Daily Times

In a country where almost everything is blamed upon the white man, Satan and unseen forces, having fairer skin Is deemed to be a blessing and a birthright for success in life. Isn’t that a great irony? Or perhaps, it’s something embedded in our minds as we grow up in an environment where the colonial mind-set pre-exists as part of our cultural norms.

Initially, I thought such things predominantly existed in the whole of Asia, with an obsession to become fair with skin-whitening companies trying to lure people in with their products for all they are worth. But no, this goes deeper than we could ever think of in our nation. In most parts of Asia, it’s about altering the skin for fairer complexion and keeping up with vanity standards. In our country, however, fairer skin is attributed and attached to not just beauty but other factors as well such as being in the right social circle and availing opportunities through connections as a status symbol due to that posh color. Basically, it’s embedded in our culture to such an extent that darker skinned people are frowned upon as a sub class while those with fairer complexion are given more importance in most segments of our society.

Needless to say, this not only leads to girls bleaching their skin as soon as they are old enough but also having to face criticism at the hands of society should they fail to lighten their complexion. Which leads me to ask; what are we as a nation supposed to do? The entertainment industry, in particular, is filled with people of fairer complexion but as Anoushey Ashraf states, ‘That may not really be a choice because the industry has to pick what the masses like and they only want people who are fair.’

Are the masses doing this because this is what they aspire to be or are they too caught up in the viciously programmed cycle of rule by pigmentation philosophy?

When looking at the global perspective, people are bent upon darkening their complexion by visiting tanning salons and even going through henna treatments to achieve the desired exotic glow. So the grass seems to be greener on the other side but offcourse we don’t see this side we just see ours and frown on it.

Let’s face it; it’s easier to go with the flow, it’s harder to swim upstream and it’s difficult not to be ok with what others find comfortable, and herein lies the real problem. We are choosing to be misled because we do not wish to be bothered by introspective thoughts and the ability to weigh in our choices on the scale of equality rather than pigmentation. It takes a lot of courage to step out from the herd and be brave but then such people don’t really care about the opinions of sheep, do they? So, my dear readers, be always brave enough to shun those who hold people who look different back and the next time you witness someone moving beyond physical appearance and working with their diligence for success, you should stand with them  to realise that success is Possible for every color and so is the right to dream. As when the pages of history are written one should be with the dreamers not the oppressors by color

The writer is a Karachi-based social media analyst/trainer