I very rarely read the newspaper, let alone the business section of it but it was lying on a chair and so I decided to flip through it because I saw an article about the booming business of skin lightening creams in India.
It’s a pretty common thing in Asian countries - this whole concept of skin lightening. Apparently, Indian men are buying into it too. I think it’s incredibly sad (I don’t mean that in a nasty way) that they perceive fairness to be more beautiful than having naturally darker skin. It was a pretty good article - the author at one stage says that one can have features of a gargoyle and be fair-skinned, and still you would be thought of as beautiful.
Unilever (manufacturers of such creams in India) is evil. But then again, perhaps Aryan invaders and British colonisers are too - it was suggested that the Indian people see fair skin not only as beautiful but identify having it as being powerful, influential, able to enjoy a more leisurely lifestyle do to being wealthy.
Article referred to is by Amrit Dhillon, ‘Fair’s fair as Indian men rush for skin-lighteners’, Business section of The Age newspaper, page 3. Mon 19th Dec 2005. Melbourne, Australia.
