āColorism isnāt real.ā
Colorism? Wow because the term āracismā is so blase.
pilambdaodĀ Colorism specifically refers to people of their own race valuing lighter skin over darker skin. For example in latina culture, valuingĀ āgoodā straight hair overĀ āpelo maloā or bad, curly hair.
Racism would imply weāre talking about at least two different races here; colorism specifically is about racist ideals within one race, people of one race policing others appearance within their own race.Ā
(since this is an indian book, presumably made by indian people for indian children to read, depicting a light skinned indian woman as more beautiful than a dark skinned one, itās colorism.)
One of those is clearly Caucasian the other Indian.
Creating random new āismsā only makes legitimate grievances seem petty and stupid.
āOne of those is clearly Caucasianā
Aishwarya Rai, Kareena Kapoor, Kangana RanautĀ
Karisma Kapoor, Shruti Haasan, Zarine Khan
All actresses/models born in India to parents who were also born in India (or Pakistan), in a narrow view ofĀ ārace.āĀ
If a Papua New Guinean hooks up with a Swedish person all you get is a human. Ā Thereās no new thing youāre going to get. You just get a human.Ā
-Ā Bill Nye: Race is a Human Construct (and donāt look at the comments; itās the usual cesspool of bigots)Ā
Ideas on āraceā have been in slow development over the years, but colourism is a real thing (often with roots in imperialism, especially as Western ideas of beauty began to intrude upon countries).Ā
The 100 Years of Beauty: PhilippinesĀ has a jarring jump where April VillanuevaĀ (who has light/medium-toned skin) gets her skin darkened for the 1910s-20s aesthetic, then becomes powder-white when US/European colonial interests make a stronger influence on Philippine society in the 1930s (more in the research video).Ā
Two more examples of skin tone variation between famous women in countries where colourism has become prevalent in celebrity culture (ie, it was a lot harder finding photos of a dark-skinned Korean actress than a light-skinned one):Ā
Koreans: Song Hye-kyo and Lee HyoriĀ
Filipinos: Valerie Garica and Nicole Scherzinger (active in the US; Filipino father, Hawaiian/Samoan-Russian mother)Ā
Variation in skin colour across a āraceā is as real as variation in eye colour (āoh, you have brown eyes? I guess youāre not a realĀ Caucasianā).Ā
Colourism also pervades a lot of modern beauty marketing.Ā
Whatās underneath your dark skin? A prettier, lighter version of yourself! Everyone should strive to be more fair and lovely because only then youāll be happy with your flesh prison!!Ā
tl;dr colourism exists and isnāt some bogeyman made up by āāes jay double-ews,āā and if youāre the person bemoaning how it ādelegitimizes racismā then itās likely you actually donāt care about racism at all and are just trying to devalue the arguments with the classicĀ ābut so-and-so people have it worse! how could you be so self-centered and selfish??āĀ
Also ācolorismā was coined by Alice Walker in 1982. This is not some new internet fad.
Colorism is 100% real. People donāt really have the audacity to say it to your face anymore when youāre older but from ages 6 to 13, I would constantly hear from relatives and others that I used to be so āwhiteā and ābeautifulā as a baby and itās a shame my face darkened. Every desi girl I know has a similar experience.
In Asian countries, darker skinned people are thought to be ugly and poor.
One of my friends grew up in Bangladesh. Her parents had guests over, and she was setting the table and doing some chores. Sheās eight years old and just trying to be helpful. The guests complimented her parents, saying they had a wonderful maid.
a maid. understandably sheās hurt, because they assumed due to the color of her skin that she wasnāt her parentsā daughter. sheās literally eight years old and doing something out of love, and thatās alienated from herāit was basically implied that she didnāt belong to the family.
she had the darkest skin out of her family (& sheās like a mid tan at most) so when she was little, they nicknamed her ākali taraā, black star.
she teared up when telling us this story because you know in english, it doesnāt sound so bad. a black star. but in bangla, it implies a star thatās gone dark, been extinguished.
a black star doesnāt have any light.
