Will the fair always be lovely?

The recent video of a morning show host screaming at the top of her lungs, wanting her crew to make her appear fairer on the screen, has been making rounds on social media. For her, this might be the most important parameter to judge beauty like more than half the Pakistani population, but for a few thinkers, this obsession with fair skin points deeper towards our moral standards which are even staler than the politics of our country.

It’s sad to see so-called ‘representatives’ of Pakistani women actively voicing their opinions, bashing men and posing as great proponents of feminism. Why is your definition of feminism restricted to attaining equal rights with respect to the opposite gender only? Where does your sense of entitlement go when you bring down your ‘less fair’ female fellows?

With such attitudes, you are not only distorting the concept of beauty but also limiting the opportunities one can explore just because of one’s physical appearance. This obsession with having a fair complexion has taken a toll on our society to such an extent that a woman is constantly judged on the basis of her looks. It seems that if one is an obese, short and dark girl, she may not score for herself a morning show simply because such shows go on air live and can’t be edited to transform appearances of the host. Hosting morning shows seems to be the birth right of ‘picture-perfect’ women only, who just need a little ‘brightness’ adjustment to appear completely flawless on screen.

Who is at fault here? It’s high time we realise that real beauty lies in imperfections. You are no one to question God’s creation. Many Hollywood actresses are now embracing ageing signs, complexion and anything to do with their physical appearances. I’m sure many of our female celebrities look up to them as their idols. If they do, then it’s high time that they adopt their attitudes regarding physical appearances rather than just going for fake accents and off-shoulder tops. Someone like Oprah Winfrey wouldn’t have made it this big if being fair was a prerequisite to stay successful in this game. So, learn to accept who you are and empower others, instead of showing your true (dark) colours to the world.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 19^th, 2015.