Skin colour: A shady issue?
written by Ali Zafar

Who knew skin colour would spark spasms of abrupt anger between grandmother and granddaughter - a rift so deep leaving no hope of a truce between the two. Amama Chowdhury, 22, was born a healthy baby, weighing in at 10 pounds.

But her skin colour, apparently, just wasn't right.

"I was very dark when I was born and my dadi got very upset. She said I was too dark. I feel bad, even now. I don't respect her - I used to get in fights with her all the time because she talks about this bullshit, about how I should have been lighter."

Skin colour is a shady issue in South Asia and in South Asian diasporas. The fairer is better ideology is promoted everywhere, through India's largest film industry - Bollywood, through culture and even religion it seems has a part in promoting it. Being "fair" is associated with being "lovely," and large bleach cream industries - such as Fair and Lovely - have blossomed due to the stigma of being dark.

The by-product of this stigma, often small tubes of bleach creams marketed in fancy packages depicting fair skinned women, are found in South Asian grocery stores; many of which are located in Toronto's Gerrard India Bazaar.

From B.J Supermarket to Brother's Halal Meat & Groceries, just about every grocer in the Bazaar holds Fair & Lovely along with Stillman's another popular bleach cream - unless they're sold out - as was the case in Friendly Supermarket. But bleach creams aren't only found on shelves in South Asian grocery stores. At Kashmir Beauty Salon they're incorporated in "fairness facials."

Soniya Soni, a cosmetologist at Kashmir Beauty Salon in Malton, does "fairness facials" on customers, usually South Asian females. Soni uses hot towels to steam the face. Once the skin is tender, blackheads are cleared out and she washes the face. Finally, Soni lathers the face with bleach cream for 15 to 20 minutes.

Originally from India, Soni doesn't think the use of bleach creams is a big deal. "When you go out in the sun - especially in India - you get tanned, and if your face looks black then you bleach it to make yourself look lighter," says Soni casually, adding it's just another way of making yourself feel pretty. She says "the use of fairness creams is big and Fair and Lovely is very popular in India."

Fair and Lovely is marketed by Hindustan Lever Limited - headquartered in Mumbai, India - and has made millions in profits by exporting worldwide. It's composed of sunscreens and Vitamin B3, which controls how much melanin is created in the skin - with dark-skinned people having more melanin than light-skinned people. According to its website, Fair and Lovely takes a period of six weeks to make the skin fairer and the process is harmless and reversible. But Chowdhury is not one of the company's customers.

"I don't want to make myself different - I want to be the way I am, I want to be natural." It's been five years since Chowdhury moved to Toronto, but she still has vivid memories of back home. "In Bangladesh, just about everybody uses Fair and Lovely. There was an ad on TV where they would show how a tanned hand becomes fair with the use of Fair and Lovely."

Chowdhury says the use of bleach creams by South Asian girls is all about appeal. "They want to attract guys; it's all about looking sexy. I think people talk about you when you're dark, saying things like you're not pretty." Or worse. "Sometimes for South Asian girls, you can't get married if you're dark because when the guy comes over to see the girl, the guy's family is discouraged by the dark girl."

Vanita Mahal, a Cosmetics Manager at Shoppers Drugmart says being dark is taboo in South Asian communities. Originally from north India, Mahal has been living in Toronto for more than 10 years. "Every girl wants to look pretty, no one wants to look dark because there's this myth in South Asia where light is beautiful," says Mahal.

She was once an avid user of bleach creams. From grade 10 to second-year university, Mahal lathered on the creams, primarily to blend the thin facial hair with the skin. "My older sisters used them back in India, so I started using them. It's stupid, skin colour doesn't really matter because every girl is unique - every girl is pretty in her own way. I used to use them but I realized afterward that I don't need them because I'm pretty the way I am," says Mahal. As a cosmetic manager, Mahal says she sees many South Asian women wanting to look lighter. "It's crazy, dark women come up to me and ask for the lightest foundation," says Mahal.

But why the craze with wanting to look fair?

Professor of South Asian Studies at York University, Hira Singh, says the ideology of fairer is better was partly promoted by colonialism in the Indian sub-continent. "It didn't originate with colonialism but colonialism did contribute to it," says Professor Singh. Even though the British didn't favour people due to colour, white people being there and dominating - it did make whiteness a privilege, promoting being fairer as better."

But he says this ideology goes back even further to the caste system - which existed 2000 years before India was colonized. The system equates light skin with a more revered caste. Members of the highest caste - Brahmin, who are usually priests - are suppose to be lighter and people of the lowest caste - Shudra or poor labourers - are comparatively darker, says professor Singh.

The caste system isn't alone in promoting the fairer is better ideology; religion has a part in it as well. "Most of the popular Hindu Gods are fair, Ram, his wife Sita, Khrisna and even Shiva - he's samvla - which is like a Mediterranean skin colour," says Professor Singh.

But Chowdhury - who's a Muslim - says it has a lot to do with culture. "You have to be fair to be pretty - that's the main problem - I don't know what's wrong with these people."

One of the major influences on Indian culture is Bollywood. This word conjures up images of lovers dancing on top of Swiss mountains or playing pee-ka-boo behind trees. It's a Hindi language film industry based in Mumbai - very popular amongst South Asians.

Some actors from Bollywood have made it out in the West - one of the biggest being Aishwarya Rai - whose L'Oreal advertisements were seen high above Toronto's Eaton Centre - until recently when a windstorm brought them down. Rai was crowned Miss World 1994 and has featured in many Bollywood movies, from Taal to one of the heavy-hitters of Bollywood - Devdas. She's light skinned, has greenish eyes and there are many other actresses in Bollywood like her - Kareena Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Manisha Koirala, Juhi Chawla, the list goes on.

Of course there are few dark-skinned actresses in Bollywood - such as Bipasha Basu, but it seems for every Basu there are many Rais out there. Even Indian songs - such as Gori Hain Kaliyaan (your arms are white) or Gori Tera Gaon Bada Pyra (white girl your town is pretty) - illustrate how a girl is fair, never how she's dark.

Though dark skin colour caused Chowdhury to endure an upsetting relationship with her grandmother, her older sister is suffering a fate considered by many South Asians to be much worse - not being able to find a husband. "My sister has dark skin so when guys interested in ristas [marriage proposals] come in, they don't like the way she looks. My sister never uses Fair and Lovely because she doesn't want to change herself for all those guys.

"This April, my dad is taking my sister to Bangladesh - looking for a guy who will marry her for who she is. She's 29 and she gets frustrated because she can't find a husband due to her skin colour," says Chowdhury. And she's not alone. Professor Singh says in his local village of Mahuari, India, many women can't find husbands.

"If you got a dark daughter and you're not very rich, you're not going to find the right husband - the right husband is light. I grew up in a small village in India and this was always a problem - that a girl couldn't get married because she was too dark," says Professor Singh.

For Chowdhury the fairer is better ideology is never going to end. "I was born in 1984, and one of my baby cousins was born two years ago, and people say she's very dark, so even now this is going on, it won't stop. This sort of thinking passes from generation to generation."

Even when we get to 2010, it's going to go on and on, it won't stop."