European Ideals of Beauty Continue to Prevail in the South Asian Community

With the current state of racial tensions in the United States centered around the systemic oppression of the Black community in this nation, it is a time for Indian Americans to reflect upon the colorism present in our own community, before we can effectively support and fight for our Black brothers and sisters. 

I recently attended a virtual discussion on the topic of allyship and the Black Lives Matter movement with students from all over the country, and the presence of many Asian American students in this group led to the inevitable transition to the topic of face whitening products and the idea that those with lighter skin are more beautiful or of higher status than those with more melanin. 

People began to bring up their own personal experiences with these products, having used them since their childhood, and later learning about the negative effects these creams have on one’s health. The most popular face whitening brand in India, Fair & Lovely, contains harmful chemicals and metals like Mercury, Chromium, and various steroids that may cause skin problems, kidney failure, and even cancer. 

Despite several warnings from experts, skin-lightening continues to be a multi-million dollar industry in India. Most recently, many Bollywood celebrities have come under fire for being performative as they voiced their support for the Black Lives Matter movement in America, but continue to appear in advertisements for skin-lightening cosmetics, greatly profiting off of the industry. 

European Ideals of Beauty

Many Indians look up to European ideals of beauty, continuing to hold these beliefs even after they moved to more diverse nations like America. Despite having gained freedom from the British Raj over seventy years ago, ideas of Anglo-Saxon superiority have been embedded in the minds of the Indian people. 

These British rulers, who had much fairer skin and different features than the native Indian population, claimed themselves to be superior and compared Indians to wild animals and dogs. While India was a colony, the British gave certain jobs to lighter skinned Indians, due to their need for manpower in the government and military, but darker skinned Indians were barred from these jobs and given only menial tasks. 

This association of lighter skin tones with higher status continues today, giving those with less melanin more opportunities and power in South Asian society.

This association of lighter skin tones with higher status continues today, giving those with less melanin more opportunities and power in South Asian society. This European influence has seeped into something far more sacred than just beauty standards, however. 

These ideas of colorism have led to the whitewashing of Hindu deities. In the case of Lord Krishna, the word ‘Krishna’ means dark or black in Sanskrit, and the Vedas state that he is a dark-skinned god. Despite this evidence in religious scriptures, Lord Krishna is most often depicted as being light-skinned and the actors hired to portray him in films and television shows also have lighter skin. This puts forth the false idea that dark-skinned people are less divine as all the Hindu gods are portrayed as not having darker skin most of the time. 

With systemic racism towards Black people being in the forefront of everyone’s attention, we must dismantle these prejudiced ideas present in the Indian-American community to truly stand in solidarity with the Black community. If a light-skinned South Asian individual is posting in support of Black Lives Matter movement on their social media, but believes themselves to be superior to or more beautiful than their dark-skinned South Asian peers, their activism is not intersectional and is purely performative. 

During this time of great change, it is not enough to stand with a movement because it is trending, we must work to change the mentality of people all over the world that believe some individuals are inferior or unattractive due to the color of their skin.

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Ishani Peddi is a rising senior at Starr’s Mill High School in Peachtree City, Georgia. Born and raised in Southern California, she moved to Georgia last year. She has been writing as long as she can remember and published a fictional work in middle school. A passionate poet, who has won numerous literary competitions, Ishani is involved in various clubs and organizations within her school and community. She is the Communications Director for the Georgia High School Democrats, the Vice President of the Starr’s Mill High School Young Democrats,  a Civil Air Patrol Cadet, and an AAPIs for Biden Intern, to name a few.