Alright...Agreed...It's a weird topic to write about...Fine, point taken...I am here neither to preach fairness nor sermon why it is unfair not to be fair...Let me set the expectations right. I have no freaking clue what I'm writing in this particular post. I am just allowing thoughts to pass thru' my mind and fingers, to the screen in front of me, & then take stock of what it looks like at the end of the exercise.
So, there used to be a time when tall & dark men were considered "handsome". In fact, they were actually called - tall, dark, & handsome men. This apparently sent the message that being tall & dark contributed to the handsomeness of men. Was this deliberately misconstrued by men to suit their convenience, I am not sure. But, women generally considered tall & dark men to be handsome. On the other hand, men considered fair & lean women as beautiful. As we all know very well, India is a tropical country & has sunlight in plenty. So, it is not very often that we come across fair men in the true sense. However, we find more number of fair women than men if we look at the statistics. If we take count of the number of fair men for every 1000 men, & compare it with the number of fair women for every 1000 women in India, the statistics is likely to look something like 10 fair men as compared to 100 fair women. So, it is skewed. There could be multiple reasons for the skewness, but, let's not go into the details. Here, I'd like to stress the point that being fair is NOT the same as being white. Give some time to yourself for the reality to sink in - white and fair are not the same. White is someone whose skin color is predominantly white. And, fair is someone whose skin color is predominantly fair, & not white. Therefore, it can be reasonably concluded that white and fair are not one and the same. Having said that, some people have the tendency to think that fair is closer to white than to black or indigo or orange for instance, & hence can be called "light white"; something like light blue or light orange. This is as far as it can be from reality. That's because, there is no such thing called "light white". White is white. Calling something like "light white" is cock & bull.
I am sure we all remember set theory from our high school mathematics. In that, we studied concepts such as subsets, universal sets, etc. Now, consider the 2 sets illustrated below:
White = {a, b, c}
Fair = {d, e, f} --------------(1)
If we were to take common elements out of the two sets, we cannot do so. That's because, as can be seen, white & fair are two "mutually exclusive" sets & they are not the same. On the other hand, if the sets looked something like below:
White = {a, b, c}
Fair = {b, c, d} --------------(2)
Then, we could have taken the common elements b & c from the two sets, & arrived at a reasonable conclusion that there may be something more to being fair in relation to white, than meets the eye. Further studies and research could have thrown more light on the subject. Now the question is, is there a way to unite the 2 sets? The answer is yes. There have been umpteen instances, if not infinite, where dark men have married fair women; dark women have married white men; fair men have married dark women; fair men have married fair men; white men have married white men; & so on.
Let us suppose, there are only 3 skin colors - dark, fair, & white. And, let us suppose, union is possible between 2 individuals (of any skin color) only. Since same sex union is also becoming legal worldwide, let us also consider the 2 main sexes predominantly found in nature, namely, male & female. In such a scenario, the number of possibilities could potentially be = 16. This is how it works out:
(2 individuals)^3 colors x 2 sexes = 16.
If we call these 16 possibilities as a universal set, then, going back to the initial sets we began with (white & fair), the universal set in that case becomes:
Universal set, U1 = white U fair = {a, b, c, d, e, f} ----------(3)
This universal set is "collectively exhaustive". Therefore, while the 2 sets white & fair are initially mutually exclusive, when union happens, it results in the collectively exhaustive universal set. The potential of such a universal set that results due to the union between 2 or more mutually exclusive sets is indeed universal. Genetics and evolutionary biology teach that the chances of survival of a species increases as the varieties of genes available in a genepool increases. This is because, as cross breeding among the different varieties of genes occurs, the offsprings develop unique genetic characteristics aided by the environment in which they live, leading to increased chances of survival. Further, when mutation occurs, the chances of new varieties of genes & genetic formations occuring increases. Keep these in mind, when we look at the sets white & fair illustrated in (2) above, the resulting universal set due to the union of white & fair will be:
Universal set, U2 = white U fair = {a, b, c, d} ----------(4)
Comparing the universal sets U1 & U2, we realize that U1 is much more collectively exhaustive with its 6 elements, than U2 which has only 4 elements in it. Therefore, when cross breeding among the different elements of U1 happens, these elements belonging to U1 have higher chances of survival compared to U2. Thus, we can fairly conclude that the universal set should be as collectively exhaustive with as much representation as possible from all the different types of elements available in the individual sets. This makes for a fairly robust universal set.
