Exploring Arguments In Handa's Skin Color

By using the readings from Handa to reinforce Glenn’s argument, will ultimately help to reinforce my counter-argument against my friend to show her the true underlining cause of why women use skin-lightening products, based on a real-life experience. Here, Handa strengthens Glenn’s claim by disclosing her personal life to where she felt that her own skin color was used as a discriminatory factor against her. “They’d sing their chant…“Chocolate face!” would ring in my ears… My heart was beating fast, everything felt hot and sweaty.” (Handa, 1990, p.41) Even though Handa was just like any other kid, her skin color was a feature that couldn’t be overlooked. Thus, during her school years, she was placed on an unwanted pedestal because of her pigmentation,
We are all the same”. (p.41) The notion of being, all the same, is related to the western views that if you’re not white then you must besomething else; while, altogether grouping people who don’t fit this white category into a mass of unidentifiable faces. Thus, in Handa’s case, she didn’t want her skin color to be the sole characterization of her identity, so she strayed away from other children like her, claiming to be different and trying to fit in with the recognizable kids and earn the same unrecognizable privileges of her Caucasians peers. By using Handa’s readings to support Glenn’s claims, when certain circumstances arise where minorities are experiencing hypersensitivity in regards to their skin pigmentation, they feel undesirable and worthless compared to others. Western culture does this by subjecting those who have darker skin as abnormal and un-loyal, “This culture makes me ashamed of mine…I feel as if someone has blown my cover. All eyes are on me
Thus, skin-lightening has less to do with their vanity or vulnerabilities as a person. These brands contain extremely dangerous materials and our misguided as beauty products for the average consumer. I’m glad that my friend had acknowledged this factor, yet I cannot let her be misled by the crucial factors that are playing such a big role in this debate over what is right and beautiful. Factors like colorism, the notion that ‘white is right’ and the hypersensitivity in our society has own all have a role to play in the dangers of skin-lighteners. I would tell my friend that, since were embedded in our society as consumers, it might be hard to realize the effect of western influence that it has on people, yet she would need to educate herself and in engage with activist groups who specifically tactile this social problem to understand how this affects people in their everyday