The colour of identity

The sight of small children, both girls and boys, placing hands and arms close together to compare skin colour is not an unusual one. While the practice is possibly more common among girls, today boys and young men too are increasingly conscious of their skin colour.

‘Fairness products’, in the form or creams, lotions, soaps and other cosmetic items sell everywhere and even in the larger stores in all cities it is sometimes difficult to find an item which does not contain skin-whitening ingredients.

In this context, the decision by the Ministry of Climate Change under Minister Zartaj Gul to ban all products containing more than one percent of mercury, given the harm it can cause humans, is a positive step. Fifty-six of the 59 products examined after being collected from shop shelves contained more than the desired amount of a harmful toxin. The step, however, is not enough.

The issue is not really the question of banning fairness products but of changing the deeply entrenched notion that fairness is somehow associated with beauty, in this age for both women and men. Products designed especially for men are now also on sale in stores. There is debate over why this emphasis on lighter skin is so widespread. Some associate it with colonialism and the supremacy of white rulers. Other anthropologists suggest that especially in the Subcontinent it dates back further to this and to conquest by Central Asians which drove the original population of the Subcontinent towards the south while still others link it to commercial advertising and the magazine images of posters which depict glamorous white women.

It is worth noting that the same concept exists in many African countries, and of course the rest of the Subcontinent. The Ivory Coast and Rwanda have placed a complete ban on whitening products on the basis of threats to health while South Africa and other countries have tough laws on their sale and their contents. In India, there has been a campaign to promote darker skin as being equally or more beautiful with actor Nandita Das playing a primary role amongst many others in the effort.

It is a long struggle. But in our country too we will need to move beyond bans which will be difficult to implement at any rate given past examples, and instead promote the idea that darker skin is not a hindrance to beauty. The current manner in which we condition young women and even very small girls, with beauty salons offering whitening treatments to children as young as six or seven can only damage their self-esteem and confidence.

Surely, we are able to understand that character and action matters far more than the cosmetic and that there is a growing number of models and actors around the world who are dark-skinned and beautiful. The current emphasis is simply harmful and extremely insensitive. A person cannot after all change his or her skin colour or eye colour at will and should never be pressurized to do so for any reason.

There is a further aspect to all this. Pakistanis, like Iranians and others in the same region, suffer extremely widespread shortages of the vital Vitamin D. The vitamin, created effectively only when the sun falls on the skin, is essential to good health and as more studies are carried out is being linked to heart health, protection from a range of other diseases and general well-being. The fact that culturally we prevent our children, especially girls, from going out into the sunlight even in cooler months is undoubtedly a factor in the low Vitamin D levels amongst millions. Pakistani women and girls are especially deficient. The fear that the sun could darken the skin means we ignore the more vital question of health and a lifestyle that involves physical activity at a young age.

Schoolteachers tell many sad stories of naturally darker skinned children being bullied or shunned simply because of the way they look. We have all heard jokes that centre around skin colour and racism directed against African visitors to our country is extremely common. Perhaps without even realizing it, these Africans are addressed in jokingly derogatory terms or their countries sneered at as mere jungles. We don’t not seem willing to accept that many African countries are now well ahead of us in terms of literacy, healthcare and development. Even if the racist slurs are intended in good spirit and merely as a joke, they do drive home a certain stereotype and reinforce the idea that being dark skinned is somehow the equivalent to be ugly or uncivilized.

It will take time to change beliefs which have existed for so long and been passed on from one generation to the next. Efforts can however be made to teach consumers about the terrible damage bleaching products can inflict on skin and suggest through the media and other forums that naturally darker skin is just as beautiful as that which comes in other shades. The primary purpose of skin is to protect the body, allow in the right amount of melatonin based on the amount of sunshine in the place that we live and keep out harmful materials. The colour of one’s skin is designed to do this to perfection. Attempting to change it simply causes harm.

There is also another complication in our country and the Subcontinent. Darker skin is for a variety of historical reasons linked to lower castes and lower income. This may be adding to the obsession we see. We should however be aware of how damaging this is both to society and upward mobility within it and to individuals themselves.

The Ministry of Climate Change has offered us an opening. It needs to be used to drive home other messages. The problem is not just in the sale of inferior quality bleaching products which many buy, but also in the prejudice which surrounds as trivial a matter as skin colour. We need to overcome such pettiness. Statistics from developed countries show that skin tone which is at least slightly tanned is preferred to all others. Again this stems from the manner in which tanned skin in presented and associated to strength and active lifestyle. The entire concept of skin colour is then a notion created by humans and society.

In a world made up of people with a huge variety of skin tones we need to get over with such hang-ups, recognize that variety adds to beauty and encourage our children to think in the same way. Picking on a person simply because they are darker skin is a terrible form of racism. The widespread advertising of fairness products has added to the idea that only white skin is acceptable and having it can lead to instant success, whether in obtaining a job, finding a partner in marriage or claiming a prize at school.

These are truly absurd ideas and perhaps the next governmental step should be to limit or govern advertising which sell bleaching agents or products and develop in our people greater confidence, in their own identity, ethnicity and in the significance of their thoughts and ideas rather than the colour of their skin.

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor.

Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com