The Social Nature of Skin Color

“...all we ask of you is please DO NOT fall for a dark guy. Please?” says my poor mother who in her last attempt at being progressive, lays down her only request from the partner(s) her daughters would chose for themselves. They always would express their trust in me and my siblings to find the ‘right partner’ in life (and by partner, they mean husband/wife) by ourselves. My mother’s specific and only pre requisite was the color of the skin: shouldn’t be darker than the fair skin children my parents so proudly produced.

For the longest period of time I can remember, I grew up in likes of my parents’ blatant colorism jokes and by the time I knew better to question their prejudices, they had normalized it within themselves and with us. With age, they only became more creative with their discrimination and announce a disclaimer of JUST KIDDING at the end of it. It takes a lot to not break into an infuriated argument and discuss unlearning prejudices within family structures when colorism is not even the tip of the iceberg.

The subject matter of skin color is more personal and political than most people would admit or even realize. As much as lack of minimum haemoglobin always affected my physiological being, so did the amount of melanin in the body became a marker of my social existence as well. Hailing from Assam, often the legitimacy of my ethnicity was questioned by both Assamese as well as non Assamese entities, for it comes with the generalization of my skin color along with my identity. “Assamese people aren’t usually so fair no? Are both your parents Assamese?” I am asked often. As I draw a larger personal picture of melanin’s role in my life, unwrapping it a little wider appears necessary.

Melanocytes, a kind of cell in the human body that produces a pigment called MELANIN that determines the color range, one’s skin falls on the dark-light spectrum. So if a person has more melanin, the skin would be darker than someone with less of it. Now what seems like a simple discussion on biological process has a much larger impact on the man-created notion of ‘civilization’. In order to break down further into components and mechanisms of melanin’s social role, it is impertinent to crack open a side door into the matter a little.

While talking about the social existence of melanin, it is hard not to mention colorism in it. Colorism is the concept of discriminating people based on skin tones with preference towards the whiter complexion. While majority belief is that of the hegemony of white supremacy by colonizing more than half of the world and set the conditioning the color white to be associated with upper class, privilege and power. But with a little digging through some (internet) history, informed that colorism existed all across the world even before the British colonization or slavery. Many old scriptures including our own, draws very distinguishing categories of the color black and white and goes on to associate the former with evil and the latter with purity. Hence the process involved categorizing human beings’ skin color into superior/inferior. 

Discrimination based on skin color gained momentum, rather, with the spread of white supremacy and centered on the societal structure that civilization claimed to have built. Hierarchies began structuring with special favor to people with fairer complexion and slowly, it began trickling down across mundanities of human existence. It has turned so invasive to someone’s personal space by highlighting one’s skin color in disguise of either compliments or plain ‘fact’. Skin color directly would determine certain behavior and judgmental attitude from those prejudiced by it. Both men and women are adversaries to this concept of discrimination, however patriarchal system promotes the importance and value of a woman in terms of the ‘marriageable-value’ to be directly proportionate to her skin color. So darker the skin tone, more the discrimination and negativity one is subjected to and not to mention the constant pressure to preserve/ maintain as fairer complexion as possible.

The socialization of dark v/s fair in terms of skin tone is a multi layered premise that has conditioned and internalized self doubt, low self esteem and a marker of social status. Attempts have been made over and again to paint the world in black and white only. Literally. This provides the power structure to remain intact by benefitting from capitalistic methods and societal hierarchy by constantly practicing the mantra: White is better. This notion was further intensified when it became a sign of being rich enough to not toil outside. So for status establishment, being darker in skin tone meant physical labor under the sun and immediately governed the behavior as well as attitude exchanged because of it. The line between fair and dark became wider and more direct.

  

Make up has been one of the easiest and most direct ways of propagating the notion of fair complexion to be an ‘achievement’ or desired goal. Numerous products exist to ‘enhance’ a dark skin tone as lighter as possible. Media has of course, facilitated to bridge the gap between capitalism taking advantage of an archaic discrimination system. Advertisements, films, etc. promote colorism in the most direct way by showing how one’s life could be bettered by simply being fair. Skin whitening creams boldly flash slogans of “gives you bright whitening glow in 7 days” and display a person of darker skin tone being miserable because all his/her life’s problems stem from being dark. But suddenly the introduction to skin whitening creams changes their entire life and bring instant gratification and happiness from all around. If profiting off colorism wasn’t problematic enough, bringing in celebrities and popular people in media to endorse those products to make them more believable for the consumers.

It is important to mention the excessive use of photo shop in advertisements to lighten the color of the people portrayed in it too, to appear fair. For example, when international star Priyanka Chopra appeared in the magazine cover of Maxim with heavily photo shopped armpits, it was clear that the magazine wanted to portray a light skin and smooth arm pit which is otherwise unreal to obtain naturally. This is just one of the many examples of how much importance is given to the amount of melanin one possess. Propagation of the fair skin being better goes on as far as to make people, especially women, to believe that one must indulge in whitening ALL possible parts of their body, including arm pits and private parts as well! Not to leave men behind, whitening creams for men also exist in the market and has almost similar rate of consumption as that by women.

