There has been the usual white angst driven PC crappola on the web sites about the fact that fairer (whiter) skinned black women do better in show business than dark skinned black women. Frankly it made me laugh, because as usual they couldn't bring themselves to really say what the underlying issue is.
It isn't that white people are less discriminatory against paler toned black people .... it is in fact an internal colour prejudice within the black and Asian communities.
Skin whitening creams have been sold in vast quantities in south Asia and Africa, as well as elsewhere for decades, centuries in fact.
This is because women in those regions are trying to achieve the levels of what is considered beauty within their own communities. In the Indian subcontinent for example, high class or caste women in pictures have been portrayed as fair skinned (or even dare I say it, white), while their servants are invariably black or darker toned.
This is because the Muslim Mughal Emperors who ruled much of India came from outside the subcontinent, and were of Eurasian stock (probably Persian/ Turkic related) .... they were therefore considerably lighter toned than the native Indian subjects they ruled over. Standards of what was beautiful were therefore set as lighter, well before the British arrived. Their later arrival just reinforced that standard.
In Africa and those males of African descent in the diaspora, there was, and is, a big deal in getting a white wife or partner .... so much so that its hard to find any black footballer or athlete based in Europe, married to a black woman, even those with lighter skin tones. There are obviously some as the runner above illustrates (but he still lives in the Caribbean), but they tend to prove the rule .... so its little wonder that black women with darker complexions, buy skin lighteners.
The truth is that lighter toned black or brown beauty rules are set by their own societies, in fact by their own males attitudes. Dark skinned black women feel that they have to lighten up in order to compete with the ideals of beauty set by their own men folks fantasy women. Is it therefore any wonder that the western media simply reflect, what is a fact on the ground for many black or dark skinned women around the world.
The one group we can't always include in this are the south Asian Muslims, but its a fact that skin lightening products are still best sellers, despite the restrictions on femininity displays in some rural areas.
Strangely this colourism is highlighted by the attitudes of the UK media and advertising agencies, who have rather lazily taken to illustrating 'multiculturalism', by having a blonde white European woman partnered with a black African male ~ the darker the better.
Occasionally they show an Asian or Black (but usually mid to light toned) woman, with a white European male just for contrast.
Some of this could be called the 'Mandingo effect' ... where what was once done to create interracial shock (Ken Norton the black slave hand and Susan George as the blonde white plantation girl in inter-racial love), has become a tired cliché. The shock or novelty has long worn off, but advertisers continue to use the same image 45 years later ... Oddly of course, whilst incidences of black men with white female partners are reasonably common these days, the incidences of white males with black African descent partners are still comparatively rare and seen only in urban-metric areas ... Asian females rarely have a partner outside their community.
I doubt if this will come up in this current debate, but its interesting that even the UK advertisers have not tried to show a Pakistani girl with a white partner ..... while white women are shown with Asian males, presumably 'Indian' partners ... again a rarity in reality.
Still its interesting where they draw the line but maybe that's another debate .... in the meantime those fighting colourism, are much like those discussing afro-Caribbean women's wigs, finding that its one taboo subject too far.
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| Skin Lightening Products Sold In Asia And African Diaspora ...... |
It isn't that white people are less discriminatory against paler toned black people .... it is in fact an internal colour prejudice within the black and Asian communities.
Skin whitening creams have been sold in vast quantities in south Asia and Africa, as well as elsewhere for decades, centuries in fact.
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| Nigerian and Cameroonian musician Dencia ~ Promotes 'Whitenicious' |
This is because women in those regions are trying to achieve the levels of what is considered beauty within their own communities. In the Indian subcontinent for example, high class or caste women in pictures have been portrayed as fair skinned (or even dare I say it, white), while their servants are invariably black or darker toned.
 |
| The Mughal Emperor Is Noticeably Lighter Skinned Than Many Of His Indian Subjects |
This is because the Muslim Mughal Emperors who ruled much of India came from outside the subcontinent, and were of Eurasian stock (probably Persian/ Turkic related) .... they were therefore considerably lighter toned than the native Indian subjects they ruled over. Standards of what was beautiful were therefore set as lighter, well before the British arrived. Their later arrival just reinforced that standard.
 |
| Fair Footballer and a Fast Man with the ladies prove the rules |
In Africa and those males of African descent in the diaspora, there was, and is, a big deal in getting a white wife or partner .... so much so that its hard to find any black footballer or athlete based in Europe, married to a black woman, even those with lighter skin tones. There are obviously some as the runner above illustrates (but he still lives in the Caribbean), but they tend to prove the rule .... so its little wonder that black women with darker complexions, buy skin lighteners.
