The skin “lightening” cream used before weddings is a turmeric paste. It doesn’t actually whiten the skin, but it leaves a slight yellow/gold color, which is what makes brown skin look like it’s glowing. So... No, they are not actually trying to look white.

Yes and no. Yes, because those lowest in the caste system are poor laborers that are out in the sun all day, and those higher in the caste system were/are inside all day. White cultures were the same until labor jobs moved inside, and tans became a sign of leisure - wealthy people taking tropical or beach vacations.

She’s not saying that what the elders did (illegally) in this one community is ok. She’s criticizing the racist commenters as using this example to characterize an incredibly diverse nation of one billion people.

Amen. These people should read the Rebecca Solnit essay about the rapes in India that were in the news. At the same time everyone was saying racist shit about India’s rape culture, she could count the same number of major rape cases just within San Francisco. Including Marissa Mayer’s brother who was then on trial.…

1. It wasn’t a legal governing body. 2. similar to this situation, a small culture within the US that sanctions rape: FLDS (also one that the majority culture does not condone). 3. think about those small crap towns where high school football is the only thing they got going on - school and political officials help…

Thank you. I stopped reading Jezebel a long time ago because the seriously racist comments that are always to be counted on whenever there is a post about India was so enraging. I happened to start reading again this week. Lo and behold...

UHHHHHH... we have a major political party whose major players are all about removing women’s rights and are who are way into rape. Are you forgetting the pro-rape comments of Todd Akin, the guy who said something about women raping easy, all the many many many high school fucking football players that are allowed to…

I’m going to repeat my reply to another commenter who took this instance as representative of all of Indian culture:

This is not representative of Indian culture as a whole. If you think so, you are a racist. You are too stupid to realize that a country of one billion people, three times the size of the population of the US, might have even more varied cultures than the US. A comparison your moronic pea brain may be able to…