Being a dark-skinned female,I have always experienced this dark color paradox bothering me during my teenage, girls with fair complexion were beautiful by default and darkly toned girls like me had to always face this color differentiation taboo and to cover up, my family and friends used to say although you are dark in color you have got sharp features,nice hair and you still look beautiful..

Unfortunately, this diversity in skin color has created a hierarchy of beauty – a hierarchy that tells you that the light-skinned people are the epitome of beauty, while the dark-skinned people fall at the bottom. Why only fair is lovely. I kept wondering.

I was unaware of this until I was in the seventh grade when I found out that my dark skin could put me in a tough spot and stunt my self-esteem.
My dark-skinned classmates ridiculed the color of my skin. One of them called me “Kaali Maa” I pretended I didn’t hear him and walked away. But I still remember that.
One more thing amused me was.. if a boy was dark in color .. he was addressed as Dark and handsome but for the girl again the rules were different.

In the tenth grade, when I was attending a relative’s marriage, my grandmother said why do you wear light colors? You look more dark in it..and I had nothing to say.
I hated wearing white and black. I hated taking pictures in a room that wasn’t well-lit because I knew that while the faces of all my fair-skinned relatives/friends would show up in the picture, mine wouldn’t.

Then came the era where finally Dark was IN… the term “DUSKY beauty” was evolved and it gave us due consideration… our skin tone was recognized finally.
Thanks to all the dark skin Supermodels, Actresses. But by this time, one thing I had realized was that even if it did not matter to you personally the people around you will never let you take it easy. They make it a big deal..people in India have got this unfair obsession with the lighter skin, as if it is in our hands to choose the skin color shades of our wish.

But as I said Stay Unfair, Stay beautiful…it means it is all about our attitude and how do we look at our self. It is only YOU who can bring out the best in you and trust me you will outshine!!

You are beautiful!! Be You!!

Priyanka

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