Written By: Ahalya Kathirkamanathan
Beauty is the word of a thousand images, the very essence of our souls, and the fundamental theme of advertisements we often see intimately embracing the subways, buses and city sidewalks. We have let them secretly into our hearts, allowing their influence to shape our physical attributes either leading to the embrace of our good features, or in most cases, the loathing of our amplified blemishes that will never attain perfection. Beauty can encompass a multitude of ideas, but in our minds, it has a crude, narrowed appearance. And so the question remains, why have our minds been belittled to accept this form of beauty?
We can criticize Westernized culture for its unforgiving, consistent barrage of consumer self-esteem, but there is equal concern in the countries of South Asia, where undermining due to skin colour has been a part of civil society for ages. Although the caste system has been fought against and the modern world brings hope of equality, the inferiority complex plays a regulatory role in their lives, often hindering career, success and marriage. Advertisements for whitening creams that lighten skin tone, not just for women, but for men, show that the idea of beauty is skewed many standard deviations back in time. These advertisements consistently promote racist undertones, while cleverly masking it with hope for those “cursed” with dark skin. What is it about dark skin that makes it undesirable?
Born into a Tamil family, I instantly learnt the importance of skin color at a very early age despite being raised in Canada. When my brother was born, I confidently told my parents that I did not like him; the reason was that he was darker than I was. As I reminiscence such memories, I cannot fathom that I was a five year old racist nor can I pinpoint where I had learnt these negative assumptions. In my later years, I craved the translucent white of Caucasians to be my skin color and researched options for this desperate want to become reality. Even though many creams contain harmful, toxic chemicals, to finally be welcomed into the minuscule circle of beauty was more important. With time and maturity, came the realization that a cornucopia of beauty exists beyond white skin and the ability to change my perceptions on this matter. A fatal concoction of adult conversation, media and advertising nourish frightening distortion to impressionable, young souls assembling the belief that dark skin is undesirable in their own minds.
External forces undoubtedly influence our perspective of ourselves, but the internal pressures endured have severe long-term effects. The psychological affect these advertisements imprint, on those who view it, are endless. Many desperately turn to the only solution to improve the quality of their lives – to abide by expectations of society in an attempt to stop the miserable cycle and cleanse their skin of what society deems unacceptable. When we ponder the emotional beatings they have endured over extensive period of time, it gives answers to their choices and the steps needed to move forward. The solution does not lie within restricting utilization of harmful lightening creams, but to address the deeper problems of bigotry and racism to lighten the hearts of those who have preconceived notions of intolerance.
As an aesthetics student, Isha Sharma is not new to this concept of skin color. Hailing from New Delhi, India, she shares her strong opinion on this absurd obsession, and discusses her experience as a photographer. “As an Indian woman, I find this insidious obsession with skin color and whitening creams absurd. When I was young, I realized that skin color was a major concern. Bullies at school would pick on girls with darker skin color and called them ugly or assumed they were poor. The bullies weren’t always just kids. I would hear grown-ups talk about people who had darker complexion in a negative way and I would see TV shows, movies, and commercials that all did the same. I moved to Canada and was shocked to see that western people were obsessed with tanning. While South Asians with darker complexion want to be lighter the westerners who are fair want to be darker with a tan. I find the whitening cream commercials to be extremely hypocritical. Fair and lovely, the biggest company that promotes lighter skin, is marketed by Unilever who are also the parent company of Dove. As we know, Dove promotes being true to yourself while Fair and Lovely basically says that if you are lighter you would achieve much more in life. Companies know what people want in different countries and promote it to make money. As for my photography, I don’t particularly Photoshop my models to make them look lighter. I have themes for my photo-shoots and I ask for lighter models or darker depending on what the theme is looking for. But I know that in the industry editors Photoshop everything, including skin color, to fit what they want to promote and what the target audience is.”
With increased access to globalization, an interconnected reality is available to us with a touch of a small button and the future seems ironically grim, as we create a self-loathing generation of drones. As technology grows, and standards for advertisements skyrocket, society’s self-esteem can only plummet. In a place where beauty transforms with time, it has severing effects on the youth that salvage these ideologies and believe in them profoundly. As a congregational unit, civilization advertises the utopic idea of acceptance and tolerance, but it solely exists inside the boundaries of four corners. Contradiction and irony fills humanity, and only when we attain full consciousness, can we truly provide a tangible resolution for this manic condition concerning skin colour. As we believe our slumbering civilization, we dismiss a plethora of beauty that can bring hope for the future. If there is darkness in the heart, it obscures the light, therefore slanting any beauty that exists. If that reigns true, why are we still living in the dark ages of self-esteem?
“Sanity means the wholeness of the consciousness. And our society is only part conscious, like an idiot,” – D.H. Lawrence
Tags: Speak Out
