印度小姐必须美白?
What began as an innocent collage of this year's Miss India finalists has evolved into a heated social media debate about India's obsession with fair skin.
今年的“印度小姐”决赛由一幅简单的选手拼图,如今却演变成了一场关于印度人对白皙皮肤的痴迷的社交媒体大讨论。
The image, published in the Times of India newspaper, had 30 head-shots of glossy-haired finalists who all appeared to share the same fair skin tone.
这张刊登在《印度时报》上的照片中,有30张头发光滑的决赛选手的头像,他们都有着同样白皙的肤色。
In a country with 1.3 billion people, hundreds of languages and myriad ethnic groups, Twitter users suggested that beauty pageant organizers were only choosing contestants that perpetuate Eurocentric beauty ideals.
在一个拥有13亿人口、数百种语言和无数民族的国家,推特用户表示,选美比赛的组织者只是在挑选那些延续以欧洲审美理念为中心的选手。
"They all have the same hair, and the SAME SKIN COLOUR, and I'm going to hazard a guess that their heights and vital stats will also be similar," another Twitter user Prasanna Ratanjankar wrote.
另一位推特用户普拉桑那. 纳坦简卡写道:“他们都有相同的头发,相同的肤色,我敢打赌他们的身高和重要数据也会相似。”
While the contestants' skin tone looks particularly light and appearance especially uniform in the collage that caused a stir online, other photographs and videos of the contestants reveal them to be not as fair-skinned as the Times of India's image.
尽管这些选手的肤色看起来特别浅,拼贴画的外观也特别统一,这在网上引起了轰动,但其他选手的照片和视频显示,他们的肤色并不像《印度时报》的形象那样白皙。
The controversy around the Times of India's photograph, however, highlighted a sensitive issue in India, where Miss India is a huge cultural event.
然而,围绕《印度时报》这张照片的争议凸显了印度的一个敏感问题。在印度,“印度小姐”是一场巨大的文化盛事。
The competition helped to launch the careers of actress Priyanka Chopra and Bollywood icon Aishwarya Rai, and has become a beacon of national pride when winners go on to bring home international titles, such as Miss World.
这场比赛帮助女演员普里扬卡·乔普拉和宝莱坞偶像艾西瓦娅·拉伊开启了自己的职业生涯,当获奖者将世界小姐(Miss World)等国际头衔带回国内时,它已经成为了民族自豪感的灯塔。
The winner of Miss India titles are typically "groomed for the global beauty stage," said Radhika Parameswaran, a professor at Indiana University's Media School.
印第安纳大学传媒学院教授拉迪卡·帕拉姆斯瓦兰说,印度小姐的冠军通常是“为全球选美舞台而精心打扮的”。
"There is a perception they have to emulate Western beauty standards to win."
“有一种看法是,他们必须效仿西方的审美标准才能获胜。”
The organizers of Miss India declined to comment.
对此“印度小姐”的组织者拒绝置评。
The fact that India has won the Miss World contest six times could have convinced pageant organizers to stick to a type, says Kavitha Emmanuel, founder of the Indian NGO Women of Worth, which campaigns for gender equality and against the bias toward lighter skin.
印度非政府组织“女性价值”的创始人卡维塔·伊曼纽尔说,印度已经六次赢得世界小姐选美比赛的冠军,这一事实可能会说服选美组织者坚持穿某种类型的衣服。
The infatuation with fairness now goes much deeper than pageants.
如今,人们对公平的迷恋远远超过了选美比赛。
"It is a toxic belief that has become part of our culture," Emmanuel explained.
“这是一种令人沉迷的信仰,已经成为我们文化的一部分,”艾曼纽解释说。
Parameswaran is currently researching the backlash against colorism, a term that means "a form of skin color stratification and skin color discrimination that assigns lighter-skinned individuals and particularly women greater worth and value.
帕拉玛斯瓦兰目前正在研究对肤色歧视的反抗,这个词的意思是“肤色分层和肤色歧视的一种形式,赋予肤色较浅的个体,尤其是女性更大的价值和价值。”
" It's an issue, she said, that is very much alive in India.”
她说,“这是个问题,而且在印度非常普遍。”
"Colorism and racism are Siamese twins and cannot be separated," she added.
“肤色歧视和种族歧视是连体双胞胎,不能分开,”她补充说。
The obsession with fairness can begin before a baby is even born in some parts of India, with some pregnant Indian women drinking saffron-infused milk to make their infant's skin fairer.
在印度的一些地区,对公平的痴迷甚至可以在婴儿出生之前就开始了,一些怀孕的印度妇女会喝加了藏红花的牛奶,以使婴儿的皮肤更白皙。
Others avoid iron supplements in the misplaced belief it will make their unborn child darker.
还有一些人不吃铁补充剂,他们错误地认为铁补充剂会让他们未出生的孩子更黑。
These practices, however, have become far less common in areas where wealth and education levels have improved.
然而,在财富和教育水平有所提高的地区,这些做法变得不那么常见了。
"We still have matrimonial adverts in newspaper which say, 'wanted: fair, slim brides,'" Emmanuel said.
伊曼纽尔说:“我们现在仍然在报纸上刊登征婚广告,上面写着'招聘:漂亮苗条的新娘。’”
It is a problem that primarily affects women, as men's financial worth is generally deemed more important than their beauty.
这是一个主要影响女性的问题,因为男性的经济价值通常被认为比他们的美貌更重要。
"Women's bodies are their currency," Parameswaran said.
帕拉姆斯瓦兰说:“女性的身体就是她们的货币。
Cosmetic brands globally have profited from the insecurity, cashing in on a multi-million dollar industry of creams, skin bleaches and invasive procedures that promise to lighten skin.