In India, due to the tropical climate, we find most people neither fair nor white. We find them brown. Now, although it is closer to being tan, I wouldn't call it tan because when I think of tan, the picture that usually comes to my mind is that of whites (men & women) sunbathing on the beaches of Goa & other parts of coastal India to get "tanned". We Indians are brown due to the natural endowment bestowed upon us by nature. So, without any extra efforts, we get tanned. It's not unusual to find the brown color of our skin closer to being dark than fair. So, in that sense, it's reasonably fair to say our skin color is brown with a bias toward the darker side than fairer. To be fair, we can call ourselves "Brown Indians". This is something like the Red Indians of North America, who are addressed as such due to their skin color being biased toward the red band of the spectrum, VIBGYOR.
I am sure we all have seen rainbows in our lives, at least once. And, I am also reasonably sure we studied in our schools how rainbows are formed. I am further sure we know pretty well rainbows consist of the spectrum VIBGYOR, although we do not apparently see all the colors of the spectrum in a rainbow. About 5 centuries ago, the famous British Physicist, Issac Newton proved beyond doubt that white is not a unique color, but rather the resultant color of the entire spectrum, VIBGYOR. I still remember an experiment we conducted in our school where we colored a band each of the colors VIBGYOR on a circular piece of white cardboard & when rotated at a fairly high speed, we only saw white & could not identify any of the colors of VIBGYOR independently. If we consider each of the colors of VIBGYOR as a mutually exclusive set displaying its own unique characteristics, then, white is the resultant collectively exhaustive universal set formed due to the union of each of the colors in the spectrum with each and every other color in the same spectrum. Into this universal set is absorbed and dissolved the individual uniqueness of each of the colors of VIBGYOR. The beauty of white lies in its abstractness. Although every color is abstract in its own right, the beauty of white is that it is not a color on its own, but displays a unique abstractness which stands out. Having said so much about white, if you are thinking white is my favorite color & that all this while I have been writing to drive home the message of white, that's not true. Blue is my favorite, by the way. And, as I said at the very beginning of this post, I am allowing the post to take its own shape and structure by letting thoughts and words flow thru' my mind and fingers on to the screen in front of me.
In India, there is an entire universe of beauty products that apparently is claimed to make the skin fair or fairer than what it already is. These products go by fancy names also - Fair & Lovely, Fairever, Fair Glow, and whatever other fair names you can imagine. The advertisements of these products are also very funny. One ad shows a dark skinned young lady low on morale & self confidence wanting to prove something to her parents, to the world; she somehow lands her hands on one of these "fair" products & in 10 days flat she is transformed into a fair woman with her skin radiating fairness, much to the relief of her parents & the world spellbound by her radiating fairness. Another ad shows a similar story, but the climax in that ad is that the lady goes on to win a beauty pageant. A third ad shows a young lady using similar product & getting offer from a well known Bollywood director, who apparently is impressed by the radiating fairness of her skin.
The degree of fairness has reached such epic proportions that it has now begun invading men's closets as well. In one ad for men's fairness cream, a dark skinned man is shown as not being appreciated by the opposite sex; he is advised to use men's fairness cream by a well known Bollywood actor; & upon using it for a few days his skin becomes fair, after which women begin hounding him like never before. In a second ad, a stuntman acting as body double for the leading actor rues that the actor walks away with all the credit whereas he doesn't get the due because he is dark skinned; yet again, when he starts using men's fairness cream he becomes an instant hit and turns an actor overnight, walking away with the leading lady, leaving the earlier leading actor fuming.
Are the makers of such beauty products, making all the tall claims in the world about the efficacy of their products being fair? I think I'll leave it to the discretion of the users of those products...But, one thing is certain...If the number of fairness creams entering the market and the way they are marketed is any indication, lesser women appear to regard dark men as handsome these days, as compared to the earlier generations. Gone are those days. Tall & fair is the in-thing that defines being handsome...
By the way, a very close friend of mine who got married recently, was & continues to be so much obsessed with maintaining the fairness that, he reluctantly goes out in the sun for work, & upon returning he rues about the "tanning" of his skin & the effect on his skin texture, by pouring his heart out in front of me...
In all fairness, looks like it's not fair on the part of beauty products makers, who do not cater to the fair aspirations of the dark or brown skinned men & women who want to protect their skins & not be unduly concerned about whether they are fair or not fair...
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