I recently came across a video of journalist Anita Rani on YouTube talking about skin bleaching and why some women and men are obsessed with being lighter and whiter. This is such an interesting topic to me since I am an Asian woman who is married to an African American man and we have two beautiful girls who are already facing some sort of remarks regarding their skin color. Interestingly, the “dark” comments usually came from people who are Asians.
When we were younger, my girlfriends and I were obsessed with getting a good tan. We were always lying by the pool or going to the beach trying to get some color on our skin. Some of us would go to the tanning salon to get the color desired. It is the opposite for my cousins who were visiting one summer. They refused to be in the sun. They were always in long sleeves shirts and wore a hat if they left the house. Being fair/lighter was very important to them especially since they were single.
In some country skin bleaching or skin whitening commercials are a part of everyday television. In India, these commercials show women who can’t find a job or husband because they are dark. Their problems were solved once they used a skin lightening product. In fact, one of the statements in the commercial below was “The obstacle to obtaining my dream job was my skin”.
Here are the videos of Anita Rani talking about this topic and I would love to hear your thoughts.
So what do I tell my daughters? I will tell them that all skin colors are beautiful and it’s what makes everyone unique in this world. And it is not their skin and appearance that will make them successful, but it is their hard work and their ability to care for everyone around them.
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