In this video Indian actress Nandita Das talks about the obsession of Indians for a fair skin. Nandita has lent her support to the ‘Dark is Beautiful’ campaign that celebrates being dark. Dark is Beautiful is an awareness campaign that seeks to draw attention to the unjust effects of skin color discrimination. It’s launched by Women of Worth, the campaign challenges the belief that the value and beauty of people is determined by the fairness of their skin. This belief and media message shapes society and it gives countless people, young and old, a low self-esteem.
Related posts;
Virginity Cream Sparks Indian Sex Debate
Tightey-Whitey Vaginas: The Boys Are Depending On Us
Goraka / June 8, 2013
How about decency is beautiful!
/
justice / June 8, 2013
Beauty products companies prey on the innate desires of women to become beautiful and sexy.
They are earning almost as much as pharmaceutical companies which earn most,next to those which market armaments.
“Tightening the vagina by creams” is not feasible.
A woman can ‘tighten’ her vagina during sex voluntarily,using her pelvic muscles.
‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ is an old adage.
Fair or dark is immaterial.
/
Amarasiri / June 8, 2013
Dear Beautiful Nandita Das,
Dark is not beautiful is another MYTH, just like the religious and cultural MYTHS. Modern science is lowly chipping away at these.
Good work, keep hacking at these MYTHS. In Sri Lanka, we have Racist Monk Sinhala Buddhist Racism, to hack at, and expunge, and we have yellow-robed cattle self-immolating issues.
“During the long-ranging human exodus from Africa, says anthropologist Nina Jablonski, Vitamin D levels in the body played a key role: driving the evolution of our species’ skin color.”
http://www.nasw.org/vitamin-d-levels-determined-how-human-skin-color-evolved-1
Vitamin D levels determined how human skin color evolved
By John Arnst
It may seem the sun wages a constant war against our skin. Harmful UV radiation burns us, damages our DNA, and can sow the seeds for melanoma. But the sun is essential to our healthy development and our immune systems, because sun-exposed skin produces Vitamin D. During the long-ranging human exodus from Africa, says anthropologist Nina Jablonski, Vitamin D levels in the body played a key role: driving the evolution of our species’ skin color.
“The sunshine vitamin,” as Jablonski calls Vitamin D, is central to understanding the relationship between skin color and geography, she said during a February 16 symposium at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston. She described her thesis in full in her latest book, Living Color: The Biological and Social Meaning of Human Skin Color.
In her latest book, anthropologist Nina Jablonski describes the connections between skin color and Vitamin D. Credit: University of California Press (Get a 29% discount on this book from the NASW Bookstore on Amazon.com).
With receptors located in the cells of many major organs and in the immune system, Vitamin D helps in calcium absorption and prevents aberrant cell division. UVB radiation catalyzes its creation in our skin.
According to Jablonski, “there is a conspicuous geographical pattern” between skin color and distance from the equator. At more northern or southern latitudes, the level of UVB rays hitting Earth’s surface decreases due to the planet’s tilt. The equator is bathed year-round in UVB rays, but seasonal variations mean that people in Northern Europe receive virtually no UVB exposure in winters.
As a result, Jablonski said, humans living near the equator developed darker skin tones, while those in northern climates developed lighter hues. High humidity also decreases UVB levels, as marked by the contrast between skin tones of early humans living in dry equatorial Africa and moist equatorial South America.
The dearth of UVB rays in northern climates put positive evolutionary pressure on early migratory humans to ramp up Vitamin D production, Jablonski noted. And indeed, fair-skinned people of European descent are nearly six times more efficient at making Vitamin D from UVB rays than those living near the equator.
Different types of melanin pigments in skin trigger these variations. In dark-skinned people, eumelanin is dominant and acts as a natural sunscreen; fairer-skinned individuals have much more pheomelanin. However, while pheomelanin produces vitamin D efficiently, its reaction with high levels of UVB also makes dangerous free radicals — which damage skin cells over time.
Failing to produce adequate levels of Vitamin D can cause physical deformities, including painful distension of the pelvic bones in women — and severe complications during childbirth. But even with persistent UV exposure, malignant melanoma doesn’t set in until later in life. Its effect on reproductive success would have been almost nonexistent, Jablonski stated.
The process of long-term skin lightening, known as “depigmentation,” occurred due to a series of mutations in a gene called SCL24A5, Jablonski said. That gene controls the size of melanin packets in skin and the types of melanin produced.
“All of us can use this as a wonderful teaching tool,” she said. “We often wonder how we can teach evolution to our students, to our children. What human examples can we bring that will be effective? Well, here’s one: human skin pigmentation. You don’t need any teaching tools, because you’re wearing it.”
