“A Matter of Self Respect: Filters, Skin Color and Caste in India” Brown Bag talk by Lakshita Malik
November 21, 2022
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Location
BSB3160
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"It is a matter of self-respect, I feel. I never offer to lighten the skin tone of my brides," Tejaswini, a high-end make-up artist based in Delhi tells me. Debates around skin color, centering advertising for skinlightening creams in India, driven by middle-class activism have been on the rise since the 2000s in India. In this talk, I unpack the ways in which high-end make-up artists and influencers in India position their labor as "high value" by capitalizing on global debate&around skin color. On social media, the debates around skin color ave extended to include discourses around filters and photoshop. Filters, embedded in the social economy of pleasure, become nodes through which "dignified," and "self-respecting," gendered subjects are produced. However, given that these conversations around skin color and the push towards embracing darker skin in pride conspicuously exclude discussions of caste and class. Thus, while the desire for lighter skin cuts across caste and class, only the use of cheap and affordable forms of skin lightening (skin lightening, filters built into social media applications) are policed.
Date posted
Nov 12, 2022
Date updated
Nov 12, 2022