Being dusky has always been a big no no in the sub-continent. There are millions of stories of people, who are conditioned to believe that their skin complexion is too “dark” to be “lovely.”
Maha Tahairani, a promising new star in the modelling industry, has revealed that not only did she rebuff a fairness cream rebranding campaign, but also made sure she let them know that colorism is a disease and how their brand has a huge part to play in spreading it.
In a recent Instagram post, the model emphasised on how Pakistanis need to embark on the journey of demolishing racism that exists within their own society.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CF_6flYnotg/?igshid=14t40ff90w4b2
Sharing a picture that depicts exactly how she feels, Maha wrote,” Growing up a dusky girl shouldn’t have been as hard as it has been considering I was born and raised in a country where the masses carried the same BROWN colour as me. I was brainfed believing my colour was far from the standard of beauty, and I blame the trending product adverts promoting a specific colour as beautiful. I can only imagine the amount of time it took for me to heal from the shackled criteria and I was fortunate to regain confidence.”
“Recently I was approached by a fairness rebranding agenda. I dropped it, but I couldn’t resist mentioning how it sent chills down my spine. Here’s what I found problematic about them trying really hard to take on board a dark/dusky model. Their desperate attempt to hire a dark girl was to say the least saddening,” she continued.
Moreover, Maha shared how disgusted she was by the brand’s failed attempt at wiping out the toxicity propagated by them for years.
“It is appalling how its thought that hiring a dusky girl will do damage control to years of colourism that has been promoted. It took them years to recognise the masses of their target audience. Let me mention that there’s no going back from the skin bleaching, hating your colour dilemma “fair is pretty” agenda created.”
Using skin-whitening creams is considered a norm among women in Pakistan and that’s exactly what’s wrong about our racist culture.
She also shared that she will never endorse whitening solution as we need to break free from this crazy complex.
“Being a first hand sufferer I take it upon myself to shut colourism and never promote anything that creates a standard and shadows our young minds.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4naN40BLBt/?igshid=okcr400ud8pb
Concluding her message, the model emphasised on self-love and said, “This country is one of diverse colours, and let nobody ever tell us what ‘BEAUTY’ looks like, because let this be clear once and for all, beauty has no colour, gender, state or country. Let’s let our country free from the shackles our women have suffered for ages. SHAME, if any such thing is ever raised or promoted in my beloved country.”
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