Growing up, the kind of literature we were exposed to was all centred around young women who were as fair as snow, had light eyes and silken tresses as black as ebony. They were the chosen ones who always found their Prince Charming in the end and rode off into the sunset to live happily ever after, or so we were led to believe.
What about their duskier counterparts? Snow White, Cinderella, Rapunzel or Sleeping Beauty were all breathtakingly beautiful and stunning women, who eventually found their knights in shining armour; they suffered in silence and were finally rewarded.
What kind of message does this send out to young girls? If you are a ravishing beauty and suffer patiently in silence, eventually, your Prince will rescue you; sweep you off your feet and the two of you will ride off into the sunset. Even the ugly duckling at the end of the story turns into a beautiful swan and the frog turns into a handsome, charming prince.
Beauty always finds takers, if conventional literature is to be believed. After all, what do all boys’ mothers have in common? Even if their sons look like frogs, they all hope to find ravishing beauties with fat bank accounts; who will magically transform their sons into a prince or at least rich frogs, if nothing else.
Skin whitening creams are all the rage in this country and the situation is no different across the border. These creams target young, gullible and impressionable girls and lead them to believe that using them will ensure matrimonial bliss and brighten not just their complexions, but their futures too. This marketing gimmick is foolproof and works like a charm every time, as women with duskier complexions have a harder time finding what is deemed a “suitable” match, in short, a handsome, rich, educated man from a wealthy background.
The colour of a woman’s skin is directly proportional to her chances of finding a good proposal; of course, there are some exceptions to the rule, for example, a fat bank account will compensate for a number of deficiencies and drawbacks and win her brownie points. The dynamics of the matrimonial industry appear to favour those with milky white skins, but as mentioned, are also heavily skewed in favour of those with six figure salaries, inflated bank accounts and posh bungalows to their name.
The writer will probably be labelled as a cynic, but this is the harsh reality of what we were led to believe was the “happily ever after,” ever since we touched puberty and Mills and Boon entered our lives. Mills and Boon was the staple diet for thirteen to fifteen-year-olds in the nineties and were usually read with a torch light, while tucked under the bed covers to ensure that no one knew about our clandestine love affair with these books.
The conventional beauties all got hitched fairly early while their duskier versions had to try harder and wait longer. How hard and how long depended on how quickly their parents were able to find a suitable match for them. They were urged to try themselves and make an effort also. All the ugly ducklings and the plain Janes hoped they would turn into swans eventually, and find their knights in shining armour before their expiry dates, as later, the armours developed chinks as bellies protruded and hairlines receded.
The obsession with fair skin is here to stay, so if you are a few shades darker than average, chances are that your Prince Charming will have to be coaxed into riding up on his steed, but of course, as previously mentioned, a fat bank account and a posh residential area, will compensate for a number of inadequacies. A bitter pill to swallow but the sooner you do, the better off you will be.
Marriage is a tricky venture which requires endless compromises and sacrifices. Rather than stuffing girls’ heads with all kinds of romantic fantasies, it is preferable to give them a reality check and make them realise which side their bread is buttered, in order to shield them from the tempests of life. s
