Skin bleaching: has India gone too far?

I have major psychological issues with the colour of my skin. It has been something that I have been trying to maintain my entire life. I hate the sun and I try my best not to have any contact with it. Seriously, I tan quicker than Usain Bolt can run! But after this summer when a beauty experiment completely failed and left rashes on my face, I knew I had taken my insecurities a little bit too far.

I am pretty sure many South-Asian girls face the same trials that I am talking about. Spending hours exfoliating your face, drinking your own weight in water, or using SPF 50+ whenever you go on holiday. Has anyone tried that haldi and yogurt mixture yet? Or even Sudocream? I remember my sister and I would literally just paste the stuff on our faces for the entire day. Or is that just us? Oh wait, what about making sure the flash is on your camera so you would come out with a nicer complexion?

These are only a few examples of how I have taken skin toning to a whole new level. But my insecurities delve from something much deeper, from certain ingrained beliefs in my head that being fairer is beautiful.

Allow me to elaborate. The video is below is of a recent Indian advertisement for Clean and Dry, a vaginal wash which apparently promises women a fairer bikini area. The video shows a woman who is neglected by her husband, as he seems more interested in reading a newspaper than spending time with her. Then, by a miracle from up high she discovers the solution to all her problems - a vaginal wash! After using it, we see a remarkable difference in her confidence as she starts jumping on the sofa wearing tiny shorts whilst sexually beckoning her husband.

Finally the advert states (translated): "Life for women will now be fresher, cleaner and more importantly fairer and more intimate".

I was first shocked, and then I was left outraged. So now not only does my face have to be fairer but my vagina has to be fairer too? Seriously? Are you freaking kidding me? How on earth am I to keep up with all these ridiculous expectations of beauty? This is the point where I accept defeat. I am never going to look like Aishwarya Rai.

So - I decided to research a little more into this bleaching obsession. It seems that the cosmetic use of chemical agents to lighten the complexion of ones skin, also referred to as skin whitening, skin lightening or skin bleaching is not just a South Asian social problem but in fact a widespread global phenomenon. Skin bleaching represents a multi-faceted experience that is driven from a wide range of historical, cultural and psychological factors.

Being the historian that I am, I have examined a variety of scholars who examine skin bleaching and they determine the root causes from the institutions of colonialism, and the recurring theme of "white supremacy" as a dominant instigator for the desire to skin bleach.

Interestingly, Indian girls have been raised to believe that fairness is the epitome of beauty and this has justified the rise of a $100 million a year skin-whitening industry - which is now encouraging women that having fair hands and face is still not good enough. Even the love of my life... Shah Rukh Khan has endorsed whitening products including Fair and Handsome cream, after shave and facial wash for men.

Frantz Fanon explained, “In the man of colour there is a constant effort to run away from his own individuality, to annihilate his own presence”. So, according to Fanon, the desire to alter one's body to shape their ideal is not a new concept. However, to wilfully "bleach" your skin shows a deeper issue within South Asian girls perception of beauty - it encourages the belief that we are only beautiful if we are similar to our own white counterparts.

Otherness, then, is strongly loathed. To be outcast from the superior majority that prides itself on beauty, wealth, fame, and most importantly power.

There seems to be no end to feeling of insecurity and inferiority that so many people feel across the world. We are all entranced by the glamour of Hollywood that constantly reminds us that beauty and fairness is something that we as ordinary people should aspire to. To be constantly attractive, sexy and appealing. To be looked at. Whatever the West does, it is inevitable that the East will look on and attempt to emulate. India's booming Bollywood industry relies on the idea that 'whiter beauty' is everything. Heroines are cast to represent a small elite that is more Western than Eastern because that is the only place that true beauty can be found. We just need to listen to musical numbers that accompany these actresses, that emphasise gori-ness as opposed to its unmentioned other.

What is more disturbing is that most people are happy to believe the nonsensical dogma that to be whiter is to be better in every sense. Whiteness may hold connotations of purity and cleanliness but it is far from being something that we should all aspire to be.

I hate the idea that there can only be one type of beauty in the world. Where only some are born with it while others really have to work at it. As the saying goes, beauty is in the mind of the beholder. Well some really messed up minds have made us think that beauty can only be fair and I know that it's ridiculous opinions like these that have chased me my entire life.

It's sad to think that society has been numbed in such a way, for it to be normalised into thinking what beauty is or should be. One thing is for sure though, like so many other things in this modern day, beauty has been manipulated and played on like a commodity by money-making machines. It's ironic that beauty can be bought and sold so instantly. That people can change every aspect of themselves to become something that someone else told them is better. And that to do so can bring them happiness.

But will it? I can lap on bleaching creams day in and day out for the rest of my life but I don't think it will make me a happier person. But where does that leave me then? To be constantly made insecure by what society and media outlets deems to be attractive?

The conception of beauty has in modern times been made to be base and cheap. So much so, that ironically it is no longer beautiful. But whatever my opinions on the subject, fairness is clearly a touchy subject for most. And it's sad to think that this absurd and farcical bias won't be leaving our heads, least of all my own, anytime soon.