Why the Complexion Causes the Complex?
The skin colour, facial and bodily features are something one born with. It could depend on the
genetic factors, biological and hormonal reasons or on the climatic or
environmental conditions of the respective place one born or lives in. Though
nationality of oneself could be identify according to outer appearances as
Indian (north Indian, south Indian or north-eastern etc.), Chinese, Japanese etc. and at larger perspective Asian, European, American, African and so on. Identifying
one’s region, religion and nationality doesn't cause any problem but issues
begin when the skin colour and bodily features become the reasons of biases.
At a larger level it is called as racial politics but at very domestic level it
gives birth to the feeling of downgrading, low self-esteem and self-confidence
as the colour dark and dusky is preoccupied with the notion of ‘lesser’ and the
fair skinned people is considered ‘super’ thus beautiful.
So, what are the
parameters for acclaiming someone ‘beautiful’? Indian Aesthetics says that
beauty lies in the eyes of beholder. But what if beholder’s eyes are wrapped
with the binary established by the old aged society? The binary of colour White
and Black are no less than the binaries suggested by feminist scholar Helene Cixous as
Good-Bad, Masculine-Feminine, and Father-Mother in which the former term is
powerful and the latter is lesser. Instead I would recall another feminist
scholar Simone-de-Beauvoir’s words, ‘the one is not born women but one becomes
one’. Similarly even if one is born dark and dusky, s/he is not the matter of
considering downgraded, it’s the existing notions in social veins which lead
people to believe them lesser.
I was also made
realize during my childhood that I was not a fair complexioned girl and not
having the sharp features which are the essential parameters to look beautiful.
So, I was going to face the factor in future or may be won’t ever considered a
beautiful bride or so the in-law. But fortunately as I came ahead in life I observed
that the overall personality including intelligence, talents, soft and hard
skills and the way you carry yourself is what makes you rather than the skin colour and features you are born with. Then I started realizing that why the
homely ladies didn't ever made me realize that I was a clean skinned wheatish
complexioned girl not a coaly dark or pimplish white? This could look far better
than the so-called sharp featured girls of that time. Today when I remember those days I often make
my parents remember this saying that, ‘you are really not good with how to give
a good parental to children, it’s not about spending more money over them
instead it’s about to make their self-esteem high.’ They did not ever managed
to think that their children will have to confront a big bad world ahead which is full of the people those seeks
opportunities to find out the reasons where one could be push down easily. Thus, one needs the high self-esteem and
confidence to get something good in life not for the sake of looking beautiful
only.
And further this
belief is supported by the advertisement agencies of social media for the sake
of the sale of their beauty creams and products. The beliefs starts from the
people as social/traditional beings and implemented again on themselves as a
consumer. And finally the audience becomes the foolish consumer in the
race of following the false notions of contemporary visual culture. This visual
culture is not less than a twin of popular media like television and films. And it’s always more good to hear about
realities from the people those are the part of the things we wish to know
about. So, I would recall the words of actress Nandita Das, said by her in a
recent interview, as she starts with, ‘every article of mine always begins with
dark and dusky as if it is a qualification without that I am incomplete’. She
is utterly right in her complaining because the fair actresses don’t get start
with Fair Kareena, Fair Aishwarya and so on when they are written about. But if
it is dark it’s like an apprehension infact a lot of people try to become
politically correct saying that, ‘O, we love the dark skin, even I love the
dark women more’. No one has to like
them more if they are dark, instead one doesn’t have to like or dislike because
of one’s skin colour. These are the wrong reasons to like or dislike someone.
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| Actress Nandita Das |
We know that Nandita
Das most often chooses the films with real characters, real women those are
dark complexioned. But when she does a semi upper class character, a class
where she comes from, it leads the lady into a question of anger towards the
directors asking to make a character a bit fair one. So, is it meaning that
lower class women are dark and a dark complexioned woman can’t be fit playing an
upper class role? It’s a mindset or stereotyping keeps perpetuating the notion
so far. Otherwise it’s a dangerous trend or an obsession of this country with
the fair skin. In main stream cinema one have to be a woman of fair skin if she
ambitions to mark a big hit in industry. But Nandita feels thankful as she
never wanted to become a main stream cinema actress as she feels unable to
devote the hardwork for the perfection needed there. And off-course that
perfection has nothing to do with the acting ability but all about the physical
appearance. She finds the life provides us far more interesting things to do
rather than keep worrying about looks every time.
