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Colorism in the Media

In her book, The Psycho-Social Impact of Colorism Among African American Women: Crossing the Divide Lauren A. Faultz states that “the phenomenon of colorism is not exclusive to African American women, but the manifestations on this group are diverse, and the effects are unique. Previous research has shown that the experience of colorism is pervasive within the Black community and that most African American women have been, either culturally or personally, affected by intra-racial discrimination.” This is important because although we recognize that colorism affects different ethnic and racial groups of people, the affects on the Black community are different, especially in America due to the harsh history of slavery.

In her essay Harvard Professor, Jennifer Hochschild discusses how film-maker, advertisers, and modeling agencies all demonstrate the power of a fair complexion. This was demonstrated in a 2010 issue of Elle Magazine when it featured acrtress Gabby Sidibe. Her skin was lightened tremendously and the same happened to Former Miss World, Aishwarya Rai when she was featured in Elle magazine.

It has been seen on many television shows and movies where the narrative of the “strong” Black woman is usually darker complected and the lighter complected woman is more delicate and easy going. A notable example of this was in the television show Fresh Prince of Bel Air when they show changed actresses for the role of the mother. Even until this day, in pop culture they are referred to as the “dark-skinned aunt Viv” and the “light skinned aunt Viv”.

Although colorism is very prevalent in society, there are strides being made to make people more aware of this issue and to help those who are deeply affected by this issue feel more comfortable in their own skin. Make-up companies such as Lancome have a wide variety of shades to chose from for all women and men. In their ad campaigns they use award winning actress Lupita Nyong'o as their spokesperson and they do not alter her skin color. Lupita gave a powerful speech and her message to young girls who are affected by colorism was “And so I hope that my presence on your screens and in the magazines may lead you, young girl, on a similar journey. That you will feel the validation of your external beauty but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside. There is no shade to that beauty.”