John Arnst is a senior English and Biology major at the University of Florida. He has interned at the University of Florida’s Global Pathogens Laboratory, loves books and viruses, and would one day like to write books about viruses. Reach him at johnarnst@ufl.edu.
/
Cordelia / June 8, 2013
Bravo Nandita. A campaign like this is long overdue in Sri Lanka, where remarks about a person’s physical appearance are commonly made with no concern for the damage they cause. Because of this stupid obsession about colour thoughtless cruelty is inflicted daily at all levels of society. Nicknames based on physical characteristics are frequent. I have heard a mother lamenting in the presence of her little girl that it will be difficult to find a husband for her because she is dark.
/
Amarasiri / June 9, 2013
Cordelia,
“I have heard a mother lamenting in the presence of her little girl that it will be difficult to find a husband for her because she is dark.”
1. The little girl was dark because either her mother or father or both were dark, because of genes.
2. Here mother and gather were dark because they lived near the equator for too long.
3. They lived near the equator for too long because, their ancestors stayed close to the equator, hen they migrated from Africa.
4. Ask her to test her brothers DNA and see from where her father and mother came from. May be we have great female scientist in the making in this still MYTH infested world.
https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/
Since its launch in 2005, National Geographic’s Genographic Project has used advanced DNA analysis and worked with indigenous communities to help answer fundamental questions about where humans originated and how we came to populate the Earth. Now, cutting-edge technology is enabling us to shine a powerful new light on our collective past. By participating in the latest phase of this real-time scientific project, you can learn more about yourself than you ever thought possible.
/
royal prince / June 9, 2013
Cordelia,
Right on! There are countless instances of colour and its role in Sri Lankan life. Marriage proposals in the local newspapers, use of the descriptor ‘black beauty’, just to name a couple. I remember,as a kid, when my mother sent me on an errand to the corner store, she would warn- ” don’t stop to talk to strangers, especially the dark ones.” As Robert Fisk once said, “the only lesson we ever learn is that we never learn.”
/
Memona kolamakda / June 9, 2013
Black is beautiful. “Dodol kauwunata rasa wedi”
/
Goraka / June 10, 2013
Black was beautiful, till the white man arrived. Sarong was a decent dress till the white man made us wear tie and coat in a tropical country. Sinhala was a beautiful, till the white man told us English is better.
WHO IS STILL CONTROLLING YOUR MIND!
/
JimSofty / June 9, 2013
It is good, at least one woman had courage and confidence.
/
Cordelia / June 9, 2013
Amarasiri, I am all in favour of exposing unscientific myths of all kinds, and the way different skin pigmentation developed is fascinating and important knowledge. But my concern is whether knowing how different skin shades evolved wil help dispel our people’s prejudice that fair is beautiful and dark is not. You sometimes hear people say ” she is beautiful although she is dark” – that “although” has to be countered.
/
Sanjay Karuna / June 9, 2013
As they used to say about Kolikttus, “Lella Kalu unata Made’ rasayi”
/
Amarasiri / June 9, 2013
Sanjay Karunsa,
““Lella Kalu unata Made’ rasayi”
In the West, some women think that blonds have more fun, prettier and have more opportunities to find a good mate. Some, also say blonds are dumb, specially those women who are not blond. Based on demand, hair coloring dyes entered the market, and now any women can have blond hair, whatever the skin color is.
In the case of the skin color,the “technology” has not sufficiently developed, but if you go to the bridal preparation places, they will put the bride on a bride “skin enhancement” program so that on the wedding day, she will be fairer than before, and will be happy.
The darker skinned South Asians, some, want to be lighter skinned North Asians and Middle Easterners. The lighter skinned North Asians, some, want to be whiter skilled Scandinavians.
There are products like fair and lovely, that address this need due to market demand. It used to be that Ford offered a car, as long as it was black and Model T. Then General Motors came along, offered different car models in different colors.
Indians want to look like whites.
http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/fair%20and%20lovely
/
Lester / June 10, 2013
Dark skin looks good on a man, but not on a woman. That is just the human perception. Men will always choose a fairer-skin woman over a darker-skin woman; that is just the way with things.
/
David Blacker / June 10, 2013
Speak for yourself, Nazi boy.
/
Goraka / June 10, 2013
Black was beautiful, till the white man arrived. Sarong was a decent dress till the white man made us wear tie and coat in a tropical country. Sinhala was a beautiful, till the white man told us English is better.
WHO IS STILL CONTROLLING YOUR MIND, LESTER THE WHITE BOY!
