Why are Indian women obsessed with becoming lighter?

Question

When my family and i went back to india in summer 05 (i was born there, but moved to the US when i was 2), we visited a mall, and i, naturally, was drawn to the beauty stores in there. when i walked in, a saleswoman immediately told me, "you know, those of us who have a tan want to get rid of it right? you should definitely try this mask"... im like...ok, im pretty happy with my skin color, thanks.

now i know that in India, it seems like the girls that are lighter are somehow "better" than darker skinned girls, but that shouldnt be the case at all. When do yall think that Indian women will get over trying to become "fair and lovely"?

Answer 1

Unfortunately it's like that in a lot of cultures. Like black girls with lighter skin are always thought to be prettier than those with richer and darker skin color. Same thing goes for Indian people, Middle Eastern people, really any race. Except maybe Caucasians. Unfortunately we are thought of as pasty. Dark skin is just something that too few people embrace.

Answer 2

Such is a phenomenon that demonstrates worldwide, in every country that has known the coming of the European.

Who has the power calls the play and sets the bar. If it were some category of plants that set-to first in, say, a woodlands, that species would call the shots thereafter as well.

It is just the tendency toward dominancy especially among living beings. Do not fault those who are conditioned so or those who exacted the conditioning.

'That' is in all nature.

That Indian Asians, or Latinos, or African Americans, or any non-Caucasian people have these aberrations is just what life has come to be, and has been so for the past 400 years in North and South America specifically, for example.

East India should not be thought exempt from this selfsame stigma, which primarily was brought there by the English centuries ago...

Well, it is done. Beauty has been defined. If you like what you see, then fine. If you don't like what you see, then it has to be still fine. For once the conditioning has been set in the very earliest of childhood, little will alter it.

Jealousy or hatred against those who meet or exceed that standard will do even less against the evidence it exists.

Answer 3

Good question. But Indians everywhere are obsessed with color and the status they think it brings. In America and Britain, white people are more likely to find dark-skinned Indians attractive than Indians themselves would. The Indian obsession with color is almost comical, but not without harm (consider, for example, what your family says about black people in private or among other Indians). The English colonial mindset has turned many Indians just plain kooky. I remember a beautiful dark-skinned Indian woman in college who dropped her black boyfriend, who was a summa *** laude grad, a medical resident from a top Ivy League med school, and much sought-after, because her parents wouldn't stand for it. Then, the next year, she married a schlubby white guy who had a low-level job at some trade association. Her parents acted like they'd won the lottery. The nakedness and backwards-ness of the racism is just embarrassing. We must all stand up to and confront Indian racism.

Answer 4

Sickness as it is but we in India get enamored by the fair color of the skin!! No one realizes that the darker the skin the less prone one is to skin cancer caused by the sun. Plus the fairer complexioned community outside India spend hours to get a sun tan!!

Answer 5

I'm Indian and I hate when the whole myth about lighter Indian girls are better. ha ha!! that is some bullshit. I love my skin color and I would do anything to it. I think every Indian women were brainwash ever since they were little and that's why they think being lighter is better. But in fact, it doesn't matter how you are. You personality is what makes you a better person.

Answer 6

Thank you for your question! I have seen Indian girls on here asking tips on how to get their skin fair. I can't even explain how I feel about that. People are willing to give these girls tips, but no one says 'you don't need to'. Why? You must have heard of the cream 'Fair and Lovely', I think it should be banned. If people look at your skin colour before they speak to you, then I guess I don't want to know these people either.

Answer 7

People always wanna look more attractive. Specially women. They believe a fair skin would make them attractive and hence try out these things.

While talking about a your own experience, if you go to a car showroom, the sales person would show you a car; if you go to a boutique, the sales person would show you the designer collection; if you go to a cosmetics vendor, the sales person would show you cosmetics. That doesn't imply that everyone buys those things. Instead of generalizing things based on the suggestions of the sales person, better look out at the buyers...

:-)

Answer 8

India ... the country that is supposed to be all "unity in diversity" is becoming as racist as anywhere else.... i hate that .... and im sayin that outta experience... if ur even a shade darker than white (god forbid) ur soo looked down upon.. and just for the record... i think darker skinned people are more down to earth and more appealing than light skinned people no matter what the adverts and paparazzi claim

Answer 9

"Aping the west" has always been our policy at this juncture
this ouestion is very relevant .we have been fascinated by the exsisting fashion & style out there in west as part of it fair skinned are widely acceptable so people here also try to be like that .But people have failed to understand that if we don't respect ouselves then who will! .so its important to be proud of ones skin colour so that others can also respect you & not discriminate you

Moreover many fairness cream ads have mislead people by explainig that by becoming fair you can be somebody different & these are making it clear that dark skinned girls are having some sort of handicap.lastly I want to say that its personality that counts not skin colour................

Answer 10

I think that is a universal feeling, not confined to Indians. Why did apartheid remain for so long in S.Africa? Why did the Whites take the blacks as slaves and the discrimination against the black by the white Americans still continue this day?