'We have a lot of things marketed at us to make us feel insecure.'
As a result, I would always miss out. The picnic sessions in the park to make the most of a rare hot British summer day, the idyllic stretches of beaches on holiday, the after-school hang-out sessions with friends — I would mostly give them a miss all because I was too scared to tan if the sun was out and about to ruin my life supposedly.
The consequences of exposure to a society that championed lighter skin followed me extensively throughout my teens and twenties and manifested in different ways. I had a delayed response to forming healthy social connections with friends as I had spent crucial years saying no to invites solely because they were in an outdoor setting. I also struggled with the idea that men could find me attractive just for being me because, for most of my life, worthiness was based on physicality.
It's only since I hit my thirties that I finally embarked on the journey to heal and forge a positive relationship with how I perceived myself physically. I had to unlearn that my darkened skin in the summer didn't mean I was "unloveable" and "ugly", but it meant that I was enjoying my life on my own terms, whether that meant going on a long hike in the sun or enjoying a deep, meaningful conversation on the beach with a friend.
As a society, we have a lot of things marketed at us to make us feel insecure, but I'm glad that today's generation has social media, which along with its many cons, has its pros, one of them allowing young Brown women to openly discuss their relationship with themselves, throw away the outdated beauty ideals and champion their natural skin. Meanwhile, in 2020 the company Unilever changed its Fair and Lovelycream to Glow and Lovely to celebrate a more “diverse standard of beauty”.
slathered all over me, of course. And I'm pretty sure, with her envy-inducing career, Priyanka Chopra Jonas is having the last laugh at colourism critics.
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