Independent.co.uk
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: When your skin is just too dark
Asian, Arab and black models may look exquisite, but they can't survive in such a hostile habitat
Monday, 11 August 2008
Beyoncé is not bovvered, it seems. Was she deracinated and "improved" by L'Oréal for one of their adverts? No comment from the singer. As one of their brand goddesses, she perhaps believes there is no point in scratching the hands that gild her. Paid millions, it must seem fair enough to be turned into a fair enough mock-up of her real self. The multi-national cosmetic company vehemently denies the accusation. They would, wouldn't they?
Not again, you think, same old, same old stuff. For those who make and break images, decide who is gorgeous and who is not, light skin and hair and eyes easily please the eye, affirm superior human status. Racism is a given, an understanding infused through the business. Top model agencies will tell you that eager Asian, Arab and black models may look exquisite and flawless, but find it almost impossible to enter, survive or let alone thrive in that hostile habitat. I have written about this abhorrent exclusivity for more than 20 years and to do so again feels like failure.
The beauty and fashion industries still maintain a closed shop when it comes to the selection and promotion of models. In women's magazines, on catwalks, even shop dummies, dark skin is rarely seen. They say it is because customers are put off by such unexpected, outlandish images of loveliness even though a recent special issue of Italian Vogue featured only black models and was sold out worldwide.
Exceptionally, Naomi Campbell and Iman are permitted to strut with their white peers. Let's pray no bus ever runs them over. But this stubborn, institutionally prejudiced gate-keeping is only a part of the never-ending story. Dark skins are considered a blight within black and Asian families, communities and countries – have been for centuries.
I came back from holidays with a tan (yes, Asians do tan) because I didn't stay completely out of the sun. At least my mum is no longer around to nag me about what she thought was extreme foolishness. Blessed, she said I was, my kids too, to have lighter brown skin. That we allowed the stain of darkness upon it wilfully drove her to distraction. When I was growing up, all spinsters in the mosque seemed to be dark and sad. Some tried to cover their shame with dustings of pink face powder and very light pink lipstick. One child in our extended family was darker than her brother and so she tried to rub off the "dirt" with a metal scourer.
And now, with 21st-century globalisation, the ugly rejection of darkness is getting even worse. European definitions of attractiveness – from thin body shape to light colouring – are sweeping the non-western world, making most populations feel envious and sometimes desperate. Ten years ago beauty lightening creams had all but vanished from these places as native pride grew and health risks were better understood. Today these products are shifting like never before. A trader in Acton has just been convicted for selling banned, toxic, whitening creams which can cause burns and rashes.
Old Hindi movies always had heroines of various hues, reflecting India and Pakistan's peoples of many colours. Waheeda Rehman and Smita Patil were two of the biggest stars and both had complexions that would never let them through the film studio doors today when actors have to be white as vanilla ice cream and with green eyes please, even if that means wearing coloured contacts.
Even in South Africa, still emerging from the ultimate evil based on physical types and hierarchies, fair skin is now coveted by blacks. Lorrie, an acquaintance from Cape Town says this is terrific. "We have gone beyond race. The world is opening up and we all want the same things. Why is whiting up any worse than liposuction, plumping up lips, straightening or curling hair? Seems like when black women choose beauty tricks we are self-loathers, but white women are free to re-make themselves. This is a new-world girl, post- racial."
Ah yes the post-racial era. That's where we are at now. Lighten up, say some irate readers week after week and they don't mean do a L'Oréal. Race is old news, stale, an irritant for them and for those black and Asian young folk (including my own children) who think exactly like Lorrie.
A newspaper diary reported last week that Parmjit Dhanda, the impressive Asian MP for Gloucester, was apparently offended when his rival, Tory candidate Richard Graham, made a joke (not a very good one admittedly) comparing the MP's spinning to that of cricketer Monty Panesar, also a British Asian. Dhanda, said his mate "objects to being defined by his race". In the US, savvy and smart politicians of colour – Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark; Deval Patrick, Governor of Massachusetts; Adrian Fenty, Mayor of Washington DC; and most prominently, Barack Obama – have found success by stepping away from their defining racial characteristics and interring historical black grievances.
In his momentous speech on race, Obama said he didn't want the old stories and memories of civil rights struggles and injustice "to overcome and undermine us, to trap us in our history". In some ways these are wise words, and visionary. Group victimisation becomes a habit on both sides and is the hardest thing to let go. Evidently the life chances of millions of dark skinned folk in the US and the UK are today vastly better than were but a decade ago, and globalisation is creating non-white elites like never before. Although new cracks have appeared, old colour lines are dissolving and the future promises better still. It is possible to believe that one day our common humanity will prevail.
