Even though the colour “dusky” is hard to accept among actresses in India, very recently a picture of three beautiful dark women went viral. The photo was originally uploaded by Abirami Ravichandran Pillai in Instagram. Due to its different and refreshing take, it was later uploaded on The Uncanny Truth Teller 2 Facebook page with the caption “The Faces of India they won’t show you.”
It is not so clear as to whether the women in the photo are actually from India, but nevertheless, it is still a fresh and unique change in comparison to the same old white and bright selfies. The fact that women are stepping forward despite societal norms is really motivational.
The post has about 30,000 shares and people flooded the post with positive comments like:
“Bollywood take. Note!”
“They are so beautiful. Their skin is radiant.”
“Thank you for this. These people look absolutely gorgeous. (Ps if they are wearing foundation I want to know which brand cares enough to carry darker shades as I haven’t even found one).”
One brought to light the racism faced by small children abroad by stating, “I babysit and in my area, there’s a lot of Asian families with kids already dealing with microaggressions in elementary school. There’s this extra discrimination a lot of the Indian and other Southeast kids face because other schoolmates don’t believe they’re Asian-American. They’re “too dark” so they get deliberately misidentified as Latino, African, or Arabic instead. Even after the kid’s explained it, which it’s ridiculous a kid should have to explain that in the first place. All awesome, smart, funny kids and beautiful like the women here. Hope a day comes where a nine-year-old doesn’t have to explain to an adult educator where India is on a map.”
There is still a long way to go in order to see the society accepting women coming out of their shells despite their skin color. Only when derogatory memes of dark and fat women stop surfacing in social media and when women are accepted into the field of media for their skills and not their looks, will racism ever be curbed. Beauty does not lie in one’s color or shape, it rests beneath inside their hearts.