The truth is that lighter toned black or brown beauty rules are set by their own societies, in fact by their own males attitudes. Dark skinned black women feel that they have to lighten up in order to compete with the ideals of beauty set by their own men folks fantasy women. Is it therefore any wonder that the western media simply reflect, what is a fact on the ground for many black or dark skinned women around the world.
The one group we can't always include in this are the south Asian Muslims, but its a fact that skin lightening products are still best sellers, despite the restrictions on femininity displays in some rural areas.
 |
| Pakistani Skin Whitening Products |
Strangely this colourism is highlighted by the attitudes of the UK media and advertising agencies, who have rather lazily taken to illustrating 'multiculturalism', by having a blonde white European woman partnered with a black African male ~ the darker the better.
 |
| Lazy UK Advertising and Media Producers Use Formulaic Approach To Multiculturalism And Reinforces Colourism. |
Occasionally they show an Asian or Black (but usually mid to light toned) woman, with a white European male just for contrast.
 |
| Mandingo Effect Still Playing Out With Media And Advertisers .... |
Some of this could be called the 'Mandingo effect' ... where what was once done to create interracial shock (Ken Norton the black slave hand and Susan George as the blonde white plantation girl in inter-racial love), has become a tired cliché. The shock or novelty has long worn off, but advertisers continue to use the same image 45 years later ... Oddly of course, whilst incidences of black men with white female partners are reasonably common these days, the incidences of white males with black African descent partners are still comparatively rare and seen only in urban-metric areas ... Asian females rarely have a partner outside their community.
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| The Adverts Give The Game Away ..... |
I doubt if this will come up in this current debate, but its interesting that even the UK advertisers have not tried to show a Pakistani girl with a white partner ..... while white women are shown with Asian males, presumably 'Indian' partners ... again a rarity in reality.
Still its interesting where they draw the line but maybe that's another debate .... in the meantime those fighting colourism, are much like those discussing afro-Caribbean women's wigs, finding that its one taboo subject too far.
Some people apparently just find lighter skin desirable. It's obviously a sensitive preference to have in a racially charged world but race apart, is it any different from any other preference? Good looks, height, straight hair. Many white people strive for darker skin in the form of tanning, I haven't seen any controversy about that apart from the health concerns.
ReplyDeleteThe difference appears to be that its not individual preference, but rather a mass cultural issue. Nearly all women in some cultures are under constant pressure to be 'fair' or 'wheatish' ... its not a simple matter of personal taste. I have added a further illustration to the post which I think makes it very clear.
DeleteThanks for the comment.
I don't see the difference as there is also constant pressure to be young and slim, for example. These things start off as personal preferences then the advertising agencies latch on and bombard us with images and slogans designed to appeal to our wants.
DeleteThe adverts the I have illustrated are from the Indian Times, and other south Asian newspapers, and clearly show that the males are preoccupied with the naturally brown and dark skinned Indian women being as fair (aka white) or Wheaten as possible, in order to get married.
DeleteThat is not the same as slim, or young ... women can only 'whiten' their skin via products (many of which are caustic).
This is not personal preference by the individual men, but a cultural requirement that Indian women (especially southern Indian women), cant possibly meet through a good diet and exercise. It is in fact a socially driven demand and false aspiration set by Indian males expectations, and that are not a part of the natural colour of people from that part of the world.
Of course its not only India that have these issues. But if you cant see the difference between this false obsession, and the normal desire for a beautiful partner (by your own races natural physical standards), then I guess we will have to leave it at that.
The BBC have just highlighted the fact that these illegal skin whitening creams have and are being sold all over the UK.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45085674
These are not, as one of the earlier commentators suggested women expressing wish for lighter skin but desperate women who think it makes them more desirable to men from their own races. This is not the same as constant cultural pressures to be young and slim, rather a misogynist desire to make women change races, or rather their appearance of their race. Black women to be come lighter and Asian women to become whiter. Western women like to look tanned. but rarely want to look african or south asian.
I can understand your anger. However the obsession by afro-Caribbean males with having a whiter woman as a girlfriend is a phenomena that is not showing any signs of abating.
Delete