But race, though a drag and a bore, still matters, even though it is increasingly unacceptable to say so if you want to go places. An irate African-American blogger points out the obvious: "When we talk about racial transcendence... we are usually talking about transcending the black race; no one talks of transcending whiteness." One day perhaps Twiggy will be touched up to look more "black" and beautiful, Beyoncé will cheerfully opt for an Afro hair-do, and Obama won't have to dissociate from his own name. Not yet, sadly.
I have always thought that all skin colors are uniquely beautiful.
Dark skin is like magic, esp. when it is soft and smooth. It is sad that some dark-skinned people (not only those of African descent) have allowed themselves to be brainwashed into hating what they were born with.
I have always thought that all skin colors are uniquely beautiful.
Dark skin is like magic, esp. when it is soft and smooth. It is sad that some dark-skinned people (not only those of African descent) have allowed themselves to be brainwashed into hating what they were born with.
I agree.
I think it's equally sad that some light-skinned people (not only those of African decent) have allowed themselves to be brainwashed into thinking their skin color is much better than darker skin simply because it's light.
I have always thought that all skin colors are uniquely beautiful.
Dark skin is like magic, esp. when it is soft and smooth. It is sad that some dark-skinned people (not only those of African descent) have allowed themselves to be brainwashed into hating what they were born with.
My cousin and I were looking at some vests
they had spring colors like yellow and orange light grass green
And I've always thought certain colors only looked good on very dark complexioned and very light complexioned people.
My cousin is a dark skinned mgm with very fine straight hair and cleft chin, he really stands out. He struggled with being dark for a while in his teen years and early 20's
"When we talk about racial transcendence... we are usually talking about transcending the black race; no one talks of transcending whiteness." One day perhaps Twiggy will be touched up to look more "black" and beautiful, Beyoncé will cheerfully opt for an Afro hair-do, and Obama won't have to dissociate from his own name. Not yet, sadly.
I would never want to transcend beyond my Geechee family, it is part of who I am. Many of us have these amazing dark skin tones and we are beautiful inside and out. I have never encountered such an abundance of spirituality in a people as much as I've discovered in my Geechee family.
The media nor the entertainment industry is endowed with the proper foreknowledge to dictate what or who I finds to be beautiful. So why give them that power to begin with??
It is a blessing that my parents censored my TV and movie watching as a youth, since it forced me to get more acquainted with my family (& friends of my family) for that is what has lead to my beliefs as they are today which are not in harmony with the media, Thank God.
I have always thought that all skin colors are uniquely beautiful.
Dark skin is like magic, esp. when it is soft and smooth. It is sad that some dark-skinned people (not only those of African descent) have allowed themselves to be brainwashed into hating what they were born with.
I agree.
I think it's equally sad that some light-skinned people (not only those of African decent) have allowed themselves to be brainwashed into thinking their skin color is much better than darker skin simply because it's light.
And who is responsible for this brainwashing?
Many "light-skinned" people beyond the New World/Western Hemisphere come from cultures that have valued light skin over dark long before globalization and European colonialism. Arabia, the Indian Sub-Continent, Horn of Africa, parts of East Asia all come to mind. It is often assumed that colorism in non-European socities must have a European or U.S. source. That's not necessarily the case.
Also, fondness for light skin (a relative concept like darkness) doesn't always mean wanting to look "white." Ms. Brown conflates the two, a common misunderstanding.
And Yasmin Alibhai-Brown may be "dark" by British standards, but she isn't all that dark by South Asian standards.
Ms. Brown:
From the article:
Quote:
Even in South Africa, still emerging from the ultimate evil based on physical types and hierarchies, fair skin is now coveted by blacks. Lorrie, an acquaintance from Cape Town says this is terrific. "We have gone beyond race. The world is opening up and we all want the same things. Why is whiting up any worse than liposuction, plumping up lips, straightening or curling hair? Seems like when black women choose beauty tricks we are self-loathers, but white women are free to re-make themselves. This is a new-world girl, post- racial."
Fair skin is now coveted by blacks in South Africa (apparently it wasn't during the Apartheid era) based on her interpretation of her Cape Town acquaintance's remarks. I mean seriously, how could someone draw such a conclusion.
I have always thought that all skin colors are uniquely beautiful.
Dark skin is like magic, esp. when it is soft and smooth. It is sad that some dark-skinned people (not only those of African descent) have allowed themselves to be brainwashed into hating what they were born with.
I agree.
I think it's equally sad that some light-skinned people (not only those of African decent) have allowed themselves to be brainwashed into thinking their skin color is much better than darker skin simply because it's light.
And who is responsible for this brainwashing?
