In a country where it is genetically common to have dark skin, how did light skin become the epitomic beauty standard?
Deny it as we may, an alarmingly large percentage of us grew up thinking we needed to be light-skinned to be beautiful. This becomes prevalent through habitual remarks passed in everyday conversations, such as expressing grave concern over a slight sun tan, or having a friend retake the group photo they just took because you look so “Kaali” (a term used to refer to people of darker skin tones in a derogatory manner, literally translating to black). From fairness cream advertisements to snide remarks from relatives, the self-esteem of every young dark-skinned Pakistani eroded, until pale skin quite absurdly became an indicator of superiority in our society. Whether we blame it on the conditioning from our history of being colonized, or some other conspiracy theory about how the west controls us – in the end, we are the ones responsible for how we think.
The notion that light skin was something to strive for was incorporated into our lives from a very young age, and it was done in such a seamless manner that we didn’t even realize it was problematic until we were old enough to recognize toxicity on our own. That is when those of us who understood the repulsiveness of it decided to unlearn and reevaluate. But not everyone had that privilege.
It is an unfortunate truth that women have been victims of this prejudice far more often than men have. While both genders have to face the consequences of colourism, women are expected to possess certain attributes in our society; they’re expected to look and behave a certain way. Some manage to fight their way out of that mindset, while others are caught in the customary whirlpool. Our long-established traditions and destructive approaches in certain aspects of life have made the lives of women consistently more difficult, especially when it comes to matters regarding marriage and homemaking. Girls are taught from a very young age that one of their main goals in life is to make a place for themselves in the homes of their future in-laws; and when conventional arranged marriages come into play, that is when matters become delicate. This is often where women are judged and approved based on a thorough examination of their physical attributes.
Over the years, the exhaustive conditioning has made it so that “gori” (a word used to refer to white people or someone of a fair complexion) has become one of the highest compliments a woman can receive on her looks. Not only is this extremely damaging to the self-worth of most brown women, it creates an unhealthy desire to alter the world’s perception of them, and they would go to any lengths to achieve this goal.
It shouldn’t sit right with anyone that pointing out a darkening skin tone exudes the same casualness as pointing out a bad haircut – like it’s something that needs to be fixed. This can be understood by the fact that when I once went shopping for makeup, the employee at the testing station urged me to buy a product with the major selling point being it that would make me look several shades lighter than my actual skin tone.
Discrimination based on the colour of a person’s skin has become normalized to a point where it’s no longer perceived as the shameful crime that it is; it’s almost a subconscious act. Which brings us to address the potential root of the issue – internalized racism. Scholar Robin Nicole Johnson talks about this in her study The Psychology of Racism, explaining that internalized racism involves both “conscious and unconscious acceptance of a racial hierarchy in which whites are consistently ranked above people of colour.” This is what links racism to colourism. Our casual racist jokes and burning desire to whitewash our entire lives is proof of our prejudice. So is the fact that the very term used in our society to describe people of African descent is used as an insult. The word black (Kaala, Kaali) has been made into something extremely derogatory, to a point where people feel the need to defend themselves when the term is used to refer to them.
Conditioning of the mind can indeed be poisonous to its victim; despite knowing something to be wrong, people will still conform to its ideas. For example, one may know full well that dark skin is just as natural and beautiful as any other type, but still be insecure of their own complexion. They will still want to give in to all the colourist campaigns that urge them to alter the very skin they were born in, which there is certainly no shortage of. Promoting unrealistic goals is another one of the many marginalized crimes that our beauty industry partakes in. The grossly edited “progress” in whitening cream advertisements perpetuates the idea that people can practically change their ethnicity using those products, when that is, in fact, utterly impossible. When those impracticable standards seem to become a possibility, people begin to strive for them. It becomes an obsession so strong that they will bleach or even inject themselves with whatever promises to make them look like the digitally modified models on TV. The impact of this brainwashing was witnessed in 2016, when Dr. Sehrish Riaz began to offer the Glutathione (whitening injection) service. This was not the first time the treatment had been introduced, but this time it was made excessively popular through shameless promotion by doctors themselves – and despite knowing the side effects and potential ineffectiveness, people still availed it.
Internalized bias is a parasite that may cripple a person’s ability to analyze, but active efforts to build self-awareness must be made if things are to change. Reevaluation on an individual level is most important when hoping to make any kind of social, cultural or intellectual progress. While people are beginning to understand the ugliness of colourist compliments, racist comments and the importance of self-confidence, we still have a long way to go before this country can be considered culturally and racially tolerant.
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