Colourism in Asian Beauty Standards

What is colourism?

Colourism is a form of discrimination based on one’s skin tone where in people with lighter or fairer skin tones are favored and given unfair advantages over people with darker skin tones. This takes place among people in the same ethnic or racial group. This type of discrimination is most common in Asian and South Asian communities.

Colourism’s history is steeped in classism, colonialism and casteism.

Colourism in Asia came from the idea that lower-wage workers had to work in the fields and had darker skin as a result. Hence, their darker skin tone signified rural poverty. Lighter-skinned people were able to stay out of the sun and hence were able to live a life of luxury. Their pale skin is a signifier of a more comfortable, cosmopolitan life. In countries like India one’s skin color is a reflection of one’s caste with people of higher castes- Brahmins , having a lighter and paler skin, and people of lower castes- Dalits , having darker skin as they were exposed to the sun while performing manual labour.. During the period between 1857 to 1947, the British used the caste system as their main form of administration in India. This was to judge which individuals were ‘trustworthy’ to work with the British government and which persons were to be not considered as options for higher-skilled jobs. With the destruction of the Indian handicrafts industry there was a rapid decline in employment and only people of higher castes, who had fair skin, was able to get well paying jobs.

Colourism’s present-

Today the skin whitening industry is a multi billion dollar industry. amount to increase whitening effects.” The World Health Organization survey found that nearly 40 percent of women polled in nations including China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South Korea regularly use products for lightening their skin. Market intelligence firm Global Industry Analysts shows that the demand for whiteners is rising, projected to reach $31.2 billion by 2024. These products often have illegal products in them such as mercury and, “mercury salts inhibit the formation of melanin, resulting in a lighter skin tone, yet many cosmetic products contain mercury levels higher than that billboards and advertisements are set up in many Asian countries promoting the beauty of pale skin while simultaneously putting down dark skinned individuals. Even in our media people with lighter skin are portrayed as heroes, innocent, and virtuous while people with darker skin are portrayed as villainous and evil.

Effects of colourism on individuals-

Such preferences are conditioned into us quite early on in life, as a 2010 study by CNN showed, in which children of all races pointed to fair-skinned cartoon characters when asked to identify those who were “pretty” or “smart”, and attributed negative characteristics to cartoon characters with darker skin tones. Colourism also impacts one’s employment opportunities. In India an analysis of a government scholarship program to train disadvantaged women for jobs as flight attendants found that 100 of these women were

unable to gain employment because of their dark complexion — though eight were reported to have ended up as ground staff.

In competitive economies like South Korea where youth unemployment is increasing, having pale skin is seen as an advantage when it comes to securing a job. Here dark skin acts as a barrier to social mobility. One study, for example, found a correlation between symptoms of

depression and prejudices against darker skin tones among Asian-American women.

Most commonly, the result of colorism is the dehumanization of dark skinned people, who are left at the bottom of the social ladder and suffer from lack of education and jobs.

Impact of colourism on anti black bias-

In countries like Taiwan dark-skinned people including Southeast Asians and Black folks experience prejudice in everyday life. Some even refuse to hire English teachers who are not white and some parents complain about their children having Black teachers. One

parent told a principal of a Taiwanese private school that “her children would have nightmares if they were in the Black teacher’s class”.

In 2018, a study by Ellis Monk, a Harvard sociology professor, black people have a 36 percent chance of being jailed at some point in their lives. But if they were dark skinned, that chance jumped to almost 66 percent. In our media lighter skin black actresses or bi racial actresses have an easier time getting roles. Often lighter skin black actresses portray dark skin characters. An example of this is when Amanda Stenberg was casted as the main character for the movie adaptation of the book ‘The Hate U Give.’ because of her lighter complexion compared to the girl’s in the novel.