Dark Skin ≠ Less Beautiful
My name is Manal and I am a Sophomore at UC Berkeley majoring in Integrative Biology with an emphasis in Human Biology. This is my second semester in BPSHI and I am currently an intern for the Finance Committee. Last semester I interned for the Internal Community Outreach Committee, so I am excited to bring some of my ICO knowledge to the Finance team and plan some cool fundraisers! As passionate as I am about biology, I am also passionate about learning how big of an impact societal beauty standards play on women in the south Asian community.
Growing up, the term “fairer skin = more beautiful” always replayed in my mind and it didn't take me until my later teenage years to become confident in my complexion. From a young age, I picked apart my body image because of what was seen as conventionally beautiful in this community. I, along with other young brown girls, have this pressure put on them to look and act a certain way so that we appear more feminine and delicate. Much of this criticism deals with physical features that we can’t control, such as the societal fixation for women to have “fair” skin. Whenever I was greeted by relatives, I always heard “you’re getting darker” as if it was an insult to embrace a darker complexion. When children play outside in their youth, it’s fathomable that they will tan. I was told to not play in the sun as much and to always cover up from head to toe to avoid getting tanner. What makes it worse is that companies profit off this insecurity through the marketing of products such as skin-lightening soaps and “Fair and Lovely” skincare and vitamins. Selling young girls this idea is incredibly damaging to their body image and needs to be stopped. By selling these products, you are selling a false reality. We can’t simply change our complexion just because it adheres to your beauty standard.
Now as a 19-year old, I see my skin as beautiful, no matter how dark or light it naturally is. To make progress, we need to stop companies from selling skin-lightening products that profit off of our insecurities.
