The Stigma Of Being A Brown Girl In India
India, a land of many cultures and people diversified in myriad ways—moved ahead, but it has also carried along with it one thread and glanced at it—the thread of pervasive social stigma. Being a brown girl in this country is not just about bearing the same name as some normal, average skin hue; it means negotiating one’s very existence against a world that reduces the fairness of one’s skin to beauty, success, and status. The lived experiences of brown girls in India, the derivation of colorism, its multi-impactful effects, and the present tussle towards self-acceptance and change are problems that bring reality near to this article. Un-packing the Bases in India: A Legacy of Biasness The story of colorism in India is a complicated one. Some attribute it to being a scar left by the British colonialists where fair skin denoted the high-class rulers while others attribute it to social stratification existing before the colonists’ arrival. This long history of fair-skinned being better has set in the Indian social thought. Ancient texts in which fair skin boasted of established bias even further as they provide for a precedent to the contemporary mindset. Insanity That Media Mirrors: Strengthening the Stereotype Media plays a grande role in the practice and belief in colorism, as well. On television screens and billboards, one can mostly see fair-skinned actors, models that dictate the message that should pass on. In every commercial break, it is as though lightening cream is the solution. It keeps on teaching that being fair-skinned is the solution to sex appeal and success. Beyond the Playground Taunts: The Everyday Prejudice The implications of colorism go much deeper than the surface level in fact. It is often softened, made more palatable with the addition of euphemisms such as “dusky,” but the implication of prejudice remains in the taunting and teasing which peers lay on brown girls. These are just some of the “innocent” nicknames that take away from self-esteem and linger for a lifetime. This could make brown girls have very poor marriage opportunities, as families are seen to enforce pressure on sons to marry a lighter-skinned girl for marriage, further fueling whiteness and thus pursuing the myth that color correlates with social value. Beyond Beauty: Deeper Scars of Colorism Colorism hits hard on self-esteem by engendering depression and anxiety from the perpetual dilemma of self-acceptance. Brown girls may further internalize any kind of societal bias against them. This will help in diminishing the levels of self-worth and self-beauty. Self-loathing, which emanates out of internalized racism, contributes to the decrease of confidence levels. A Phoenix Rise: Self-Love as a Weapon But from within the ashes, there’s mighty churning. Brown women battle colorism head-on, spewing in social media campaigns and movements that harp on self-love and appreciation of beauty, irrespective of skin complexion. More and more women stand tall in India, with the hashtag #DarkIsBeautiful, speaking loudly of diversified shades of skin while exuding confidence. Social media became battlegrounds where from within brown women rewrote the narratives about reclaiming beauty. Representation matters: Changing the landscape It is like this: the struggle for change is through increased representation. More and more dark-skinned models and actresses have started hitting the runways and screens, hence challenging that disinherited idea which has meant that beauty has been up close and tight without enough representation in media for way too long. It means a lot in terms of visibility: just allowing young girls to see that they are reflected, celebrated, and taken into account within mainstream media. Keeping the Road Forward: A More Inclusive Future What this means, therefore, is that combating colorism in itself is not a sprint but a marathon. It takes sharing efforts between people, brands, media, educational institutions, what-you-will—to be able to habituate the very profoundly ingrained biases from the psyche. Brands should try to be more inclusive in their ads by using more models with a bigger range of skin tones and not perpetuating the stereotype of fair skin as more desirable. The media should reflect more diverse beauty standards by making documentaries and programs that educate people on its beauty and also try to dispel colorism. A Multi-Colored Tomorrow: A Ray of Hope The journey, at last,to a colorism-free world appears to be a far way. Somewhere in this emerging, erupting self-love movement—a rise in consciousness with mass action—only can we empower all the young girls of the world, no matter the shade of skin. Brown would not be less of a burden but beautiful, and each shade within this spectrum—even to its extremes—would turn into a runaway celebration of life. A want of a future painted in great detail within many colors, reflecting the true charisma of India’s beauty of rawness.
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