She too mentions the
‘fairy’ promises of ‘fairness’ creams which opens the door of ‘fairyland’ for
the consumers which does not exist actually. The bizarre belongingness of the
fairness creams have not left the under arms and even the genitals of a woman
like vagina. Their stupid campaign says to make it fair for someone who loves
you. It’s completely commercially created crazy obsession. Also the film
industry is full of dark lover actresses those were dark in their early movies
but suddenly they becomes fair/white in their recent ones. She picks up an
example of her friend who is also dark pinning up a point on the beauty
magazines. They just suggests a lot of things to do for dark skin as if being a
dark is such an ugliness which one should try to remove at their end. These
magazines serve the juicy advertisements which make dark skinned girls and boys
with low self-esteem. Especially the young girls keep worrying about their
marriages, their would be husband’s liking those they have not found yet and
for their professional carriers where they might be facing the problem to get a
good job just because of their dark complexions irrespective of their
qualifications and capabilities. It’s just ridiculously funny thing which puts
their identities into a passive zone and put a burden of peer pressure.
This could be only an obsession that Indians,
South Asians or a lot of developing countries have but it’s always like the
western world people wants to become tanned and here in India they want to
become fair. So it’s wanting which you do not have kind of a syndrome. So, some
women have to suffer unnecessarily. Intelligent parents nurture many of the
talents and many of the skills in their kids instead of worrying about something
they just born with. Whether its colour of the skin, the nationality, the nose,
or whatever. So over the years it does just take away the confidence of a lot
of people, which is unworthy to lose at all. In this ongoing context I would
like to mention the performance of young artist Pari Baishya presented in-front of a selected audience at Cartwheel Archives, Chattarpur, New Delhi, which I witnessed
around a year back.
I remember the way
she started performing by identifying and then marking circles by a black
marker pen around the birth marks, body marks, skin irritations and other marks
left out on her body by mosquitoes, insects or she got during the travelling
and camping onto hills. While marking
these marks onto her legs she was mumbling that she doesn’t have ‘pretty legs’.
Immediate to this realization she felt the need to remove these scars or marks
from her body, thus smears a ‘beauty cream’ onto her face which is actually a
black acrylic colour filled into a tube and turned to look like a ‘beauty
cream’. No doubt the black beauty cream won’t make her white and fair instead
it turned her into a black duckling.
Then she supposed to
have worried about her untimely greying hairs and she smears the black onto the
hair strips too as the people do dye their hairs once they starts turning
white. It’s like some stereotypical notions have fixed that faces and body
should have the whites and the hairs has to be the blacks. After completing the
whole act Pari stood in-front of the audience posing like a model in desire to
get photographed. It seemed she was telling all the possibility of the black by
posing with same confidence as the ‘white’ models do in-front of the cameras as
beauty industry demands. She says all the fake notions of our traditional and
cultural beliefs by mocking onto the unnatural assets of beauty industry who
make us believe that dark and stained is ugly which needs to turn into fair and
clean in order to get a desirable body thus a prince of dreams or success in
professional life.
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| Few Stills from the Performance |
When she uttered
that she doesn’t have pretty legs it automatically came to the usual psychology
of a self analysis and ultimate fear of dejection which most of the dark
skinned girls pursue in their minds. The crux of the performance was lying on
the feeling of inadequacy, which becomes ‘natural’ at certain point. To resist
it one has to come out of the whole notion of the beauty as promoted and
propagated by the beauty industry which purely aims to making their financial
profit. Idea of looking good as a ‘fair
skinned’ is not a problem but when it is controlled by a hegemonic belief it
becomes worthy to analyse and needs solution.
As white has considered the hegemonic power that rules the world and in
words of Critic, curator and writer JohnyML, ‘through this performance she
pointed out at the possibility of considering the ‘other’ as beautiful, the
dejected as the acceptable, the displaced as the mainstream, the subaltern as
the relevant, the migrant as the citizen, the scarred as the rightful and the
stained as the saint.’ And I would say, that is all we need in our contemporary
times to get rid of all the false notions of ‘reeled’ advertisements by popular
industries (beauty and films both) which try to lead and control our ‘real’
lives for the sake of filling their pockets and emptying ours.
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