We are a society that is obsessed with fairness—the Indian skin-whitening industry was worth around $450 million (₹3,163 crore approximately) in 2016. We demand that potential brides be ‘very fair’ and are openly bigoted against darker-skinned men and women who don’t fit our idea of ‘fairness equating beauty’. These biases are blatantly manifest in educational institutions, workplaces and, inarguably, the arranged marriage market. The bias against dark skin affects both men and women, but in our patriarchal set-up, it is women who suffer its consequences the most. Hurtful and mean comments
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