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“Let’s scrub out that tan” is a common refrain in beauty parlours in India, where girls grow up with constant reminders that only fair skin is beautiful.
From Sunday classified ads touting the marriageability of an “MBA graduate. 5-½ ft. English medium. Fair complexion” to elderly aunties advising young women to apply saffron paste to “maintain your skin whiter and smoother”, the signs are everywhere.
Even sentiments like, “She got lucky he married her despite her [dark] complexion” are still whispered around India in 2017.
Younger generations are now starting to push back. On July 7, 18-year-old Aranya Johar published
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