Collin Baartman

“Sometimes I wonder who decided what “flesh color” is. I’ve got about four boxes of Band-Aids sitting in my bathroom, most of them flesh colored. None of them are the color of my flesh. I’m not sure I’ve ever met someone whose skin tone actually matched a Band-Aid that they were wearing; I’ve never been in close conversation with someone and found myself leaning in, trying to figure out whether they were wearing one or if their skin had spontaneously developed a strip of different texture. Why do we think we can somehow make the covering unobtrusive or disguise it by being “close enough” to what’s real? We all pretend, though. Sure, we can see from across the room that there’s a big ol’ beigey strip across your face, but we all agree that we won’t”
― Aaron Mark Reimer, The Art of Being Broken