/
Ruwan / June 13, 2013
Agree 50%. You are wrong about males. Even males look much better with fair skin. With darker skin your features also tend to get rougher, and do I dare say “uglier” or more unrefined. That is why dark people look more menacing, scarey, while fairer people look very pleasant to the eye. Have you ever heard of people in Sri Lanka saying to a dark man or woman that they are “lassanayi” or “seedevi”. It cannot happen.
/
Lester / June 14, 2013
Even males look much better with fair skin.
My observation is that the fairer the skin, the more feminine. In my opinion, the ideal skin tone (for a guy) is a tanned one, but the difficulty here is that naturally tanned men (Indians, some Sri Lankans, Greeks, Arabs) tend to be very very hairy, and body hair is not something that most women find attractive.
Of course, women have a different view. Women are more color-blind than men, and most will date a super dark guy, given the correct circumstances.
/
AYMAN / June 21, 2013
SO YOU LIKE FAIR MEN. SO THAT SHOWS ANOTHER FACET OF YOUR LIFE AND LIKES
/
Appubaba / June 13, 2013
This is just for men like you. You cant represent the men, but racial men that focus only on the complexion. I really dont think that blond women prefer you to afro men :)… really a racial remark. Sad to see your ilk of people survive further :(
/
Appubaba / June 13, 2013
HERE YOU HAVE SHOWN YOUR REAL FACE. SO LONG YOUR ILK WOULD SURVIVE AMONG THE FOLKS, THERE WILL BE NO PEACE WHATSOEVER IN THE COUNTRY. IF YOU GO FOR SKIN COLOUR, WHITE AMERICAN SHOULD HATE THEIR PRESIDENT TODAY, WE ALL THE SINHALAYAS SHOULD HATE OUR TAMILS FOLKS AND DARK SKINN SINHAALYAS WHICH ARE THE MAJORITY AMONG US. DISTRIBUTION OF MELANINE PIGMENTATION HAS NOTHING TO DO LIKE OR DISLIKES OF THE PEOPLE – BUT RATHER THE GENETICS.
/
Bernadette Devaraj / June 10, 2013
Hats off to Nandita. Its time beautiful women like her spoke out. All of us dark skinned women have undergone a lot of mental torture because of the colour of our skin. My neice suffered a lot till she travelled in Europe at the age of 15 and was considered very beautiful because of her skin colour which was really dark.
I switch channels whenever any skin enhancing cream is advertised. I dont watch any movie or serial of actors whom I considered good actors before they stared advertising for fairness creams and products to name some John Abraham and Anoushka.
/
Cordelia / June 11, 2013
Bernadette, I know women who have the “advantage” of being “fair complexioned” who envy – the more so with age – their “dark” contemporaries with their smooth, glowing skin that doesn’t show wrinkles, that retains its soft bloom, compared to a countenance that all too soon grows sallow and shows up every blemish.
A concerted boycott of fairness creams and their promoters is a great idea.
/
Amarasiri / June 11, 2013
Cordelia,
“A concerted boycott of fairness creams and their promoters is a great idea.”
Where does the skin color rank, compared to malnutrition, lack of law and order, bribery, corruption,thuggery, rapes, and beliefs on other Myths etc.
First things First.
1. Get rid of racism
2. Get rid of Myths
3. Have law and Order
4. Have an Egalitarian Society
Then add the other items like dark skin, global warming etc.
If there is a demand, the supply will follow. Once upon a time, there were too many herbivores. Then, the carnivores appeared, well before man appeared.
/
Ruwan / June 13, 2013
Actually, “dark” is NOT beautiful. Fair skin is actually beautiful. But you have to have good features as well. Like, if you make a African’s skin “fair”, he will still be unattractive, due to African features such as large flat nose and other facial features.
People don’t realize that you CANNOT talk about “skin color” alone. Skin color AND physical appearance/features are the 2 things that makes a human beautiful. You cannot talk of one, without the other.
In India, the higher castes are the fair ones while the lower castes who do menial jobs like cleaning toilets have dark skin. This is the reality. This is human nature. You can’t go against it.
/
sheikh / October 29, 2013
@Ruwan
Speak for yourself. I’m a dark-skinned American, and as far as I’m concerned, I look good. Also, Indian society was set up that way by design, not because fairer-skinned people are automatically superior to dark-skinned people. That is just some white supremacy BS you’re been brainwashed with. Being white or fair-skinned does not by itself make you smarter or better-looking, and they use the bathroom just like anybody else does,on top of that. And societies have changed with the times and gotten rid of certain old racist attitudes—-a society’s unwritten rules are not written in stone so they can’t ever change. Seriously, that is some backwards thinking racist mentality which unfortunately is still prevalent in the U.S.,even as far as we’re moved ahead in dealing with racial issues.
