I'm honestly baffled why the supposedly progressive Philippines is still supporting widespread subliminal promotion of colorism (case in point: this advertisement). Colorism is something that should have disappeared along with the floppy disk. More than trying to lighten your skin tone, perhaps we all should be more concerned about skin care in general. Y'know, avoiding fungal infections and the like. Haha. ("Ano ngayon kung ganyan kulay mo eh may anghit ka naman?")
I don't know. Maybe the reason why I'm irked with this is because I don't see the logic behind upholding a certain skin tone as superior than the other. And I guess I have my grandmother to thank this for.
She gathered all the 'kaartehan sa katawan' in her small form which would prolly explain why there was nothing left of such for us, her granddaughters. Her bath soap is never non-hypoallergenic. Her lotion would always be that for dry skin and the facial cleanser she uses should always have avocado as main ingredient. She takes care of her skin well but not to the extent of changing her skin tone. In fact, I've never seen a papaya soap in the house until that day my little cousin's tagabantay came to stay with us.
Growing up, we hear the words malinis and makinis more often than maputi. We've heard our lola compliment someone and say "ang ganda nang kutis niya!" one too many times. We were raised knowing that there are mestizas and morenas and they are equally beautiful. In fact, I think my grandmother prefers the morena side because she raised us thinking that morena is the skin color of beauty queens. Hence, it was not a surprise that I was perplexed the first time I saw a whitening product TV ad blatantly enticing girls to lighten up their skin tone because, apparently, being maputi or fair should be one of your goals as a Filipina.
As I spent more of my time outside the house, I am exposed more to people who perpetuate the idea of being fair as the only thing beautiful. Slowly, the notion of "maganda ang morena" I grew up with got chipped away, piece by piece, by my rising insecurities about the colour of my skin. It's not that difficult when you are provided with your daily sustenance of skin-whitening product advertisements all over radio, television, and print about how their newest product can make your skin ten times lighter in just a blink of an eye.
Fortunately, the environment I was in during the height of my teenage years would have none of that nonsense. There are many things I've learned in university and the most important of which is the ability to understand and accept plurality. The idea of beauty in diversity and the diversity of beauty was drilled unto my consciousness. It was in university that I have reconciled the dilemma plaguing my preteen woes regarding skin tones.
Beauty is not measured by skin colour. In fact, research shows that confidence boosts one person's attractiveness more than aesthetic appeal. Being confident on your own skin may it be light, fair, medium, olive, tan brown, or black brown matters. After all, you basically bleed the same colour. Some people may still argue on the yardstick of beauty but there is no value arguing with someone whose level of thinking does not transcend physicality. A person who appraises another person based on the color of the skin is not someone worth wasting time with.
At this age, I can probably never live up to my grandmother's perseverance and dedication when it comes to her skin care rituals but hey, at least I still wash my face everyday. Haha! And I'm also trying my best to empty the lotion bottle Jenny left me.
As for this miserable excuse of an advertisement... well, I'm just glad I'm not Alex Gonzaga. I don't think I can live with the embarrassment of promoting an antiquarian ideal of beauty while doing cringey poses for a rip-off advertisement concept. Shudders.
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