Many "light-skinned" people beyond the New World/Western Hemisphere come from cultures that have valued light skin over dark long before globalization and European colonialism. Arabia, the Indian Sub-Continent, Horn of Africa, parts of East Asia all come to mind. It is often assumed that colorism in non-European socities must have a European or U.S. source. That's not necessarily the case.
Also, fondness for light skin (a relative concept like darkness) doesn't always mean wanting to look "white." Ms. Brown conflates the two, a common misunderstanding.
And Yasmin Alibhai-Brown may be "dark" by British standards, but she isn't all that dark by South Asian standards.
Ms. Brown:
From the article:
Quote:
Even in South Africa, still emerging from the ultimate evil based on physical types and hierarchies, fair skin is now coveted by blacks. Lorrie, an acquaintance from Cape Town says this is terrific. "We have gone beyond race. The world is opening up and we all want the same things. Why is whiting up any worse than liposuction, plumping up lips, straightening or curling hair? Seems like when black women choose beauty tricks we are self-loathers, but white women are free to re-make themselves. This is a new-world girl, post- racial."
Fair skin is now coveted by blacks in South Africa (apparently it wasn't during the Apartheid era) based on her interpretation of her Cape Town acquaintance's remarks. I mean seriously, how could someone draw such a conclusion.
The dark light thing tends to be more of a woman issue now.
In America it's seems to have subsided a bit in that a large number of people black & white like to have a tan.
but men too pale or fair aren't seen as masculine
I have always thought that all skin colors are uniquely beautiful.
Dark skin is like magic, esp. when it is soft and smooth. It is sad that some dark-skinned people (not only those of African descent) have allowed themselves to be brainwashed into hating what they were born with.
I agree.
I think it's equally sad that some light-skinned people (not only those of African decent) have allowed themselves to be brainwashed into thinking their skin color is much better than darker skin simply because it's light.
And who is responsible for this brainwashing?
Many "light-skinned" people beyond the New World/Western Hemisphere come from cultures that have valued light skin over dark long before globalization and European colonialism. Arabia, the Indian Sub-Continent, Horn of Africa, parts of East Asia all come to mind. It is often assumed that colorism in non-European socities must have a European or U.S. source. That's not necessarily the case.
Also, fondness for light skin (a relative concept like darkness) doesn't always mean wanting to look "white." Ms. Brown conflates the two, a common misunderstanding.
And Yasmin Alibhai-Brown may be "dark" by British standards, but she isn't all that dark by South Asian standards.
Ms. Brown:
From the article:
Quote:
Even in South Africa, still emerging from the ultimate evil based on physical types and hierarchies, fair skin is now coveted by blacks. Lorrie, an acquaintance from Cape Town says this is terrific. "We have gone beyond race. The world is opening up and we all want the same things. Why is whiting up any worse than liposuction, plumping up lips, straightening or curling hair? Seems like when black women choose beauty tricks we are self-loathers, but white women are free to re-make themselves. This is a new-world girl, post- racial."
Fair skin is now coveted by blacks in South Africa (apparently it wasn't during the Apartheid era) based on her interpretation of her Cape Town acquaintance's remarks. I mean seriously, how could someone draw such a conclusion.
I think we all know that there have been societies where light skin has been seen in favor of dark skin, but one cannot ignore the effect that colonization and imperialism has had on global colorism.
Not saying that you're doing that, but I often speak to people who like to pretend that current beauty standards are a result of in-country standards of beauty alone, and not a mix of both in-country and outside influences.
Not saying that you're doing that, but I often speak to people who like to pretend that current beauty standards are a result of in-country standards of beauty alone, and not a mix of both in-country and outside influences.
There appears to be a tendency, reflected by the opinions of people like Ms. Alibhai-Brown, to create this myth that the non-Western world was a place where colorism didn't exist prior to some kind of contact with the "white world" (i.e., Western Europe).
The issue for me isn't whether current beauty standards are a result of a mix of in-country standards outside influences, but the extent to which outside (Western) influences impacted in-country beauty standards with respect to skin color.
This may vary from place to place, with our own Western Hemisphere being more or less wholly influenced by European standards because its societies were created by Western European colonialism.
However it isn't clear that in other parts of the world that are color struck the phenomenon historically or even currently is due primarily to outside sources as I inferred from Ms. Alibhai-Brown’s column. Alibhai-Brown’s own home sub-continent is a prime example of a place that is deeply color struck historically and currently, and therefore probably more open to similar kinds of influences from abroad.
However it isn't clear that in other parts of the world that are color struck the phenomenon historically or even currently is due primarily to outside sources as I inferred from Ms. Alibhai-Brown’s column. Alibhai-Brown’s own home sub-continent is a prime example of a place that is deeply color struck historically and currently, and therefore probably more open to similar kinds of influences from abroad.
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