The insidious reasons for a brown girls self-loathing wont be surprising to any woman of color. I cannot rightly compare my own struggles to those of another minority, as each ethnicity comes with its own baggage and the South Asian experience is just one variation on the experience of dark-skinned people everywhere. As parents and grandparents often do in Asian countries, my extended family urged me to avoid the sun, not out of fear that heatstroke would sicken me or that UV rays would lead to cancer, but more, I think, out of fear that my skin would darken to the shade of an Untouchable, a person from the lowest caste in Indian society, someone who toils in the fields. The judgments implicit in these exhortationsand what they mean about your worthmight not dawn on you while youre playing cricket in the sand. Whats at stake might not dawn on you while, as a girl, you clutch fast to yourself your blonde-haired, blue-eyed doll named Helen. But all along, the message that lighter skin is equivalent to a more attractive, worthier self is getting beamed deep into your subconscious. Western ideals of beauty do not stop at ocean shores. They pervade the world and mingle with those of your own country to create mutant, unachievable standards.
About This Quote
About Padma Lakshmi
Padma Lakshmi was a 21st-century American tv host and model. Padma Parvati Lakshmi is an American television host, model, author, businesswoman, and activist. She rose to prominence by hosting the Bravo cooking competition program Top Chef (2006–2023). Read more on Wikipedia →