Fairness As A Tool For Self Acceptance

By Juhi Gautam

Have you ever come across advertisements which suggest that all the good things will only come to you once you became fairer? I wouldn’t bash these ads because let’s face it, this is what maximum proportion of the people in our society believe in. It is believed that only if you are fair, you stand a chance to become something in life, otherwise you’re worthless.

I agree that the problem lies with the advertisements. But I would also like to add that a major chunk of the problem lies with the people. Advertisers would grab any opportunity they might get to appeal to the sentiments of people so that many people buy their product. The problem lies with the fact that people actually buy it and have been supporting products like these for almost half a century. Where did we go wrong?

We live in a country where beauty standards were defined long back. Fair people deserve to live with dignity in our society and people with darker complexions, they only deserve to be mocked at. This is the wicked reality of the society we live in. A lot of people themselves believe that they are inferior to others just because of their skin colors.

The need of the hour is to make this world even more welcoming for people who think that they are any less and don’t stand a chance to live equally in the society as others just because of something as insignificant as the color of the skin we are born with. Developing consciousness in their minds and helping them come out of their shells of complex is extremely important. Only then, we all can fight together for racial equality.

However, they should not be blamed for their insecurities. It is our society, our upbringing that has to be questioned.

From a very young age, kids are bullied and are called derogatory names because of their complexions. It is henceforth natural for them to grow up to become adults dealing with inferiority complex and finding it difficult for them to love themselves the way they are. This needs to be stopped, and it has to start from an individual level.

Let’s stop trying to clean our faces of dark spots, blemishes and pigmentation. Instead, let’s come together to clean our country of the toxic mentality that is ingrained in the so-called educated minds and stop the spread of negativity that comes with these people.

Black, olive, brown or white, we all are one and we take utmost pride in that.

By Juhi Gautam