THE OBSESSION WITH FAIRNESS DESCENDS!

A couple of days ago a friend of mine had posted a video on face book about a product called “Clean and dry intimate”. Interesting title.. I wondered ( as you might be wondering now )what this product is all about. I  did a google search on it and found out more. It is a product for women to use on their private parts to help it become ( as the ad says) “fresher and fairer”!!

“What? You are kidding!” said my husband laughing.

 But friends, this is not a laughing matter. It is a matter of extreme shame that we as a race are unable to come to terms with the colour of our skin. First there was “Fair and lovely” and its various relatives and today, this obsession for fairness does not seem to be limited to the face alone. How many of us have watched advertisements about moisturizing lotions that promise to make the colour of the body as fair as the face? Apparently, it is now going beyond that!

This craze for fair skin is something that probably unites India and her neighbors across South Asia as a recent article written in THE HINDU says! I cannot understand why we hanker for this? And it is not just white skin, we would also like to have brown hair and blue eyes. There are contact lens makers and hair dye manufacturers who are making a killing out of this! And then there is of course the inability to accept curly or crinkly hair. We want it poker straight like the Nordic women!

But THIS product.. really takes the bakery along with the cake!  I never realized that someone would be conscious about the color of a part of one’s body which is not even visible to anyone except maybe to one’s sexual partner. And it is probably a very sick man who would be interested in a woman for the color of her “P---Y”!

It is said that there is no supply without a demand. So I wonder if our Indian men fantasize about sex with white women so that their sexual partner has to negate her racial heritage and bleach her privates? Or is it that this an attempt to create a demand for something weird? As women we are taught to keep our privates clean but this is the first time I  am hearing about  the need to maintain its “pH balance” and color!  Has anyone ever thought about the havoc this might play with her health? But then who cares? If a government family planning program can advocate for insertion of a metal ( copper T)  into a woman's womb to prevent conception then will the market be far behind?

What is wrong with the color black or brown or yellow? Is it only white that is synonymous with beauty, cleanliness and purity?  And about body proportions- this entire concept of the slim woman and the myth about big breasts!  How many women across the world undergo silicone treatment for breast enhancement! Why do we succumb to such pressures and put ourselves through these treatments?

Each race has its definition of beauty and sex appeal. But  the years of colonization and slavery have obviously created a hankering for something that   has resulted in this feeling of inferiority around the color of our skin.  Markets play upon these insecurities and try to create a need where it does not exist.

It is sad that despite all the education and the access to employment opportunities we women continue to fall for these tricks. It is about time we rose above such conditioned thought processes and find solace in our confidence. After all what is more attractive and sexy than a confident woman? And confidence my friends does not come from the color of your skin. Neither does it lie between your legs. It is between your ears in your minds. But it all depends on where you  believe it is located!