Unfair and Lovely – It’s More in their Minds than in your Skin

Sequence of Pictures taken by Pax Jones

Source: bbc.com

We live in a society where prejudice seeps into every aspect of our lives.  Right from the time we enter the world to the time we take our last breath, we are governed by the whims and fancies of the social order, but how many times do we raise a question on these set norms? We accept them, respect them like any other worldly truth, nurture them, and bequeath them further to our next generation. Racism, casteism, colourism, and sexism are a few to name from the never-ending list of such set norms.

However, there are people, and the number of such people is so less that they can be counted on one’s finger tips, who have taken initiatives to break the prevalent stereotypes. Of late what millions of people from all over the world are talking about on the various social media spheres is the ‘Unfair and Lovely’ campaign created by three students from the University of Texas. Targeting the South Asian countries, where ‘Dark Skin is Desirable’ says no one; this campaign is a food for thought about how valid it is to curtail people from various opportunities on the basis of skin colour. Be it prospects of marriage or even jobs that have nothing to do with one’s skin colour, the unfathomable obsession with fair skin can be distinctly felt in the air of these countries. People with dark skin are judged, humiliated at every step in life as they are made to feel the limitation of options, starting from getting clothes to life partners. 

lincyshroom shares her photo on Instagram
Source: bbc.com

Statements told to kids again and again in almost every household, and mind you to the girl child especially include – “Don’t play in the sun, otherwise you’ll become dark. Don’t drink tea, or else you’ll ruin you fair skin.” Do we realize what potential these statements carry in breeding insecurities in young minds about their skin colour? Well, these insecurities have now become so deep-rooted and propagating that the 180$ million skin whitening industry in India (source: Jewish Business News, 2015) is feeding on them!

Basing its name on India’s popular skin whitening cream Fair & Lovely, the Unfair and Lovely campaign celebrates the beauty that lies in dark skin. It has taken inspiration from a project started in December, 2015 by Pax Jones, a 21 years old Black student from the same university, who created a strikingly beautiful string of snaps featuring her sisters Yanusha and Mirusha, and South Asian friends studying with her.

#unfairandlovely has been creating ceaseless discussions on Facebook and Twitter, besides stirring the social media metrics by garnering millions of impressions. The campaign asked people to take pride in their dark skin and post their pictures on their social media accounts. It was reported that Instagram saw posts from about one thousand people. When asked what the aim was for starting such a campaign, Pax Jones told BBC - "We wanted to start a conversation and I think we have succeeded in that".