Here's a preview of the upcoming documentary exploring the biases and attitudes about skin color, particularly dark skinned women, outside of and within the Black American culture. I am anticipating the viewing of this documentary.I found this interesting because I to grew up fighting against being "dark" myself. This skin color issue not only occurs in the Black American culture but even in Asian cultures as well.
Being Cambodian we are known as the "dark skinned" asians. Even though there are tons of Cambodian who are actually light skinned and can pass for being Chinese. In the Cambodian culture light skin was a sign of wealth and beauty because they didn't get dark from working out on the farms like the poor people. I was team dark skin in this category even though I never grew working on the farms or anything. I remember my mom telling me to limit my playing time in the sun because I'll get too dark or even wearing a hat and long sleeves during the summer to protect myself from tanning too much. It never really hit me until my parents friends always complimented my oldest brother for being light skinned and how I'm dark like my dad. I felt like the ugly duckling of the family and it definitely took a toll on me as a young girl growing up.
It took a long time for my self confidence to build and standing at 22 years old I am proud of my skin. I don't hide from the sun anymore. I embrace my tan because there are tons of girls out there who pay top dollar for my natural skin color. Society should really take a deep look at this issue.
