Beauty in any color

Let's face it — there are some things about the Filipino culture that can be described as toxic and discriminatory. While we are quick to call out and boycott anyone who we perceive to be shaming and insulting us in general, we are all usually guilty of the same.

One example of this is the Filipino idea of beauty as someone who has white skin. So backward, I know, since we are a brown race, but we cannot blame the people who believed this notion as it’s hard-wired in most of us. This dates back to colonial times when Spaniards had this social hierarchy based on skin color. They associate the dark-skinned as laborers or indios, while the white-skinned or mixed-race, were the upper-class.

It’s no secret that a lot of Filipinos are just obsessed with making their skin white perhaps because even now, there's still skin color discrimination going on. I won't go far, here in the Philippines it's very common. People with white skin are perceived to be wealthier and more successful. And whether you believe so or not, having white skin does come with privileges.

I admit I was once one of those people who had the white-skin obsession as I am naturally brown-skinned. My color, while typical of a true Filipino, is something that I was not proud of and even believed that it was the reason behind some of the unfair treatment I got in the past. How many times have I experienced not being entertained by a salesperson inside a swanky shop but being all gracious and helpful to someone who has a whiter skin? How many times have you heard someone who got scammed say, "Hindi ko akalain na magnanakaw eh. Maputi eh, mukhang mayaman."? This is because many of us automatically think that a person who has a whiter skin color has money, while someone who's dark-skinned is probably the shoplifter. (I'm merely putting humor to it, but I'm being totally serious.)

Frankly, I wouldn’t have cared if I have the coffee color if not for our society having unfair beauty standards which made it seem that being white is more attractive. I was called all sorts of names growing up but "negra" is probably the one I always resented. As a child, I wished that I could've just gotten my mother’s skin color instead of my dad’s. It’s kinda unfair that I got it being the girl in the family when my brothers have a lighter skin tone than mine. I remember being teased by close relatives that I was adopted, and that my biological father is this homeless guy I see on my way to school every morning. There was a point that even if I don't believe it (Hell, I am the "carbon-copy" of my father), I got so upset that I cried. It's emotionally traumatic for an eight-year-old to be singled out and be the butt of jokes just because of her skin color.

While the childhood teasing didn’t go on until puberty, it manifested differently and way more deeply. As a teen, I witnessed the perks of having a whiter skin firsthand through interaction with the opposite sex. "Fairer is better", indeed, mainly when I see how guys gravitate towards the mestizas and white-skinned classmates and friends, while the negra right here would remain unnoticed and undesirable on the sidelines. I know attraction isn't always just skin-deep but back then, that was how I interpreted it. My crush liked her because she's tisay and I am not. At the time I feel that no one will ever find me more beautiful than someone who is fair-skinned. This shallowness messed up my psyche that I lost confidence and became highly insecure, especially in my teenage years.

I’d often find myself looking at the mirror, touching my face, looking at my arms and legs. It’s not just brown, it’s uneven! With some parts darker than the other. I tried washing it off and scrubbing it, I mean—who knows if it just might be accumulated dirt, right? But no matter how long I stayed in the shower, I still have the same color when I step out.

I absolutely hated it that I resigned to the belief that probably society was right: White is beautiful. And if I want to be accepted, I have to be a few shades lighter.

Naturally, as soon as I started earning my own money, I tried every whitening soap and lotion up to expensive glutathione pills that I could afford. I've tried one after the other, and it was a painstaking process to wait for results. Oftentimes, I see no change, at least not what was promised in the ads I see and read. While it did make me lighter, I am still no doubt a morena and no product can cover that.

As years passed, it had become somewhat of a preference to me as well, like how I am more attracted to guys with whiter/fairer skin. Even with the emergence of brown-skinned celebrities, I still think that those who have foreign blood are being given more breaks. For me, the white ideology has always been there in real and reel life.

Then I got a chance to work with expats and foreigners later on and have encountered a lot of them—men and women alike—absolutely loving the skin I was born with. I don’t get it at first how some would go to great lengths such as lying under the sun for hours or paying a tanning salon to achieve my color while I tried to make my skin lighter all my life. It's funny how I got the acceptance and admiration of people other than my own.

It was a long process of acceptance but, in the end, I have learned to love the color of my skin. I'm no longer obsessed with how to make it whiter. I am more concerned with how to make it clear, glowing and looking healthy.

Last weekend, I saw this online ad on Facebook and I was left speechless:

Here is the translation:

“Just because she’s fair-skinned, she was given a seat on the bus? Isn’t that unfair?” 

“Don’t be mad. Use GlutaMAX! Your fair advantage.” 

I have talked about the unfair treatment and injustices I've experienced so I don't doubt that this happened to someone. But the problem with this ad right here is the message it is trying to send across for it simply means that morenas like me shouldn’t be upset or angry if I get discriminated against or if I don’t get the same privilege for having a dark skin color, but instead just strive to be white by using their product.

I mean—REALLY?!

As it turns out, I wasn’t alone on this sentiment. This ad has since been taken down but not before receiving an influx of backlash online. Many netizens feel that the way the message was presented was wrong and it promotes ‘colorism’. This also pits the morenas against the fair-skinned, of one resenting the other.

GlutaMAX, if I remember it right, is the same product that had the tagline, "Kutis Mayaman". I guess the marketing people responsible for this latest online ad are simply capitalizing from all the negative reactions coming from it. I think they do want to evoke these reactions to get people to talk about their product.

It is business, I know, and they have to sell their line of whitening products. However, they should not forget their social responsibility. They should not promote stereotyping or pigeonholing a particular group, or insinuate that one skin color is definitely superior/inferior to the other. Imagine if a dark-skinned girl sees that and ends up feeling the same way I did when I was younger. Unpretty. No good. Inferior in so many ways. It can be damaging to her as it was for me. It took me decades to accept and embrace my color. It took me more than half my life to love the skin that was given to me.

I really thought we’re over this crappy perception and social prejudices as we have many groups now promoting love for one’s skin color but I guess we haven't gotten too far.