What Light Skin Does

[HarmanSingh]

http://wonkette.com/413140/did-they-lighten-bobby-jindals-skin-enough-for-a-presidential-run

And unfortunately, our own people buy into this self hate.

 

[Navkarn]

Unlike all the other photos in the collage, the center one is simply not candid and say "professional" if you will. No one lightened his face, to me it just looks like a studio with a lighted room and a normal flash and thats usually the product you get. The other pics are just candid in random environments. Even i look hella "white" in some photos taken but it's just simply your surroundings and that is the outcome. We have a black president already, i dont see the need for him go "HAI MEHNU GORA KAR KEY PRESIDENT BANADHO!!!"

 

[HarmanSingh]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phillip-martin/skin-whitening-in-the-age_b_378135.html

I think you are downplaying the role skin color plays within minority communities and the role it plays in regards to white America. I don't think its outrageous to think Jindal's Republican advisers would play with his image a little to look more "acceptable" to the public. It happens all the time in advertisements, modeling, music, acting, etc. The picture to the left looks like a professional picture to me, nothing candid about it. Research is pretty clear- voters prefer lighter skinned candidates.

 

[Varun]

darker the berry, sweeter the juice. blacker the baby, deeper the roots- Pac

 

[kinnell]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phillip-martin/skin-whitening-in-the-age_b_378135.html

I think you are downplaying the role skin color plays within minority communities and the role it plays in regards to white America. I don't think its outrageous to think Jindal's Republican advisers would play with his image a little to look more "acceptable" to the public. It happens all the time in advertisements, modeling, music, acting, etc. The picture to the left looks like a professional picture to me, nothing candid about it. Research is pretty clear- voters prefer lighter skinned candidates.

As you said yourself, our own people buy into this self-hate. Fairer skin people are thought of being more attractive, even in Indian culture.

Think of as many Bollywood actresses as you can. How many of them had fair skin? Probably most of them. How many of them had darker skin? Probably none. (This is under the assumption that Bollywood undergoes natural selection in terms of actresses and how many movies they get chosen for)

 

[COMTONDAJATT]

^^Check out the Bollywood actors up close, they are as dark as most of us. Extreme lighting and makeup can make them look like they are all uber-Pathaans or something.

Anyone got theories on why it is? Some people say it is because of the caste system and that Bhramins were 'light skin' and shudras were darkies. Others say that is BS because Krishna and other gods and avatars are portrayed as dark skinned. Some say because the Aryans were light skinned and the indigenous people were dark, or that the Turk/Afghan/Persian/British invaders /conquerors were light skinned and it got en grained in the psyche that white was right. Anyone know any other theories?

 

[Saab]

That paragraph in the first post is so racist and bigoted. Disgusting

 

[J Hayer]

well, a lot of visual aspects of krishna and other such deities date way BEFORE many of the invaders, especially the turks/british, so the tendency for society to prefer light skin might have developed AFTER krishna and other such deities images were already established.

 

[J Hayer]

also, the center picture of Bobby Jindal really looks like its cuz of the lighting, more than anything else, im sure retouching has been used in the past, but the camera and the lighting make a big difference and those pics support That more than anything else..IMO

 

[COMTONDAJATT]

I think we should focus on another aspect of this issue.

Girls on facebook who use crazy flash in their pictures to trick us and hide their facial imperfections. That shit is more dangerous than anything.

 

[justAguy]

^^Check out the Bollywood actors up close, they are as dark as most of us. Extreme lighting and makeup can make them look like they are all uber-Pathaans or something.

Anyone got theories on why it is? Some people say it is because of the caste system and that Bhramins were 'light skin' and shudras were darkies. Others say that is BS because Krishna and other gods and avatars are portrayed as dark skinned. Some say because the Aryans were light skinned and the indigenous people were dark, or that the Turk/Afghan/Persian/British invaders /conquerors were light skinned and it got en grained in the psyche that white was right. Anyone know any other theories?

