Being an Indian man myself, (a dark one at that), I can tell you this is absolutely true, especially in India itself. Dark people are just looked down upon for some reason. I guess it goes back to the old Caste System and the low leve, laborers were always out in the sun working and thus dark because of the constant exposure to sunlight. Another reason is that it is just not attractive in our culture to be dark-skinned. Don't get me wrong, there are some Indian girls who are dark and are very attractive, but a lighter skinned girl would still be preferred by the majority of Indians. Arranged marriages are still done today, but a lot more lenient today (you can actually talk and get to know the person for a few months instead of meeting your future spouse a few days/weeks before your wedding) but even then, if one of the sides sees that the other is dark skinned, that may prevent a marriage, because not only are they dark, but their children may also be dark. You'll always hear Indian people measure a person's attractiveness mainly on how dark they are...especially the older generation. But the younger generation will use that as well from time to time. My mom even told me to marry a light-skinned Indian girl, so she doesn't have dark grand children lol. Just an example from my life. Basically, in Indian culture's definition of attractiveness, a lighter-skinned person can have a few more physical flaws and yet be more attractive than a dark-skinned girl with a few less physical flaws...sad but true. I 'm dark, therefore I know I will get some scrutiny over it, but I'm arleady used to it. But the cream the OP is probably referring to (commercial) is called Fair and Lovely, very popular in India...I know that because my mom asked me jokingly if I want to use it to make myself a little lighter skinned, but I didn't. lol.
I wouldn't consider this racism. That's like calling a guy who likes tanned white girls over pale white girls a "racist".
Well, there are other issus in India itself that I would call racist. From looking at it from the outside, it seems as if people in North India seem to look down on south Indians, partly because of skin color, history, prominence, industry, Bollywood, etc. Not saying all North Indians, but from what I hear and see, thats what I sense, so there is some truth. Also the same applies to south indians...our older generation is just as arrogant about our food, high literacy rate, cleanliness of our land, religion (christianity bigger in the south), etc.
Aren't the North Indians and South Indians the same race, so it would be caste discrimination? It like the Europeans that hate Americans of the same race, it wouldn't make them racist.
Indian is not homogenous by any means. The country doesn't have a native people. It was filled by a series of invaders from many other places. Thus the North Indians are of somewhat different blood than South Indians. Skin color varies a great deal as well....from nearly white to those who are African color. Unfortunately, these skin tones do tend to be the Untouchable castes (but not always). Thus Indians associate the blackest of skins with being low caste and there is from which the prejudice stems from. There is a lot of racism around skin color in India. And it's probably more tolerated there in the open then say a European country or the U.S.
Don't ever change, India: <param name="movie" value="http://embed.break.com/MTI0NDIzNw=="></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://embed.break.com/MTI0NDIzNw==" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess=always width="464" height="376"></embed></object><br><font size=1><a href="http://view.break.com/1244237#TellAFriendhttp://stats.break.com/invoke.txt">EMBED-Indian Superman & Spider-Woman</a> - Watch more <a href="http://www.break.com">free videos</a></font>
being racist towards your own??? nothing new here... <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/s7b2oCYgfik&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/s7b2oCYgfik&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> edit: im not saying chris rock is racist. it was just a reason to post a great video from one of the best stand ups of all time
LOL, I've seen that a billion times...he clearly says he loves black people, that's not racist. Most races tend to have a large community that try and look caucasian. If anyone watches anime, those characters don't always look very asian (blonde hair, full figures etc.). It's not all about color, I think some people even opt for eye lid surgery to decrease their ethnic look.
Not racist, just trying to fit in to the ruling culture of the developed world. I've always assumed anthropologically, one of the key components of physical attraction is the perception of heightened social status; may explain why, within the caucasian race, blondes are symbolically considered more attractive than (Irish) redheads or (Mediterranean, Jewish, non-white) brunettes. Some of the bizarro wigs, weaves, hazardous chemicals my mom (and other black western women) used to fit in over the last 40 years? Don't really see any difference between this and peroxide, makeup (which removes wrinkles and creates a reddened, youthful face) or plastic surgery.
I haven't read the rest of the thread because i don't have time, I only glimpsed at the first article. I am in India right now, about to leave on a plane to Houston in one hour. I was telling my parents and my aunt this VERY thing, for the past week. I told her that EVERY advertisement as far as beauty goes, are pale light skinned Indian women. IT IS SICK. I told my aunt that it reminded me of the study where black and white children were asked to choose which doll they wanted to play with: the white one or the black one. Almost all of them chose the white doll. Here, they are teaching the youth and majority of India that light skin is what you should reach for. Yet it is impossible for so many children to achieve. My aunt (and parents) said oh, the actresses just use lighting and makeup to look like that. Then I'd point out another billboard where its simply not the case. Even then, it still makes the impression about lightness. Then she (and my parents) say, oh, everywhere in the world is like that. I mentioned in the United States that it isnt like that, but instead people want to be tanner. The tanning is more based on a healthy look because pale skin implies that you don't go outside, at LEAST people can achieve this by tanning whereas dark skinned cannot achieve light unless they jump into some clorox. I think its sick and will only destroy the self image of indian children, especially those who are even darker such as the south indians (malayalis and tamils) who can't even use makeup to make themselves lighter. It makes me so mad when I come back here, to see this... but don't get me started on the corrupt politics here, practices discouraging businesses and lack of infrastructure. =)
