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[file-20170719-13593-ho3e72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format
&w=496&fit=clip]
In India, a light complexion is associated with power, status and
beauty, fueling an innovative and growing market of skin-bleaching
products. [41]Adam Jones/Flickr, [42]CC BY-SA

Bleached girls: India and its love for light skin

July 21, 2017 2.41am EDT
[43]Neha Mishra, Reva University of Bangalore, Ronald Hall, Michigan
State University

Authors

1. [44]Neha Mishra
Assistant Professor of Law, Reva University of Bangalore
2. [45]Ronald Hall
Professor of Social Work, Michigan State University

Disclosure statement

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding
from any company or organization that would benefit from this article,
and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic
appointment.

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[46]Michigan State University

[47]Michigan State University provides funding as a founding partner of
The Conversation US.

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“Let’s scrub out that tan” is a common refrain in beauty parlours in
India, where girls grow up with constant reminders that only fair skin
is beautiful.

From Sunday classified ads touting the marriageability of an “MBA
graduate. 5-½ ft. English medium. Fair complexion” to elderly aunties
advising young women to apply saffron paste to “maintain your skin
whiter and smoother”, the signs are everywhere.

Even sentiments like, “She got lucky he married her despite her [dark]
complexion” are still whispered around India in 2017.

Younger generations are now starting to push back. On July 7,
18-year-old Aranya Johar published [55]her Brown Girl’s Guide to Beauty
on Youtube. The video, a spoken-word poem containing lines like “Forget
snow-white/say hello to chocolate brown/I’ll write my own fairy-tale”
went viral, reaching 1.5 million viewers around the world in its first
day alone.

IFRAME:
[56]https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZX5soNoPiII?wmode=transparent&start=0

Aranya Johar’s anti-bleaching poetry went viral.

Johar’s candid slam came just before [57]Bollywood actor Nawazuddin
Siddiqui used Twitter to indict the Indian film industry’s racist
culture.

His post recalled the vehement pushback of actress Tannishtha
Chatterjee, who was [58]was bullied for her skin tone on live TV in
2016.

Though many Indians still [59]feign ignorance about social
discrimination based on skin colour, the country’s obsession with
whiteness can also be violent. In recent years, fear of black and brown
skin has also spurred harassment and attacks on [60]African students
living in India.

Why do Indians so hate their own colour?

The bleaching syndrome

Indian history offers some answers.

Throughout [61]medieval and modern history, the Indian subcontinent has
been on the radar of various European settlers and traders, including,
from the 15th to 17th centuries, the Portuguese, Dutch and French. The
subcontinent was invaded and partly ruled by the Mughals in the 16th
century, and colonised by the British from the 17th century onwards
until independence in 1947. All these foreign “visitors” were of
[62]relatively fair complexion, and many claimed to be superior.

Being subject to a succession of white(ish) overlords has long
associated light skin with power, status and desirability among
Indians. Today, the contempt for brown skin is embraced by both the
ruling class and lower castes, and reinforced daily by beauty magazine
covers that feature almost exclusively Caucasian, often foreign,
models.

It’s been the dark man’s burden in this majority-non-white nation to
desire a westernised concept of beauty, and post-colonial activism has
not been able to change this.
Indian women, like all women, come in various shapes, sizes and, yes,
colours. Neha Mishra

According to a study we conducted from 2013 to 2016, 70% of the 300
women and men we interviewed reported wanting a date or partner with
someone who had light skin. This colourism is what pushes so many
Indians to lighten their skin, creating a phenomenon termed
“[63]bleaching syndrome”.

Bleaching syndrome is not a superficial fashion, it’s a strategy of
assimilating a superior identity that reflects a deep-set belief that
fair skin is better, more powerful, prettier. And it’s not limited to
India; skin bleaching is also common in [64]the rest of Asia and [65]in
Africa.

A thriving bleaching market

An [66]inventive and growing market of creams and salves has cropped up
to fill this demand, which now pulls in over [67]US$400 million dollars
annually.

Some of the most widely-sold products include Fem, Lotus, Fair and
Lovely and its gendered-equivalent Fair and Handsome. Most of these
appealingly named creams are in fact [68]a dangerous cocktail of
steroids, hydroquinone, and tretinoin, the long-term use of which can
lead to health concerns like permanent pigmentation, skin cancer, liver
damage and mercury poisoning among other things.
Various skin-lightening products are found across India and online, no
prescription or restrictions required. Neha Mishra

Nonetheless, a 2014 marketing study found that [69]almost 90% of Indian
girls cite skin lightening as a “high need”. These young women are
willing to overlook the [70]after-effects of bleaching, and the advent
of [71]online sales allows them to use these products in the privacy of
their own homes.

Initially focused on feminine beauty, the fairness creams market now
also [72]caters to Indian men. Products marketed to men [73]promise to
fight sweat, give them fairer underarms and attract women.

IFRAME:
[74]https://www.youtube.com/embed/0kqd9zaI698?wmode=transparent&start=0

Megastar Shahrukh Khan explains that the secret to win a woman’s heart
is light skin.

And Bollywood stars with huge followings, including Shahrukh Khan and
John Abraham, regularly [75]endorse and promote skin bleaches.

Bleaching backlash

The brand Clean and Dry took bleaching to new levels in 2012, when it
began heavily advertising for a new wash to [76]lighten the vagina.

IFRAME:
[77]https://www.youtube.com/embed/8phEyKrxBZM?wmode=transparent&start=0

Clean and Dry intimate wash ad compares Indian vaginas and coffee.

This time, women had [78]had enough. In 2013, the activist group
[79]Women of Worth launched their [80]Dark is Beautiful campaign, which
was endorsed by the Indian theatre actress Nandita Sen.

With other feminist groups, the women compelled the Advertising
Standards Council of India to issue [81]guidelines in 2014 stating that
“ads should not reinforce negative social stereotyping on the basis of
skin colour” or “portray people with darker skin [as]…inferior, or
unsuccessful in any aspect of life particularly in relation to being
attractive to the opposite sex”.

This guidance is in keeping with [82]the Indian Constitution, which
provides for equality for all (article 14) and prohibits discrimination
on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (article
15).

Unfortunately, the law can do little to stop the subtler forms of
racism and bigotry present in Indian society. And, to date, that vagina
bleaching product is still [83]on the market.

The “bleaching syndrome” goes far beyond skin colour, with Indian women
also questioning their hair texture and colour, speech, marital choices
and dress style, raising real concerns about female self-esteem.

As Aranya Johar rhymed on Youtube, “With the hope of being able someday
to love another/let’s begin by being our own first lovers”.
* [84]Racism
* [85]India
* [86]Colour
* [87]Blue
* [88]Skin bleaching
* [89]Global perspectives

Want to write?

Write an article and join a growing community of more than 128,900
academics and researchers from 4,065 institutions.

[90]Register now
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