@annoftheroses 31 August 2020 more from that month

Colorism

Good day! I just wanna share this topic from JA Panganiban. This is about racism and the bandwagoning of skin colors. "*Black is beauty*," they say, but for bullies who find pleasure in mocking someone's skin color, it usually comes with the punch line "*...but too much black is charcoal*." Sadly, the fair-skinned mestiza/mestizo standard of beauty has been deeply ingrained among Filipinos so much that **Senator Nancy Binay** became a laughing stock online upon winning in the 2013 elections. These jokes about her complexion bordered on racism like this one tweet from a troll that posted a plain black photo captioned with "Selfie with Nancy Binay." Imagine seeing this, oh God.

In fact, some Filipinos are so fixated on this idea of beauty that even Lucia, Bianca Gonzales' sixth-month-old baby daughter was ridiculed because of her morena skin tone.

Even the baby? No. No one deserves this. I salute Ma'am Bianca for kicking those bashers who just said that.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/showbiz/chikaminute/564083/proud-morena-bianca-gonzalez-hits-back-at-bashers-who-called-her-baby-negra/story/ The pressure to be a few shades lighter is further amplified in magazines, billboards, and television as brand ambassadors for whitening soaps and face creams encourage Filipinos to jump on the bandwagon. One particular advertisement pushes for the notion that beauty equates to white skin as its endorser jubilantly says "*May igaganda pa pala ako*" (I can still be this pretty) after applying the product. So instead of giving someone whitening products, we should be giving them affirmations that beauty isn't measured based solely on the amount of melanin in one's body. As the adage goes, **beauty is only skin deep**. **Stop Racism.**