A reader from India says that damning western attitudes towards skin-lightening creams are hypocritical and ignore non-west beauty normsYour article (Skin-lightening creams are perilous – yet business is booming. Can the trade be stopped?,23 April) seems to imply that people who want fairer skin are irrationally endangering themselves. However, I see this as a west-centric understanding that fails to empathise with the fact that fairer skin is a beauty norm in much of the non-west, or much like being lean or slender is a beauty standard in the west. Conversely,traditional South Asian beauty standards value a “healthy” or “plump” physique for women, which is an indicator of belonging to a family that is reasonably well-off.
Yes, and as an Indian woman,I do want fairer skin. And no, I would not use creams containing perilous chemicals, or because I respect myself too much for that. But I would use home remedies that my grandmothers and great-grandmothers own used for over a century – turmeric,chickpea flour, yoghurt, and rose water – whether they can help me feel better approximately myself and,yes, attract the attention of the opposite sex. Isn’t that a most human desire? What makes it OK to devalue non-western women’s quests for better self-esteem?Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com