全球的化妆品品牌都从这种不安全感中获利,它们从价值数百万美元的面霜、皮肤漂白剂和承诺美白肌肤的侵入性手术中获利。
The demand for whiteners is projected to reach $31 billion by 2024, up from $18 billion in 2017, especially in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, according to market intelligence firm Global Industry Analysts.
据市场情报公司全球行业分析公司预测,到2024年,对美白产品的需求预计将达到310亿美元,高于2017年的180亿美元,尤其是在亚洲、中东和非洲。
Routine skin whitener use ranges from 25% in Mali to 77% in Nigeria, and it's 40% in China, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Korea, according to the World Health Organization.
根据世界卫生组织的数据,日常的美白产品使用范围从马里的25%到尼日利亚的77%不等,中国、马来西亚、菲律宾和韩国的这一比例为40%。
"Very little of the world is untouched by colorism," Parameswaran said.
帕拉马斯瓦兰说:“世界上几乎没有什么地方不受肤色歧视的影响。
A 2017 study found that more than half of 1,992 men and women surveyed about product use in India had tried skin whiteners and close to half (44.6%) felt the need to try such products due to media such as TV and advertisements.
2017年的一项研究发现,在1992名接受调查的印度男性和女性中,超过一半的人尝试过美白产品,而近一半(44.6%)的人认为有必要尝试这类产品,原因是电视和广告等媒体。
The country's enduring legacy of caste is often credited as a root cause of the problem, with those from the lower caste group, known as the Dalits, being associated with darker skin, Parameswaran said.
帕拉姆斯瓦兰说,印度种姓制度的长期遗留问题通常被认为是造成这一问题的根本原因,来自低种姓群体的达利特人肤色较深。
"That is because caste is an occupational-based hierarchy with the lowest of the caste being assigned the tasks of manual labor," she added, which is often outdoor work. The Dalits are discriminated against as being "unclean,"are considered untouchable by the higher castes, which are associated with fairness.
“这是因为种姓是一个以职业为基础的等级制度,种姓最低的人被分配做体力劳动,”她补充说,体力劳动通常是户外工作。达利人被歧视为“不干净”,被认为是不可触摸的高种姓,这就牵涉到公平的问题。
There are also regional differences, especially between North and South India, at play as well.
此外,地域歧视也在发挥作用,尤其是印度北部和南部之间。
Both Parameswaran and Emmanuel said the obsession with fair skin could lead to a range of socio-economic problems, including low self-worth and mental health issues, as well as have an impact on job and marriage prospects.
帕拉姆斯瓦兰和埃马纽埃尔都表示,对白皙皮肤的痴迷可能会导致一系列社会经济问题,包括低自我价值感和心理健康问题,还会影响工作和婚姻前景。
"A small survey we did found children are affected the most," Emmanuel said, adding that some three-year-olds were being told they were "not fair enough" at school.
伊曼纽尔说:“我们做的一项小调查发现,受影响最大的是孩子。”他还说,一些三岁的孩子在学校就别人说“不够美”。
Within this landscape, there are voices pushing for change.
在这片土地上,也存在着推动变革的声音。
Emmanuel founded the Dark is Beautiful campaign, which includes advocacy programs to address color bias and has been endorsed by Bollywood actor Nandita Das.
艾曼纽创立了“黑皮肤也是美丽的”运动,其中包括旨在消除肤色偏见的宣传项目,并得到了宝莱坞演员南蒂塔·达斯的支持。
In a series of posts in 2017, another Bollywood star, Abhay Deol, called out his fellow actors for endorsing skin-whitening brands.
在2017年的一系列帖子中,另一位宝莱坞明星阿布依·多尔则呼吁其他演员支持美白品牌。
Since then, a number of Instagram influencers and brands have jumped on the inclusivity bandwagon.
从那以后,许多Instagram的影响者和品牌都加入了这场审美包容性潮流。
"There is no one face that represents India," Anushka Kelkar, the 22-year-old photographer behind the Instagram account browngirlgazin, which won plaudits for its honest portrayal of Indian women from different backgrounds.
“没有一张脸能代表印度,”Instagram账号browngirlgazin背后的22岁摄影师阿努什卡·卡尔说。
"I have friends from Kashmir who are asked if they are Indian and friends from Kerala who have been asked if they are African. People look different and it is time we started embracing that," she said.
“我有来自克什米尔的朋友被问及他们是否是印度人,也有来自喀拉拉邦的朋友被问及他们是否是非洲人。人们看起来不一样,现在是我们开始接受这一点的时候了。”
But the fact there is a conversation about color bias in India means things are moving forward, Kelkar added.
凯尔卡尔说:“但事实上,在印度存在着这种关于肤色偏见的讨论,这就意味着事情正在向前发展。”
Still, Emmanuel and Parameswaran said they believe the country is a long way off real change.
尽管如此,伊曼纽尔和帕拉梅斯瓦兰说他们相信这个国家离真正的变革还有很长的路要走。
"We need a paradigm shift in the way we think about what people look like," Emmanuel said.
艾曼纽尔说:“我们需要改变思维模式,改变我们对人的看法。”
"Indians have not only misrepresented what Indians should look like to themselves, they have misinterpreted Indians to the rest of the world," Emmanuel added.
伊曼纽尔补充说:“印度人不仅歪曲了自己心目中的印度人应该是什么样子,他们还歪曲了世界其他地区对印度人的看法。”
"We have not represented our country well."
“我们没有很好地代表我们的国家。”
问题
文中提到了印度哪一个皮肤较黑的民族呢?
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