Colourism Still Persists

“Nani has a light complexion; whatever she wears will suit her!” These are the most common words I hear whenever I try on a shirt in a Nepali shop. Every other season, a skincare brand launches its new product—advertised as 'skin whitening,' 'skin lightening,' and 'skin brightening.' Matrimonial ads still list ‘fair’ as a requirement. All these subtle ordeals reveal how, after all this time, colourism still runs deep in modern South Asian society. 

Discrimination based on skin colour in South Asia prevailed since casteism, where the upper class people, who stayed indoors, seemingly had fair skin, while the lower class, who were mostly manual labourers, had darker skin. Such division was further amplified by the bloody history of colonialism, which ingrained a mindset of ‘white-supremacy’ among the long oppressed brown people. Fast forward to the present, most countries are free from the British Empire’s clutches, yet their mentality isn’t. Today, there are billion-dollar industries built through preying on South Asians’ desire for fairer skin.

What, then, is the issue with such mentality? It is, in fact, the truth that colourism is not far off from racism. Not only does it discriminate against people based on skin tone, it also pushes a harmful narrative of placing Eurocentric features above others. South Asian girls are the primary victims of such stereotypes, often pursuing extreme measures such as bleaching their skin to appear fairer. CNN conducted research in 2020, where it estimated the skin bleaching industry to be worth $8 billion, and projected it to reach $12.3 billion by 2027. The skin whitening products manufactured by such industries are riddled with toxic chemicals such as mercury and hydroquinone. When exposed to them for an extended period, our skin barriers slowly start succumbing, and remain at risk of being permanently destroyed. Such toxic chemicals not only cause external loss, but also breed internal ailments, such as kidney damage and neurological effects, in the long run.

On a positive note, the beauty industry, after years of backlash, is slowly expanding its diversity. Beauty products now come in varied shades in order to accommodate people of all skin tones. Multinational companies that used terms like ‘fair’ and ‘white’ in their advertisements are revoking it. A notable example is ‘Fair & Lovely,’ a prominent brand that sells skin-whitening creams, which rebranded as ‘Glow & Lovely’ in 2020, aiming for a more diverse approach. 

Yet, there remain hundreds of other companies pushing for Eurocentric features, intently watched by young girls around South Asia. The efforts made for diversity, though welcome, are simply not enough. The change must start from within, through our daily conversations and interactions. Use of demeaning nicknames like ‘kali’ and ‘hapsi’ for dark-skinned people should be discouraged.

Entertainment media like songs, stand-up comedies, and meme cultures should be heavily shamed for promoting colourism as humour. Not only should skin-lightening and whitening products have their ingredients strictly monitored and regulated, but the customers themselves, too, must think twice before purchasing them. It’s these changes in our attitude that will eventually help in eradicating this cancerous issue named colourism from our society.