Dark skin has always been looked down upon.
Darkness is just affiliated with negative things
(DARK side of the moon, DARKer days, DARK ages, DARK personality, etc)

This has existed for a while.
Pre 16th century the English Oxford Dictionary described 'BLACK' as:
"Deeply stained with dirt; soiled, dirty, foul. Having dark or deadly purposes, malignant; pertaining to or involving death, deadly; baneful, disastrous, sinister. Foul, iniquitous, atrocious, horribly wicked. Indicating disgrace, censure, liability to punishment"

The problem is that nobody knows color until it's pointed out.
In 1600s colonial America for example, blacks and whites united as the 'Giddy Multitude' to try n better their conditions, they were really oblivious to their differences in color. As a solution to the rising discontent, BLACK slavery was institutionalized to break up the lowest class and make a weaker group. From then on off course, people accepted it as normal and natural cuz the color black was so long accepted as inferior

 

[justAguy]

The problem is that nobody knows color until it's pointed out.

To add, if you put a black baby next to a white baby they'll probably play with each other like any other babies would. Nobody knows about color until they're TOLD to differentiate

In the English language, the words fair / white / light have always been words affiliated with GOOD, seeing as WHITE is clean and free of dirt

 

[justAguy]

I think we should focus on another aspect of this issue.

Girls on facebook who use crazy flash in their pictures to trick us and hide their facial imperfections. That shit is more dangerous than anything.

LOLLLLLLLL

 

[justAguy]

Also, in terms of Western religions, looking 'up at heaven' or 'finding God' is finding the LIGHT, or looking up at the light. Everyone is in search of the light.
Hell is described perpetual darkness, the DARKNESS of hell etc

 

[Varun]

its all about power relations. the superior race stays indoors while the servile race is out in the sun, getting dark. who would you want to look like? The light skinned zamindar/slave master/colonialist or the dark shudra/slave/peasant?

girls need to quit the self-hate. sure you can blame it on societal and media pressures, but at the end of the day, you can't justify not feeling comfortable with your own body, differences, uniqueness. and shit, there are so many beautiful dark skinned girls out there...fuck overexposed lighting.

 

[gabroo_punjabi]

^^Check out the Bollywood actors up close, they are as dark as most of us. Extreme lighting and makeup can make them look like they are all uber-Pathaans or something.

Anyone got theories on why it is? Some people say it is because of the caste system and that Bhramins were 'light skin' and shudras were darkies. Others say that is BS because Krishna and other gods and avatars are portrayed as dark skinned. Some say because the Aryans were light skinned and the indigenous people were dark, or that the Turk/Afghan/Persian/British invaders /conquerors were light skinned and it got en grained in the psyche that white was right. Anyone know any other theories?

Dark skin has always been looked down upon.
Darkness is just affiliated with negative things
(DARK side of the moon, DARKer days, DARK ages, DARK personality, etc)

This has existed for a while.
Pre 16th century the English Oxford Dictionary described 'BLACK' as:
"Deeply stained with dirt; soiled, dirty, foul. Having dark or deadly purposes, malignant; pertaining to or involving death, deadly; baneful, disastrous, sinister. Foul, iniquitous, atrocious, horribly wicked. Indicating disgrace, censure, liability to punishment"

The problem is that nobody knows color until it's pointed out.
In 1600s colonial America for example, blacks and whites united as the 'Giddy Multitude' to try n better their conditions, they were really oblivious to their differences in color. As a solution to the rising discontent, BLACK slavery was institutionalized to break up the lowest class and make a weaker group. From then on off course, people accepted it as normal and natural cuz the color black was so long accepted as inferior

that doesnt seem to be the case for my 9 month year old neice, she starts crying whenever she see's the color black for some reason :|

 

[yraparla]

Also, in terms of Western religions, looking 'up at heaven' or 'finding God' is finding the LIGHT, or looking up at the light. Everyone is in search of the light.
Hell is described perpetual darkness, the DARKNESS of hell etc

please keep in mind you're using English. Several Romance languages have separate words for light/dark and white/black and the connotations are not all transferable.

 

[Navi Sandhu]

how about that Fair and Handsome gentlemen..

 

[Kush]

theres a psychology experiment that was done, but they do it every few years with consistent results. when small/young children are presented with two different dolls, one white, one black, the white one is more consistently chosen as the doll of choice. in addition, when asked to associate each with being good or bad, the black had a significantly higher ratio of being considered the bad doll. sad...

And...

darker the berry, sweeter the juice. blacker the baby, deeper the roots- Pac

HELL yes. I love being chocolate brown

 

[Kush]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_and_Mamie_Clark

Scroll To doll experiments. it doesnt say anything about consistency but i recall being told in a class this experiment is repeated periodically.