"Dark Girls "

When the documentary "Dark Girls" came out , there were so many  controversial comments about it , and social media was buzzing. Although ,it was so popular I decided there was no rush to see it. Not because I thought that it wouldn’t be interesting but , it is a topic I am so familiar with. I didn’t need to watch the documentary to have an opinion on “Dark Girls" which ..I clearly fall in the category of. 

Being A “Dark Girl” is my life and will always be my life. 

If you haven’t heard of “Dark Girls”, it is the documentary that explores the prejudices of dark skinned women face around the world. 

I cant tell you how many times I have heard the phrase “You're pretty to be dark skinned.”  Interestingly enough not once has that comment ever been from any one that wasn’t African American. It is a backhanded compliment ,and implies that you’re not as pretty as  a girl that  is light skinned. 

This documentary showed different women and men talking about their experience and comments on the issue of colorism. There were Professors, Actors, ordinary men and women , and even young children that were apart of this film. 

In this  documentary the “paper bag” test was mentioned,  which I never knew about.  If  you were lighter than a paper bag you were considered “beautiful and smart” . On the other hand if you were darker than a paper  bag you were considered “stupid and not attractive”.  

There was also  a little girl talking about her struggles with her color. She was probably about 7 or 8, and it was sad to see someone so young have such insecurity with who she is. Her mother and brothers were all lighter skinned. She hated being called black because she associated that with not being pretty. That  showed me that beauty image issues start very early. I think in this case , it was so much deeper than just about beauty image. 

This documentary did not only discuss the issue of colorism within the African American community , but ethnicity around the world. There was a Japanese girl that spoke of her experience with colorism when she was younger. The issue of colorism also exist in the Dominican community and other latin communities around the world. 

The never ending discussion of dark girls vs light skin girls in the African community is a joke to me. I feel it only adds to the practice of putting African American women against each other . Whether you are light skin or dark skin , you represent the same race. There is a long history behind where this colorism started and unfortunately it is very prevalent in the African American community.

No one is born with these thought about the ccolor of your skin. These bad habits or thoughts are learned. Whether there learned from home or from society.

Overall it was an intriguing documentary , I think its something that anyone could watch no matter their ethnicity or color and take something from.