/
PEACELOVER.. / June 13, 2013
Former beautiful and sizzling Indian actress Mamta Kulkarni has accepted Islam as best religion. She converted to Islam recently and is living with her husband ‘Vicky Goswami’, who has already converted to Islam. Mamta Kulkarni got married on 10th May, 2013 and is living in Nairobi, Kenya with her husband.
In this modern age, the non-Muslims are converting to Islam considering it the best religion in the world. The Indian Bollywood Actress, who got fame due to her movie ‘Ghatak’ has converted to Islam. Mamta Kulkarni’s husband Vicky Goswami was arrested by the UAE police in 1997 in drug smuggling case. Vicky Goswami was sentenced 25 years in jail, but released in November 2012. His conversion to Islam was the main reason of major reduction in his punishment.
Mamta Kulkarni got married with Goswami, when he was in jail. She was managing her husband’s hotel business outside during his punishment. She was in a relationship with Goswami, and their relation has turned into a long lasting relation, as the couple has got married.
In 90′s Mamta Kulkarni came up as a hot and bold actress of Indian film industry. Her bold and hot pictures were published in several magazines and fashion tabloids. She worked in Bollywood movies for almost 11 years, and after that she left the showbiz and Indian film industry i.e. Bollywood. She has rejected a lot of film offers from several directors and producers. She has also received many offers from the dance programs and reality shows, but she has decided to keep herself out of this business.
/
Rama / June 15, 2013
peacelover, you have missed a vital point here. this silly cow mamta and plonker vicky were hindus while living in india. however, arabs did vicky a favour in return for him converting to islam. he converted not because islam was a great faith but just to return the favour. mamta probably didn’t have any choice other than to convert. i wonder whether vicky had to go through the pain of circumcision at an old age. anyway we can call vicky a [Edited out] now.
/
PEACELOVER.. / June 16, 2013
HALO…….YOUR NAME ” Rama ” shows us how IGNORANT and UNEDUCATED , JEALOUSY FELLOW YOU ARE….. FIRST YOU BETTER STUDY ISLAM AND THEN COMMENT ….
/
Vijith de Silva / June 18, 2013
Lets be honest shall we. Dark is always associated with everything bad. “You are afraid of the dark”. So having dark skin cannot be a good thing. IQ studies has proved that darker races have lower IQ than lighter races. No country with dark people have every achieved high-income developed status in the world. In fact all countries with dark skinned people are poor and underdeveloped. Look at all the beauty pageants. 99% of all winners have light skin. These are facts you cannot ignore. Take a piece of clothing. When do we call it as dirty??? When it becomes darker, right? Just look at the marriage proposal in the Sunday observer. Almost every bride says she is fair (when in reality they are not) and almost every guy wants a fair bride. Some people say we adore dark skin because of the British. That is just nonsense. In India for example, the caste system is called “varna” meaning color. Lighter skinned people are upper castes and lower castes always without any exception have dark skin. Even in Sri Lankan fair skin has been adored for 1000s of years. Just look at the Sigiri frescoes. All the maidens in them are fair. Just look at this girl with Dark skin: [Edited out]
Do you honestly think she is beautiful??
/
sheikh / October 29, 2013
@de Silva
FYI, I think Nandita Das is beautiful in her own right. All that silly outdated racist BS you just mentioned has been disproved by science already, particularly the IQ thing. Look it up,please. You sound like a young person who’s just swallowed all the racist BS you’re been taught without actually questioning whether it actually makes any sense or not. The British colonization only reinforced that whole “white and light skin is better than anything else” white supremacist BS. I used to watch a lot of Bollywood films, and as much as I love them, I find it sad how a lot of the leading ladies look more like white women than anything else, and how dark-skinned actress always seem to get relegated to the side. And there are a number of good actresses like Nandita Das and Seems Biswas who don’t get the lead roles merely because they aren’t light-skinned, which is so stupid and ridiculous. Yet any part Indian actress who looks more white than anything (Katrina Kaif) who’s not even considered a good actress,can get all the leading roles all the time–that’s messed up! Hell,even Mindy Kaling (the Indian-American writer/actress/creator of The Mindy Project) as pretty as she is, wouldn’t even be considered for a leading role, because she’s not light enough—now that’s some stupid,ignorant BS!
/
ShelleyKasli / August 16, 2013
Bollywood has it’s roots in the Opium Drug trafficking and was primarily established as an important Colonial War Propaganda Factory and later was morphed into an instrument of counter-culture. It was infested with those wrinkle free high society mannequins to whom the rest of the country did not identify with. What we see today is a culture thoroughly programmed into amnesia with this now century old slow poison. Punch into google Bollywood A War-Baby Conceived by British Nurtured by Indians.
/