“I was depressed & suicidal because of how I was treated because of my skin colour.”
In this episode, I speak with Seema Hari, who is a model, a Software Engineer and a powerful activist fighting colourism.
Seema talks about growing up as a dark skinned Indian girl and the awful way she was treated by teachers and adults around her. She talks about slowly worked towards loving her own skin colour – to become a model and an activist fighting hard to change South Asian attitudes towards dark skin. Seema is a passionate activist fighting colourism in South Asian society, constantly challenging Bollywood actors and government policies.
Together, we explore the South Asian fixation for fairer skin, with millions spent on skin lightening creams and bleaches. We talk about:
- The idea of beauty attached to skin colour
- How the Hindi word for beauty ‘gori’ translates as white
- How our South Asian obsession with light skin damages life on so many levels
MORE ABOUT SEEMA:
Instagram: @seemahari
RESOURCES
Want to explore more about the issues discussed in this episode? Here are some articles/resources that you might find interesting: