The tale of a toxic culture: What Sabu’s arrest tells us about Bangali beauty standards

Photo: Facebook

Just before the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays, news of a popular online shop owner being put behind bars created an uproar among Bangladeshi netizens. 

It all started with a complaint filed by a customer who suffered a skin disease after applying a product sold by the shop. 

The owner, who went by the name 'Sabu' aka Sabrina had established herself as a local distributor of numerous 'skincare' products which guaranteed fair skin. 

She would regularly hold live sessions on Facebook where she would apply the products on herself or consume some of them to show customers their 'miraculous' skin whitening properties. 

Most of her products were reportedly sourced and imported from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. Her shops - three in the city - have subsequently been identified as carriers of brands known to have extremely questionable standards. 

The claims made by her about the products being tested, verified and approved by Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) also turned out to be completely false. 

The sale of a product by any company without a BSTI license is a major criminal offence as per section 24 of the BSTI (Amendment) Act 2003.  

Just last year, BSTI had banned eight Pakistani skin fairness creams after sample tests found harmful ingredients like mercury in them. 

Prolonged use of such creams could result in skin diseases and even cancer. 

During one of her live sessions, Sabu was seen describing a certain fairness cream which she claimed could also be used as a cure for paralysis! 

It seems that her target audience and customer base mostly included women suffering from inferiority complexes due to their dark complexion and who were willing to spend ridiculous amounts of money to buy fairness products. 

Quite evidently, by capitalising on people's insecurities about their skin colour, this woman has not only endorsed the narrative of 'fair is beautiful', but also brainwashed many young girls with low self-confidence. 

Growing up in the 1990s, many of us have heard catchy, feet-tapping numbers such as 'Goriya, chura na mera jiya' which roughly translates to 'Oh fair-skinned, please do not steal my heart'. 

The other day when I heard the same song, the subtly racist inference towards beauty being held synonymous to light skin became blatantly evident to me. 

All of a sudden, the song that we loved when we were young, had turned into a source of embarrassment and guilt. 

Among the stereotypes religiously preached in a traditional Bangladeshi household, dark skin tones are referred to as 'moyla rong' (dirty colour). 

As unsettling it may sound, this is a widely acknowledged reality in the lives of people of this region (and for that matter many other places on earth) that white is inherently beautiful, while on the other hand ugliness will be associated with any colour close to black and (or) brown. 

Humiliation and rejections based on a person's skin colour have been normalised without much hue and cry, to the extent that one's (more specifically a woman's) degree of social mobility and acceptance is often determined by their skin tone. 

Unsurprisingly, the practice of colourism is ingrained within every strata of the society, and more often hidden behind the veneers of aristocracy or elitism. 

Unspoken and unchallenged in any meaningful way, discrimination based on skin colour continues to thrive.

A common academic notion explaining the roots of colourism or any form of discrimination based on colour attributes the cause to the colonial legacy left by 200 years of British rule, which they argue, could be one way to perceive our perpetuated toxic infatuation with white-skin. 

But does the subcontinent's perennial love affair with the British Raj convincingly explain the persistence and strengthening of colourism across decades and generations, or the passion with which we still embrace whiteness while demonising darkness? 

Unarguably, colonial history may have played a very significant part in nurturing such notions and stereotypes. 

During one of her live sessions, Sabu was seen describing a certain fairness cream which she claimed could also be used as a cure for paralysis! 

But it would be hypocritical to say that we can put the blame of our never-ending fetish of fair skin and loathing towards dark tones solely on colonial history. 

It is the existence, evolution, and amalgam of social institutions, cultural norms, values systems and beliefs that have contributed to the repugnant perpetuation of colourism within the society. 

Vestiges of colourism can be observed across various depictions of 'ideal beauty' essayed by female characters in stories, songs, novels and poems penned by veteran and legendary novelists, poets and musicians alike. 

The 21st century is an epoch marking a higher level of progress towards women empowerment and emancipation. 

All around the world, women are ensuring that their voices are heard, and their rights established. 

In an era when women are breaking glass ceilings everywhere, it is simply unacceptable that any woman, belonging to any part of the globe, should suffer from being a victim of colourism. 

It is high time that such norms and notions are systemically dismantled in every cultural context and society, so that we leave behind a better world for upcoming generations.