Mirror Mirror

Mirror Mirror on the Wall .. Who is the Fairest of us all??

Since time immemorial, beauty has been a virtue associated with women. All women are expected to be beautiful. In Indian society the ideal of a woman is “slim”, “fair” and “beautiful”. One look at the matrimonial columns of any newspaper will reiterate the fact that our Indian society is obsessed with beauty. It is this attitude that raises expectations from ordinary women. Any woman who does not fit the ideal i.e “fair”, “slim” and “beautiful” is not considered attractive or beautiful enough.

Like in Greek mythology where Aphrodite or Venus was considered to be the Goddess of Beauty, our Indian mythology too is abundant with Beautiful women like Goddess Parvati, and Maneka who lured the great sage Vishvamitra with her Beauty. One has to understand that each individual is unique and has her/his own charisma. To expect all women to conform to the “ideal” is futile.

Coming to the present context, living in a world of commodities, more often than not, we tend to overlook the historical context, the cultural and social implications of; the impact on mentalities, and the impact on our lives of commercial products and the marketing techniques used to sell these products. One of the best examples is that of ‘Fair & Lovely’, a product of Unilever, which is marketed in India by Hindustan Lever Limited, the Indian subsidiary of Unilever.

One of the market leaders in fairness creams, ‘Fair & Lovely’ targets young women who aspire to be fair. Here fairness is closely associated with the “ideal” beauty. Thus, fair women are considered to be beautiful.

If one closely follows the advertisements one can guess that the brand promotes a certain type of a woman who is fair. What makes this situation more problematic is that beauty is equated to having a fair skin tone. It automatically puts whites above non-whites and justifies their success on a sub-conscious level.

Infact, this craze for white skin has been aggressively marketed. In advertisements, it is always shown that in order to be successful, liked and approved by others, one needs to have fair skin. However, this is not true. In order to succeed in life one needs to have character and depth. That is what makes an individual successful.

Like the popular saying goes, “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.”

-Arpita Bhattacharya

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