"White" Beauty





I saw this commercial sometime ago in which Priyanka Chopra advertises Ponds White Beauty, a product which is supposed to give you a 'white pinkish glow'. I was so offended I had to change channels. Why are South Asians, specially Indians, still obsessed with having lighter skin? Why do they still promote self racism?

Even here in Maldives there is still this craze with 'Fair and Lovely' (So If we don't use it does it mean we're dark and ugly?) and 'Fair Plus' and all the other 'Fairs'. Not that I can blame the women since society expects them to be 'dhon'. Even in the dhivehi songs and poems they are always talking about a 'dhon manje' or 'dhon kamana'. Comments like, ' eyna reethi ekam massalayakee kudakoh kalhee' are still common. Shame really...since some of the very beautiful people we have here aren't necessarily light skinned.

And it doesn't help when some men just say things like 'kalhu kanda eh', it's sickening actually. We should be more secure about who we are instead of being occupied with what people have been believing in the past. As corny as it sounds beauty is not about how light your skin is, you would find that people are more likely to see you as more attractive as long as you are confident and secure about who you are.

Comments

Anonymous said…
And I've heard this said about a baby one too many times: "kalhakas loabi".
August 2, 2009 at 12:12 AM
Nora said…
Yeah dho, No wonder they grow up wishing they had lighter skin. :/
August 2, 2009 at 9:08 AM
Myst said…
Personally, the colour of a person's skin has never been a factor in how beautiful the person is. I think the individual's personality contributes to the overall attractiveness of the person in a way that skin colour never can.

The most insulting aspect of the the Fair & Lovely ads is that it implies you can't even have a successful lifem career-wise or socially, if your skin is dark. I call bull$h*t!
August 31, 2009 at 8:39 AM
Nora said…
Myst: and the problem is people actually buy into these ads. :|
August 31, 2009 at 12:23 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The wall is still GREEN!

I am so fed up with people telling me what I should think like, believe in, act like and value. I mean does it not occur to these people that believing something is not a choice that I make (although in their case it seems to be) . These people act like I just should believe simply because I have to. My brain does not work that way I tell you! First it has to make sense to me in a logical reasonable way so that I can wrap my mind around it. I cannot simply say "I believe" and voila become a believer. I mean you can make me say the words but in my mind I would still believe in only what makes sense to me. So what is the point? For eg: Someone can show me a green wall and ask me to believe it is red , but my mind would just see it for what it actually is. A bloody GREEN wall! Just because I say I believe it is red does not mean I can actually believe it. In the same way, no matter how hard people intentionally or unintentionally try to shove down their doctr...
Read more

Dear Mr. Crocodile... (I assume you are a Mister...thousand apologies if not)

I heard you were a baby when you were found by some people at our shores. You must have been lost, very scared and confused. You must have been hungry and exhausted from swimming for so long. I bet you were wishing that your mama was there, so she could have protected you from these strange people. I found out that they put you in a cage at the childrens park so that people could come and gaze at wonder at you. You were pretty small then, so you did not take up much space. You must have been pretty lonely since there was not anyone like you around near you. I was told that they fed you well though...and then you started getting bigger..and bigger... and bigger. The little man-made pond is not big enough for you anymore. It made me very sad Mr. Crocodile, to see that you could not even straighten yourself to your full length in that sorry excuse of a home made for you. I guess your back must ache a lot huh? Being curled up all the time. But I guess that is not the point,...
Read more

Screw Tradition

It always seems that when I'm writing a post, I always rant about something but hey it's only when I'm upset that I can come up with enough material to write something. I recently told someone that I don't want to get married anytime soon. Her response was, "Thihen hutta muskulhi vedhaane, eyrun nuvaane innane meehakuves" Why? why? why does society have to decide for me when I have to get married? I don't consider myself as an old hag yet but EVEN if I was. What is it about unmarried women that gets those domestic goddesses in a rut? Yes I am aware that I have a biological clock and everything but PLEASE let me decide the fate of my womb! And even if I didn't go the traditional way, it does not mean that I am any lesser of a person or that I am unhappy and you need to pity me. As every girl would, I used to dream about a wedding and a pretty dress and such things. But I'm just saying don't judge me for not wanting to ge...
Read more