THEY SAY “beauty has no skin tone” but fair skin has always been associated with status, beauty and even morality. In Malaysia, some workplaces prefer candidates with lighter skin tones, particularly where public dealing is involved. Fair skin, especially for women, is one of the primary qualities with which to judge one’s beauty.
“I am personally okay with most skin tones as long as it’s not extreme…” says Manish Jindgar, a technical lead in the IT industry. When asked what he thinks contributed to the discrimination against darker-skinned people, he offers, “It could be because white civilisations used to dominate historically; that might have prompted the mindset that people with darker skin are inferior. Though I think that this discrimination can be eradicated with time.”
