard based on an altered and unnatural skin tone. Whether using tanning or whitening products, women are often taught that to appear desirable they need to appear as something they are not. When brands such as Dove, a supposed champion of “real” beauty, are perfectly happy to sell products designed to lighten/darken skin, it becomes ever more acceptable to feel inadequate if not conforming to this artificial norm. All notions of “beauty” are to an extent artificial and socially constructed, but when it comes to skin tone, particularly when race and ethnicity becomes involved (tv shows looking “too white” when lacking non-white cast members, or an Indian actress being told she is “too black” to play a lead role), the dynamic does change and become something inherently negative. Perhaps with more awareness, more women will question the sense in altering their skin tone to suit an ever-changing fashion. This, however, is a big ask: we would have to cease caring about how society perceives us, and thus create a new standard to conform to. Either way, what we choose to look like to fit in will always be constructed, not by us ourselves, but by social discourse and context. However, one thing we can question and work towards separating is the idea of “healthy” cosmetics such as moisturiser, and “make up” cosmetics, such as foundation. When the concept of “healthy skin” becomes confused with “made up skin”, people’s idea of “healthy bodies” begin to exclude those of different or non-conformist skin tones. And when that alarming confluence occurs, what then for an internationally developed and cohesive anti-racist society?
kitchentablenewsroom
Who is the fairest of them all?
Sonam Kapoor delightfully proves my point. Thanks to Jezebel.com.
This link leads to a BBC From Our Own Correspondent article just posted about the prevalence of skin whitening creams in India. It appears inspired by the same genital whitenining wash as my own blog post from several weeks back, which was in turn inspired by Jezebel.com posting the video advertisement on their website.
One up on the BBC? Oh, yes.
On a more constructive note: the apparently growing awareness of the whitening trend could force more people in India and eslewhere to question the ramifications of creating a beauty standard based on an altered and unnatural skin tone. Whether using tanning or whitening products, women are often taught that to appear desirable they need to appear as something they are not. When brands such as Dove, a supposed champion of “real” beauty, are perfectly happy to sell products designed to lighten/darken skin, it becomes ever more acceptable to feel inadequate if not conforming to this artificial norm. All notions of “beauty” are to an extent artificial and socially constructed, but when it comes to skin tone, particularly when race and ethnicity becomes involved (tv shows looking “too white” when lacking non-white cast members, or an Indian actress being told she is “too black” to play a lead role), the dynamic does change and become something inherently negative. Perhaps with more awareness, more women will question the sense in altering their skin tone to suit an ever-changing fashion. This, however, is a big ask: we would have to cease caring about how society perceives us, and thus create a new standard to conform to. Either way, what we choose to look like to fit in will always be constructed, not by us ourselves, but by social discourse and context. However, one thing we can question and work towards separating is the idea of “healthy” cosmetics such as moisturiser, and “make up” cosmetics, such as foundation. When the concept of “healthy skin” becomes confused with “made up skin”, people’s idea of “healthy bodies” begin to exclude those of different or non-conformist skin tones. And when that alarming confluence occurs, what then for an internationally developed and cohesive anti-racist society?
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