kaash:

homecomingqueen:

fuckyeahgenderstudies:

fuckyeahfeminists:

Vagina brightening: Indian TV ad for genital skin whitening product stokes controversy

uhhhhh, if your husband/partner/boyfriend/whatever refuses to talk to you because your vulva is its NATURAL COLOUR fucking dump them! What the hell? Maybe we need to get some scrotum lightening cream on the market to show the absurdity of changing the colour of one’s genitals. Dark isn’t bad, ya’ll.

What the cock?

WTF IS THIS SHIT?! I can’t even…

Don’t usually get into feminist arguments on tumblr but a few words to western feminism generally because I’m amused at how this is creating news on tumblr:

  • This is not new news. This is fairly old news. Let’s not make a KONY 2012 out of this. This has been happening long before the West became aware of it and decided to rise up in indignation.
  • “Dark isn’t bad y’all” — um. We know? You’re basically talking to a country that believes in using skin-whitening creams. That’s what this argument will trace back to. It’s what Achebe called “the psychology of the dispossessed”. I’m saying this because nothing you’re saying is news to anyone in this country. A lot of us reading this know that skin lightening creams are absurd. Who are you educating anyway? What are you saying that hasn’t already been said?
  • “fucking dump them” isn’t an option that most of us have/will consider because those of us who are with people who resent their partner’s skin colour probably aren’t privileged enough to “fucking dump them”. It’s called context. Look it up.
  • The prejudice against dark skin is something that is coded into a lot of us from a very young age. A lot of us grow up hating our skin, and resorting to skin whitening creams. The problem isn’t the cream. The problem is something that cannot be changed a) overnight b) by dumping skin whitening creams because fair-skinned people say so. It’s frightening how much sense this ad makes to a lot of people. And it’s not necessarily their fault, it is a larger system at work. So saying “stop using it” isn’t exactly, as I said, news. Say something that hasn’t been said. Like this, I think.

Notes

  1. kissawookiee reblogged this from fuckyeahfeminists
  2. frncsca reblogged this from femdogma
  3. riversbed reblogged this from motherfuckingfeminist and added:
    what the fuck is this fuckery?
  4. motherfuckingfeminist reblogged this from femdogma
  5. fem-spiration reblogged this from femdogma
  6. femdogma reblogged this from untitled-feminist
  7. justsothoughts reblogged this from sexgenderbody
  8. asubzero reblogged this from fuckyeahfeminists
  9. doe-eyedbirdie reblogged this from fuckyeahsexeducation and added:
    -.-
  10. homecomingqueen reblogged this from kaash and added:
    ^^ what she said :) because she’s much more articulate than I am! This (cream) is not the problem, just a symptom of a...
  11. utopianfallopian reblogged this from fuckyeahsexeducation
  12. emissions reblogged this from kaash
  13. feminist-phoenix reblogged this from swatkat and added:
    Reading this post, made me feel ashamed of the fact that, I forgot that I have shade privilege (if you want to call it...
  14. swatkat reblogged this from rosieroti and added:
    ‘Dark isn’t bad, y’all’ - what a lovely condescending thing to say, because evidently none of us ever thought of it,...
  15. rosieroti reblogged this from woh-battameez and added:
    w00t to the above. i don’t think it will be a hardship to arrive at a tumblr consensus that this ad is vile but guys,...
  16. m-a-r-i-e-l reblogged this from slutgarden
  17. gabbunny reblogged this from fuckyeahsexeducation and added:
    Ridiculous idea is ridiculous
  18. thegreatgoldenbaby reblogged this from bad-dominicana
  19. patternsinchaos reblogged this from slutgarden
  20. untitled-feminist reblogged this from fuckyeahsexeducation
  21. teenagejesusandthejerk reblogged this from slutgarden
  22. yvvas reblogged this from fuckyeahsexeducation
  23. leftmyarminmycoat reblogged this from fuckyeahsexeducation
  24. adrianafiesta reblogged this from bad-dominicana
  25. fightingonarrival reblogged this from bad-dominicana
  26. alonewithallycia reblogged this from bad-dominicana
  27. green-street-politics reblogged this from bad-dominicana