In New Delhi, it's not enough for Indian boys and girls to fear that they won't get a playmate or a spouse or a job because of their unsightly dusky skin. It's not enough that ads should tell women they need their underarm deodorant to include skin-lightening cream if they want to go sleeveless.
Now comes Clean and Dry "intimate wash," which promises women "protection, fairness and freshness" in their privates. In a new ad that I have been assured is not a parody, an attractive young bride lacks confidence around her husband because her vagina is too dark and vagina-like. After one splash of Clean and Dry, however, love blooms anew.
The media's reception has been harsh. "This is a wonder product," Manjula Narayan writes in India's Sunday Guardian, "it's an Itch Guard that promises to bleach my oyster. This is what I had been working towards all my life -- achieving a light, bright vulva, a lit clit, a perfect pudendum, a cleft to beat all clefts, an utterly lovable labia."
But the scorn of the educated and liberated may not be enough to stop Clean and Dry. Skin lightening products are probably as prevalent in Africa and Asia as pornography is in America. They're everywhere. I have encountered Fair and Lovely, the Coca-Cola of skin lighteners, in Darfur and South Sudan.
I spoke recently with a dermatologist and plastic surgeon who practices in a mid-size Indian city. He told me that no matter what the client comes in for, he sends them out with a free tube of prescription-only skin-lightener. "They always come back" for more, he said.
The dermatologist had nothing good to say about the over-the-counter lighteners: "They make the skin darker over time," he said, before launching into a short lecture on the chemistry of artificial fairness. The doctor's real problem wasn't getting patients interested in skin-lightening techniques -- it was in getting them to stop.
One can only have so many dermabrasions and chemical peels, he explained with a sigh. "You have to let your face rest. They don't want to listen."
What's next? Iris lightening? Eyeball bleaching? Maybe something to do with the tongue?
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Dan Morrison's reporting has taken him from BBQs with the Latin Kings street gang to ride-alongs with the police assassins of Bombay. He is author of The Black Nile, an account of his 3,600-mile journey down the Nile River through Uganda, Sudan, and Egypt, published by Viking Penguin.
Andrew Z. Cohen: Are You Thinking Your Own Thoughts?
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1. hindu gods were not white skinned...... they were all dark skinned till the british came to rule over india, and raja ravi varma, a king who was a servant of the british empire painted pictures of indian gods for the first time in oil paints, and he painted them white.... if you read the descriptions of gods in our scriptures and mythology, they were all described as dark skinned, for eg., krishna , shiva, vishnu are all described as dark... but over the period of colonial rule by the white skinned, the elite began to feel embarassed about this and started claiming its blue!! :) this is just one example of how low self esteem due to colonialism changed the skin color concepts over the past two centuries, even affecting our thousands year old mythologies. you my friend are an exceptional example of one of those colonial vestiges!!! :) no ofeence meant, its just a fact.
2. and again...... you dont seem to live in india, i have dark skinned brahmin friends from both delhi (hindi speaking north indian), varanasi, jammu, and calcutta....... that covers pretty much all of north india. So, will you please stop your misinformed propaganda!! the truth of the matter is that the white skin obsession is of post colonialism nature.
I already conceded that colonialism would have exacerbated pre-existing fair skin desires (as opposed to "white"). However you are quite wrong that there were no fair-skinned gods. Again, sorry if you don't like that, but there are plenty of representations of gods that pre-date European presence in India that show this to be true. Indeed Krishna has always stood out for his particularly dark skin. Yes, of course there are some gods that are portrayed darker and others lighter, but LIGHTER was what was associated very often with beauty. Again, this is not my personal opinion of beauty, but just a cultural truth. I do know that many Indians are fighting against what they see as the injustice of the caste system, good luck with that..
second, your knowledge of indian history seems to be based on the colonial propaganda based british version of indian history. present day indology debunks most of the history written by the british, especially about mythology and race.
while most of our gods were described as dark, i dont how your claim is logical that people wanted to emulate their dark skinned gods by being lighter skinned.... ???
anyways your efforts at understanding indian history and pop psychology are interesting!!! good luck with it........... but one thing is certain, even if our country, as a whole is color discriminatory, as you claim from centuries, it STILL DOESNT MAKE IT RIGHT!! our country had better grow out of it. And we cant allow these naked profiteers to further worsen this scenario by subliminal programming of fresh new generations by repetitive advertisements that keep claiming whiter skin is better!!! We dont want this trash!!!
BTW... LOVE your picture... :-)
My friend believes that there is no racism and all classes of people are accepted.
It is sad that such stigma against brown or dark skin complexions persists to the point of driving people, most often women, to bleach their skin. In spite of the frequently commented on caste and associated inhibitors of social mobility we as consumers have to stand up to the commercialism and media portrayals breeding light or white skin as superior to other tones. We are all beautiful in the skin God made us in! Just as the world is becoming flatter and more diverse so should the images on tv, in magazines, pageants, etc. The fact that we don't see them along with societal/family pressures and plain ignorance chips away at the esteem of our young women and girls.
I lived in West Africa for 7 years where skin bleaching is so common that women often mix chips of glass in with the creams to lighten their skin. You can only imagine the harsh effects to the skin and over time the women. Many who spend a lot of time in the sun become parched and leathery with shades of brown, pink, or red marring. It is not easy to see these beautiful women with once unbelievablely smooth, acne free skin so disfigured. I would often
It always makes me wonder, do they look at black people and think they were ugly? Do they look at the entire African continent and a large percentage of the Americas with disdain?
They covet the long straight dark hair, the skinny body, the light light skin tone, the straight slim nose in other words, polar opposite of the black traits, is being a black woman their worst nightmare?
Sad, sad, sad!!!!
Oh, and don't men of the world like you and me know it, wink wink, nudge nudge...but just so everyone else is clear, what is it?
But this isn't just a third world phenomenon, in their insightful article on ANAL BLEACHING:
"And almost all of the spas we called were quick to let us know that customers could also opt for a package that includes both anal bleaching and vulva lightening, in which the bleach is applied to the opening of the vagina."
U-S-A!
U-S-A!
U-S-A!