Brown and Proud

When will the obsession with fair skin end?


When a child is born, it is oblivious of the fact about its skin color but as it grows the people around make it realize what the skin color is. The way people talk to a fair-skinned baby and the way they interact with a dark-skinned baby differs. It is easily visible to the child in talks, looks, and ways of handling. As the child grows they begin to observe how their skin color is compared to others. If the skin color is fair then they feel relieved that they are up to the societal mark and if not then the pressure begins. The seed for the need for fair skin is rooted right then and as the child grows into an adult, the obsession with fair skin keeps growing. The societal obsession has played its part and now the advertisers are doing their part by showcasing fair skin people as beautiful and smearing the same fair skin person with dark make-up to show how ugly they look when they are dark. The songs and movies never fail to stream how a fair girl gets more attention.  The adult goes on to try products after products to change the skin color until they realize that it is next to impossible. 



Image Credit: SoundCloud


The worst part is yet to come when you are getting married. Your matrimonial photoshoot should make you look fair and your bio-data should clearly state that you are a fair-skinned person. Why is it made so hard for the other skin colors to fit in the matrimonial part of life? If your skin color defines the person you are then what is the use of character building and searching for a compatible partner? The bias in the name of skin color is so huge, just imagine what the people who suffer from some kind of skin disease, surgery marks, scars, or burns, go through in society. No chance! There is no hope for their inclusivity in our so-called societal standard of beauty. A society that has created a web around itself and talks about spirituality and equality but hardly follows them in practicality. 


The first step would be to recognize the problem and delve deep within ourselves because we as part of this society are not unaffected by the belief system of the society. Now is the time to keep reminding ourselves to back off whenever we pass any unconscious comment to ourselves on an instance of identifying beauty if it is the skin color we are looking at. This will change the habit of associating beauty with skin color and we will be progressing towards building an unbiased society. The burden lies on the shoulders of parents to make their children understand that skin color is just a feature of a person along with other physical features and it never defines beauty. The victims of colorism need to embrace their skin color and be at peace with themselves. They can be the harbinger of change by educating the people they come in contact with about their struggle, victory, and the need for change in societal perspective toward skin color. Only when we accept ourselves as we are, we are truly happy and capable of giving back to society what we can offer or are capable of. 


The change has started. Brown N’ Proud, is an organization that has instigated a movement against skin color discrimination. Similarly, Women Of Worth has started a campaign in 2009, Dark Is Beautiful – an internationally recognized advocacy campaign that has been fighting against and creating awareness about ‘Colourism’. There is the need to focus on building self-esteem and self-respect which will empower the youth of our country and create more productive, caring, and happy individuals which in turn will build an empowered society. An individual afflicted with an inferiority complex will never be happy and can never tap the potential inside them.



Image Credit: Scholastic Choices



Being the only brown child in the house, I understand the pain a person goes through since childhood just to fit in the conversations and parties. At times I have felt my confidence shattered due to remarks from people about the way I look. Some would be direct while others would indirectly suggest that dark skin is ugly. For a person who has constantly realized that brown is not beautiful, it breaks them even if they are at peace with the way they look. It requires constant work to remind ourselves that it’s okay not to be fair. This is the society we are born and brought up in but I think if each promise not to be a part of any regressive norms of society then we can head toward a healthy and unprejudiced society.  



Brown Skin


Yes, I have brown skin,

Made to believe I can call myself fair,

Should be happy that it is not dark.


Yes, I have brown skin,

My photo was photoshopped in my matrimonial profile,

My skin color was mentioned fair in biodata shared,

People don't call me names

Because I am not dark

Yet they don't find me beautiful because I am not fair.


Yes, I have brown skin,

Dabbing foundation in parties to look fair,

But when I can't recognize myself in the mirror,

I say people will find me beautiful that is what matters.

Oh! When I stand with my sister so fair,

People recognize and compliment her skin so clear,

Can't ignore me so call me how pretty I look there.


Yes, I have brown skin,

And I recognized it when I was little dear,

People would not look at me with the love I desired.

I learned early its skin color that matters,

Girls with fair skin are beautiful dear.


Yes, I have brown skin,

And I am beautiful dear,

This I learned so late in my life so dear,

People who looked at my skin tone were not real,

People who loved me were so real.

When I loved myself it became very clear,

Society should not judge me by my skin color.

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