Comments on: “Beauty and the bleach” http://indsight.org/blog/2005/08/12/beauty-and-the-bleach/ Charukesi Ramadurai muses on life, language, travel, gender issues, advertising and why she does not blog more often... Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:55:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: rekha http://indsight.org/blog/2005/08/12/beauty-and-the-bleach/comment-page-1/#comment-32392 rekha Sat, 01 Jul 2006 01:17:05 +0000 http://indsight.org/blog/archives/2005/08/12/beauty-and-the-bleach/#comment-32392 hi, i have read with great interest the conversation above, as a fairly dark skin uk punjabi girl i was brought up being bullied for having a darker (olive) complextion. even by mt own mother. i have a partner who is fair skinned and children who are fair skinned. people do look and think how are these chioldren yours!. i have concidered skin bleaching but to what cost? give in to the steriotypical society who assume being fair is the b all and end all! in have had to go throught life self conciously as to the bulling and do feel insecure about my skin colour but i am rising above it and comming to terms with it, and the fact that my own mother would make nasty comments on the colour of my slin. surely a parent providing a secure and positive upbringing is more important! my family always chose ugly guys for marraige proposals as they thought that was all i was worth, so in the end i moved out, found my own handsome chap and have three lovely childre. i aint done to bad for a dark skinned girl! hi, i have read with great interest the conversation above, as a fairly dark skin uk punjabi girl i was brought up being bullied for having a darker (olive) complextion. even by mt own mother. i have a partner who is fair skinned and children who are fair skinned. people do look and think how are these chioldren yours!. i have concidered skin bleaching but to what cost? give in to the steriotypical society who assume being fair is the b all and end all! in have had to go throught life self conciously as to the bulling and do feel insecure about my skin colour but i am rising above it and comming to terms with it, and the fact that my own mother would make nasty comments on the colour of my slin. surely a parent providing a secure and positive upbringing is more important! my family always chose ugly guys for marraige proposals as they thought that was all i was worth, so in the end i moved out, found my own handsome chap and have three lovely childre. i aint done to bad for a dark skinned girl!

]]> By: Eliza http://indsight.org/blog/2005/08/12/beauty-and-the-bleach/comment-page-1/#comment-17547 Eliza Fri, 21 Apr 2006 05:56:45 +0000 http://indsight.org/blog/archives/2005/08/12/beauty-and-the-bleach/#comment-17547 Hi guys, Your post really interested me especially as I am researching the obsession with fair skin for my Year 12 major work. If any of you would like to leave a comment, either on ideas or suggestions for this issue, personal experience, or if you wanted to mention some of the fairness advertisements in India (which would be really useful as I live in Australia so I don't get to see many firsthand, it would be great if you could leave a comment on my website http://elizapip.blogspot.com/ It would be really, really appreciated as I could use my opinions as direct primary research for my project. Thanks! Thanks a lot Hi guys,
Your post really interested me especially as I am researching the obsession with fair skin for my Year 12 major work. If any of you would like to leave a comment, either on ideas or suggestions for this issue, personal experience, or if you wanted to mention some of the fairness advertisements in India (which would be really useful as I live in Australia so I don’t get to see many firsthand, it would be great if you could leave a comment on my website http://elizapip.blogspot.com/

It would be really, really appreciated as I could use my opinions as direct primary research for my project.
Thanks!

Thanks a lot

]]> By: SS http://indsight.org/blog/2005/08/12/beauty-and-the-bleach/comment-page-1/#comment-8292 SS Mon, 29 Aug 2005 22:14:56 +0000 http://indsight.org/blog/archives/2005/08/12/beauty-and-the-bleach/#comment-8292 I don't mean to get into the middle of this arguement....but do these fair creams actually work? at the most, they may make a person a shade or two lighter but for those who have deep brown/dark brown skin I highly doubt these creams will work. To be honest with you all, I see no harm in using these creams. What I do see harm in is that society does not consider a girl who has a dark complexion beautiful. Look at actresses like Nandita Das. She is a very attractive woman, but her complexion is on the darker side. The problem is not so much that these creams exist. The problem is that people think that being fair is pretty and dark ugly. People need to wake up because fair skinned women exist who are ugly!! Those who do have darker skin should be proud of what they were born with! At the end of this all, it is the person's personality and upbringing matter..not the fact that her skin is fair or not. I don’t mean to get into the middle of this arguement….but do these fair creams actually work? at the most, they may make a person a shade or two lighter but for those who have deep brown/dark brown skin I highly doubt these creams will work.

