"The concept of beauty was in grained by society and cultural norms to be "fairness" unfortunately as Pakistani having dark skin was made to be a crime. First thing in any gatherings, you would be given tips on how to make yourself fair or the typical question "you must drink alot of chai". You would never seen on media or screen a dark skinned south Asian herione or model that you could relate to as beautiful. Dark skinned and on top of that if you were overweight were used as comical elements on the screen never intellectual and beautiful. They were always shown as lesser being than their fairer counterparts. Growing up as dark skinned and overweight girl I never knew how to carry myself, what fashion icon or what make up I should where. My mum when I was child always thought because I am dark skinned should not wear bright colored clothes they would look odd on me. There were many insecurities where looks were concerned. It was hard to find a positive source role model on media, even today in our society fair complexion and slim is a priority. I remember when my parents who lived in the middle east tried to transition to moving back to Karachi and I went to what was supposed to be one of the elite school, I was given the name of phooljahri, elements of dark skinned and overweight and on top of that i had afro style curly hair, which were not norm of South Asian looks."
Written by Mina from Canada
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