I am sharing a the thoughts of a girl I found in Instagram. Nrivana Bhandary says:
I was born a very fair girl in Kathmandu, and I remember how my mother would be showered with compliments about how gori, and thus beautiful I was. The fair & lovely fairy.
Was I privileged because of this, even as a child? Probably, but it was invisible to me because a privileged person does not know they are privileged until they hear the stories of the oppressed. And I did not hear these stories.
In the 90s we hadn’t yet found the vocabulary to describe the discrimination dark-skinned South Asians face compared to lighter-skinned South Asians. Now we call this colourism.
Under the influence of an upbringing in the west I learned that being tan was the epitome of cool and came to value it. I too started laying on the beach for hours on end in my tiniest bikini.
I think that the western mentality regarding tans is on the right track in some ways. South-Asians shun the sun like they are vampires. They stay indoors as much as possible because they are scared that the evil sun will mar their beauty, make them dark and unattractive. But to be outdoors enjoying nature, being kissed by the sun, is undoubtably one of the most pleasurable experiences in life. Why deny oneself that?
And she says:
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