FEMALE PERSPECTIVE By Lillian Sudi – On ‘The Light-Skin vs Dark-Skin Issue’

On ‘The Light-Skin vs Dark-Skin Issue’


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On ‘The Light-Skin vs Dark-Skin Issue’
 
I have a friend who blurted out to me, that he finds dark-skinned girls very ugly. After giving him the stink eye, he went ahead to explain that he didn’t mean ugly per se, just less attractive.
 
Needless to say, the damage had already been done and having previously interacted with a girl completely insecure about her dark skin tone, I was pretty annoyed. Personal taste and preference I presume…we are all entitled to that by law but before throwing words like that around, take note that young girls of the dark variety will go out and bleach themselves, don’t backlash them when all they want to do, is to appeal to your high level of ignorance.
 
The compelling need of human beings to feel superior to other human beings, remains the primary source of hatred among the human race. It is the genesis of all wars, religious battles, racism and tribalism, just to mention a few. We all know how primitive some of these things are, we also know how barbaric people were treated based on unreasonable forms of self divide…one being Saartjie Baartman. A woman who was put on display because she had, what people at the time referred to as, exaggerated features i.e. a large bottom. It seems like such a ridiculous thing right now but the poor girl lived and died like a mere animal in the zoo, one people paid to watch. Such ignorance contributes to an ecosystem that fosters a sense of division, of which the severity cannot be neglected.
 
Skin colour should not be the first thing our mind is conscious of…yet sometimes it is, I get that. But our melanin level is just that, our melanin level, nothing more. You only need to see small children of different colours playing together in a park to realize that we are not born with prejudice towards a particular skin tone, that trait is learnt. We should therefore only judge each other based on principles, morals and general input to the development of human race. Any other form of self divide is a clear display of ignorance. We cannot sit back and glorify light-skinned girls and look down on dark skinned girls or vice versa then complain when young girls try to alter their skin tone to a more acceptable shade. People are fine-tuned to react to the biasness of society and you make up that society, don’t forget that.
 
Truth is, if we ourselves, can divide ourselves on the basis of light-skinned and dark-skinned Africans, however playful the context, we should then not complain about tribalism or indeed, about racism. You are not allowed to cry foul only when you fall on the wrong side of the fence. If it is wrong, it remains wrong however you are affected. And whatever shade you are, it’s beautiful just as it is. Own it, love it, live it. Wishing you all, a peaceful Easter weekend, from Sudi To get a male perspective, please CLICK HERE to read my colleague, Mitchell’s viewsa
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