Comments on: Fair, lovely, handsome and blah!

By: Boy

Boy — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 22:15:51 +0000

I read a few articles on the whole fair and handsome issue in which there was a whole concept of people in India wanting to be lighter because they have been ruled by lighter skinned people like the British/Aryans/Turks/Iranians blah blah blah. In Europe alot of people who are “too white” try and get a tan to get a little darker. Indians try to get a lighter. I just feel the preffered skin color is somewhere in the middle. Not too pale like some Europeans, and not too dark like most Indians. I mean, even amongst black people, the light skinned black women are considered more attractive. Myself, and most of the people I have asked, they don’t like women that are too white, nor do they like women who are too dark. Just like alot of men dont like women who are too fat or too thin. A nice body with a few curves are liked by most men. So I guess that is why Indians want to get a little lighter and Europeans want to get a little tanned. I am punjabi, and my Mother is persian background, so I have a mediocre complexion. I don’t have to worry about getting tanned or buying fairness creams ;-)

By: sra

sra — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 17:49:55 +0000

Hi Neha, this is a good post. But there is so much pressure and desire to be fair everywhere, even when it’s futile – I saw an African woman buying a sack, and I’m not exaggerating, of fairness cream a few years ago!

By: Krish Ashok

Krish Ashok — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 19:17:09 +0000

Well written. Its tragic and yet hilarious to read most of the Hindu matrimonials – “Fair, convent-educated, house-trained, docile, engineer degree, working, vadama, idlima girl for ivy league brown skinned boy with balding hair”. “Fair” is always the first adjective. “Wheatish” is always the euphemism for brownness. I wrote a short post a while back asking why my state is obsessed with suffering from skin cancer?

By: dipali

dipali — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:54:35 +0000

The fairness obseesion is responsible for so much pressure on people, particularly women, to conform to a particular, supposedly desirable, stereotype. It’s particularly distressing when you see young women from less affluent backgrounds deciding to use these products which they can ill afford. If it were guaranteed to boost a person’s self confidence, maybe I wouldn’t object to the entire concept.
I want a world where people are actually comfortable in their own skins:)

By: Neha Viswanathan

Neha Viswanathan — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:44:41 +0000

Agra: There IS discrimination based on colour. No point in denying it. People deal with it in different ways.

By: Agra

Agra — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:39:17 +0000

If a white person can use tanning cream /product to become dark and no big fuss about it, then why we have to be so bothered about fairness cream for men. I think let the decision be on individuals. If it works for some one whether actually or phycologically, what is the wrong in it. I think this product has nothing to do with various society differences. Let it be a democratic decision for all.

By: The “fair” society « கதம்ப மாலை

The “fair” society « கதம்ப மாலை — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:12:47 +0000

[...] Neha interprets the “colour” perceptions and their similarities in two societies. [...]