To be honest with you all, I see no harm in using these creams. What I do see harm in is that society does not consider a girl who has a dark complexion beautiful. Look at actresses like Nandita Das. She is a very attractive woman, but her complexion is on the darker side.

The problem is not so much that these creams exist. The problem is that people think that being fair is pretty and dark ugly. People need to wake up because fair skinned women exist who are ugly!! Those who do have darker skin should be proud of what they were born with!

At the end of this all, it is the person’s personality and upbringing matter..not the fact that her skin is fair or not.

]]> By: charukesi http://indsight.org/blog/2005/08/12/beauty-and-the-bleach/comment-page-1/#comment-8043 charukesi Sat, 20 Aug 2005 15:34:21 +0000 http://indsight.org/blog/archives/2005/08/12/beauty-and-the-bleach/#comment-8043 Marie :). actually the fair skin obsession is not limited to South India - it is just as bad or even worse in the North. And yes, dark skinned girls and women thnkof themselves as bad looking - they are made to feel that way and actually start believing it - I have met such women... People buy fairness creams sold by fair models for much the same reason that we go watch movies where pretty girls act - incidentally where the hero is totally ugly and dark in many cases, esp in Southie movies... it is not about identification but about aspiration... by the way, what are these ads on TSN? have not seen any. tele shopping? Marie :) . actually the fair skin obsession is not limited to South India – it is just as bad or even worse in the North. And yes, dark skinned girls and women thnkof themselves as bad looking – they are made to feel that way and actually start believing it – I have met such women…
People buy fairness creams sold by fair models for much the same reason that we go watch movies where pretty girls act – incidentally where the hero is totally ugly and dark in many cases, esp in Southie movies…
it is not about identification but about aspiration…

by the way, what are these ads on TSN? have not seen any. tele shopping?

]]> By: marie http://indsight.org/blog/2005/08/12/beauty-and-the-bleach/comment-page-1/#comment-8042 marie Sat, 20 Aug 2005 15:10:42 +0000 http://indsight.org/blog/archives/2005/08/12/beauty-and-the-bleach/#comment-8042 The ads of fairness products on TSN takes the cake! Outrageously degrading & throroughly tacky.. it nonetheless echoes the sentiments of the masses. What i find also surprising is the South Indian obsession over fair skin... although majority of them have a darker skin tone! (Does that mean that most of them perceive themselves to be bad looking?) Never mind the kickass bone structure.. if you have dark skin.. you're considered ugly! Movies & ads in South India almost never have dark models. How do people buy these fairness products when they a. cannot identify with the models used in the ad. b. know that they will not become "fair" & that the only way to go fair would be if their skin gets diseased ( read leucoderma ) Matimonial ads have undergone a lot of change from the 50's.. but not the "fair bride syndrome" no sir! That alas is a chronic ailment & the prognosis bleak! The ads of fairness products on TSN takes the cake! Outrageously degrading &
throroughly tacky.. it nonetheless echoes the sentiments of the masses.

What i find also surprising is the South Indian obsession over fair skin… although
majority of them have a darker skin tone! (Does that mean that most of them perceive
themselves to be bad looking?) Never mind the kickass bone structure.. if
you have dark skin.. you’re considered ugly! Movies & ads in South India almost never
have dark models. How do people buy these fairness products when they
a. cannot identify with the models used in the ad.
b. know that they will not become “fair” & that the only way to go fair would be if
their skin gets diseased ( read leucoderma )

Matimonial ads have undergone a lot of change from the 50’s.. but not
the “fair bride syndrome” no sir!

That alas is a chronic ailment & the prognosis bleak!

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