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AZEA1101

INTRODUCTION TO
GENDER STUDIES
Dalam penulisan jurnal renungkan satu atau dua imej
stereotaip yang anda tidak puas hati dengan serta
sarankan bagaimana anda boleh mengubahnya. Imej
stereotaip tersebut boleh merupakan pandangan anda
sendiri terhadap diri atau cara menguruskan keadaan yang
dihadapi atau pandangan orang lain terhadap anda atau
pemaparan tertentu di media cetak maupun elektronik.

BY
ABIRAMI SASHIDHARAN
AEC 130001
BEAUTY STEREOTYPE
Women are generally perceived to be
beautiful if they are fair skinned. The act
of stereotyping that only fair skinned
women as beautiful and physically
attractive results in many issues.
Being a Malaysian Indian, I have
experienced many situations where my
skin colour seemed not to fit in the right
colour code
It is indeed very demoralizing to have your
whole worth measured by the colour of your
skin. It is as though no matter how good you
are in character, how educated you are, how
successful you are and how capable you are
in various fields, you are still not good
enough because you are not fair skinned
enough.
All ads that peddle whitening beauty
products make it look like one can only be
noticed, make the cut, attract the opposite
sex and be successful if their skin is of light
tone it is a malicious marketing strategy
that further cements this bias.
Fair skin has become associated with wealth,
power and status, and darker skin with
poverty, backwardness, and field work.
This stereotype that fair skin will bring
better prospects of getting married, higher
chance of getting a job and even being liked
by many has seeped within us.
Since small many young tanned/brown/dark
skinned girls and boys are taught to use
fairness and bleaching cream. How many of
us are guilty for doing so? WHY?
MEDIA REINFORCING THE
STEREOTYPE
BEING INDIAN AND BROWN
Preparation for having fair skin begins in the womb itself. And, if
ultrasound scan reveals the gender of the fetus as female, thats it.
The expecting mother would be given tips on what to eat so that her
baby girl will be born fair, among them, swigging down liters of
saffron infused milk. As the girl grows, endless tips would be given
for her to appear more beautiful, more fairer rather dont wear dark
colours, you will look darker, dont stay out in the sun, use sunscreen
and use this whitening cream etc.
Dark skin colour in Indian men is glorified but dark skin colour in
Indian girls is considered ugly, in most cases. Also, it is not tolerated
if a fair Indian girl makes a negative comment over an Indian guys
dark skin colour in most cases.
In weddings, makeup for Indian brides with dark skin colour is
motivated by only one aim to make the girl appear as fair as
possible, ending up making the face of the girl white while the rest of
her body parts are of a different, darker skin colour.
HOW TO END THIS
STREOTYPE
This needs to change if we are going to get dark skin
discrimination over with and it starts with parents. Never
love your kid less if he/she is dark skinned.Treat and love
your children equally while accepting their distinct
attributes wholeheartedly. If you find your fair skinned child
teasing his/her siblings dark skin, tell them its very wrong
and that since they came out from the same womb, they
are the same. Equip your dark skinned child with high
confidence and drill into them that they should not let no
one to demean them based on their skin colour, including
imposing relatives.
Be happy with your own skin. That is what separates you
from others. Being fair and flawless does not guarantee you
a happy, peaceful life.
Change your mindset. Being
beautiful is a subjective thing. It CAN
BE achieved through education and
other means.
Women who are subjected to the fair
skin stereotype must stand for
themselves and be proud of their
own identity. Being brown, tanned
and dark is not a curse, but a
blessing in disguise( lesser chance of
Campaigns can be conducted to
increase awarness .
CONCLUSION
Respecting each others differences will stop this
negative stereotyping from spreading.
The notion of fair skin= beautiful should be slowly
discarded by replacing them with other attributes
such as moral values and humanity.
Beauty shouldnt be about changing yourself to
achieve an ideal or be more socially acceptable.
Real beauty, the interesting, truly pleasing kind, is
about honoring the beauty within you and without
you. Its about knowing that someone elses
definition of pretty has no hold over you.-Golda
Poretsky.

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