We often come across various advertisements in which the desire of fair skin are shown. But why do we need a fair skin? Why whitening cream continues the be the bestsellers worldwide? So, let's talk about colorism here!

Colorism or shadeism is the discrimination on the basis of skin colour. Colorism includes prejudice against individuals based on complexion, pigmentation, skin tone or skin shade of a person. It is a serious social issue that has been prevailing around us for years. We have heard about existence of colorism for centuries in America. 

This discrimination has originated somewhere in between us. People are often mistreated because of the dark colour of their skin and ofcourse “white supermacy". White supermacy is the belief that the race of white people is superior than that of black people. Beauty industry relate beauty with fairness of skin and indirectly contributes in supporting white supermacy.

Colorism has narrowed beauty standards by acknowledging light skinned people as beautiful. Fair skin is deemed superior of all and believed to be a symbol of status and wealth. Colorism have devastating influence on those who are affected by it. It gives a lot of privilege to people with lighter skin while disadvantages to those with darker skin. Colorism is the reason behind various suffering faced by darker people like:

• Smaller income - In some countries, colorism is linked to smaller income and that's why dark people belongs to economically weaker section in the society.
• Lower marietal rate - As fair skin often associated with beauty and high status, light skinned women are more likely to be preferred for marraiges than dark skinned women. This results in low marraige rate of dark people.
• Longer prison terms - In some countries, there are provisions for longer and difficult prison terms for dark people in comparison to white ones.
• Low job opportunities - It is often observed in american countries that there are fewer job prospects for dark skinned people. People with fair skin are viewed as more intelligent and attractive and thus, chosen over dark people. That is why dark skin is associated with the lower section of the society and light skin with the elite one.

We need to understand that BLACK is a colour just like WHITE. Now the time has come for us to rise ourselves above such issues and move forward for better future.

Let's have an understanding and acceptance of the skin colour one have either light or dark!