Another method of skin whitening is through bleaching. The concept of bleaching dates back to colonialism when Europeans used body paints and powder to whiten their already fair complexion. During French colonization of the African territories in the 1920s, promoting chemically altercation of skin color products was a piece of cake when oppressed people desired to uplift their social status and self image by changing skin color tones to lighter shades. Fast forward to 2018, skin whitening and bleaching is a billion dollar market globally.  

Now, biologically speaking, some parts of our body are covered in hair and/or darker than rest of the body due to the body’s natural protection against bacteria or any harmful microscopic agents around. Introducing chemically induced products in sensitive areas such as the vagina, armpits, etc. only makes one’s skin more prone to harm. For people who can afford, cosmetic procedures of skin lightening is considered as a more permanent ‘solution’ to lightening skin tones.

While there have been repeated voices and campaigns such as Black is Beautiful, Dark Is Beautiful (Women Of Worth, 2009) have been on various levels combating to change and enhance the idea of discrimination based on skin color incessantly. What is seen as a beginner to discussions, understanding and eventual eradication of colorism mentality, we live in a world governed by power and consumerism. While attempts have been made to tackle the problem in quantifiable measures, capitalistic structures that thrive from circulating colorism, continue to profit in insane growth every single day. This is where I would suggest that the concept of unlearning an internalized behavior or prejudice is much harder than the years it took to imbibe and root deep within.  

It is not easy to regionalize colorism to any geographical boundary but it exists almost everywhere in the world. India is no exception to discrimination based on skin color. For a sub continent located closer to the equator, India’s obsession with fair skin is ironically hilarious yet dreadfully real. From fairness creams to skin lightening procedures, India’s market revenue for skin lightening products is expected to reach Rs 5000 crores by 2023 (India Fairness Cream & Bleach Market Overview, 2018-23)

For the longest period of time, I didn’t realize the implications of skin or the political aspects of it either. As I travelled 2272kms away from the comfort of my hometown, did I feel the social presence/existence of my own skin. When I stepped into the metropolis of Delhi, I had this vague idea of a city life. Merciless traffic, colorful night life, barrage of ‘cool’ friends to hang out with; BASICALLY unlimited fun. I was 19 then. My first encounter with the social presence of my skin in Delhi was when I would introduce myself as hailing from Assam/North East, I would be told ,” Really? But you don’t have any conventional chinky features at all! Even your hair is curly!” And after repeated encounters as such, I realized I didn’t fit into the conventional physical description of North Eastern identity in the capital city. Not in the past 5 years at least. I simply learnt not to let my skin color define me or be treated differently. However there always exists inescapable comment from people, flirty texts from men praising my skin (!) or even elongated conversations with my sisters or my mother about tanning of skin, measures to keep my skin light, reminds me how much of an identity is latched onto my color of skin constantly. Sometimes I play along, other times I simply cringe.

The bizarre part of it all begins when I visit home for vacations. So my hometown is a small tea town in the foot hills of Nagaland and about 30 kms from the banks of Brahmaputra. Jorhat is the district town where Mariani is located and is larger in size as well. Whenever I am shopping or eating out in Jorhat, it so happens often that I am immediately greeted or spoken to by people in Hindi, even if I am replying in Assamese. They perceive me (most of the times) as hailing from Nagaland or NOT North Eastern and hence, use either Hindi or English to communicate with me. At first frustrating, I began to see the silver lining in it: every time I go to buy booze or cigarettes in Jorhat, I would speak in Hindi to begin with. Staying in Delhi gave me an edge to use an accent which is otherwise not common in Hindi spoken around Assam. That way, I avoid raising to many eyebrows or judgmental stares from the shopkeepers or anyone listening around since they presume I am not local and it is only common owing to my ‘foreign features’, to be smoking or drinking. I must admit I also bought contraceptive using this technique. As much as I hate for not being identified as Assamese in my own place, I shall paraphrase my professor who herself is of mixed heritage said to me once how she faces similar behavior due to the duality of her North Eastern and North Indian heritage: not ‘chinky’ enough for North East and not ‘North Indian’ enough for a city like Delhi. 

 My mother’s discrimination about skin still persists though but she was forced to question it when her first born married a person darker in skin color. I remember her facing a moral dilemma when my sister first told her about her boyfriend of 9 years, my (now) brother in law checked all of her expectations:  same ethnicity, stable career, ‘good human’. Suddenly skin color became an absurd reason for objection and she made peace with it, or so I believe. During my sister’s engagement, I had asked my late grandmother about her grandson-in-law and she replied, “He is fine but your sister is milk while he is urad bean!” I quickly fired back, “Isn’t your own son darker than your daughter in law?” She grew very serious and defended,” He was always fair. He just got sun burnt”. We simply laughed at her bias.

 3 years has passed since and my mother has only one suggestion for choosing a partner now: be wise.