My Fair Lady

There has been an uproar over the news that African women are bleaching their skin in large numbers. I don’t believe it’s news. It has been going on for the longest time. I see a lot of women my mother’s age who are suffering the consequences of their youthful transgressions ie Ambi now with their skin clearly straining to retain its colour.

We could blame the phenomenon on slavery mentality that makes black people feel inferior to the white. This seems to be the majority view with lots of opinions being shouted across the world wide net. Self-hatred is the term mostly used in reference to those that bleach their skin. I am not going to deny those accusations. The bleaching is most likely a self-esteem issue. However, I don’t blame the individuals suffering from it. I think the society is really the one at fault.

Remember the song, ‘My Fair Lady’? Isn’t it strange that the word ‘fair’ both means beautiful as well as a skin colour? It’s a quiet way of drawing a parallel. Still on the word ‘fair’, I have a huge problem with the product ‘Fair and Lovely.’ The name of the product is what gets to me. I remember being outraged by one of their commercials that portrayed a young woman unable to get a job until she used the product(becoming shades lighter) and she was the ‘it’ girl. Ludicrous!

I screamed at the TV and told all in attendance that the ad was not only sexist but discriminatory. Everyone thought I was overreacting and that it was easy fro me to talk about it since I’m light-skinned and I wouldn’t understand and besides, that was the reality.In that moment, I realized the problem. Sure, I may not know how it feels to be dark-skinned, but that doesn’t stop me from calling out nonsense when I see it. Should only those who are being discriminated be the ones to speak up against it? I think it’s our duty as human beings to speak up against discrimination whether it affects us directly or not.

I realized that that was the problem. We had grown accustomed to it. It’s all over our TVs and on billboards. I can’t believe that the issue isn’t being taken more seriously. We are raising children who think there is something wrong with them. If it’s not height, it’s weight and now skin colour. If we don’t arrest this now, we’ll be in for a rough time in the next twenty years.

It hurts to think that if I have a daughter she’ll grow up being told she needs to be fair-skinned to be considered beautiful. Parents, affirm your children and let them know the dangers of bleaching early enough. My mother is the one that told me to avoid those products. I saw an aunt using one and I asked my mom about it and she told me to never use those things. Thank you mother!

I am doing my part now by speaking up. I think it’s about time we all spoke up. It’s not funny at all. It’s just plain sad and honestly, heart-breaking. As black people, we really need to start appreciating who we are. How long shall we be slaves?

You are already beautiful!