Refinery 29 Introduces Aranya Johar

Rachel Krause at Refinery 29 praises Aranya Johar, a slam poet who defies the beauty standards imposed on women of color, specifically those which Indian women face: "Slam poets have been using the spoken word to question politics, express identity, and connect with their audience since the mid-1980s, more than a decade before Aranya Johar was even born. But the 18-year-old performer is already making a big name for herself on the scene — not just in Mumbai, where she lives, but all over the world, as her poignant sets tackling issues like gender and misogyny go viral." On from there: 

“In her most recent video, “A Brown Girl’s Guide to Beauty,” Johar lays bare the stereotypes and beauty standards that Indian women face, and her words are as powerful as ever.

Since the age of 9 I’ve been slapping my face with fairness creams,” Johar’s poem begins. “Every face wash was a slap in the face because I was a skin tone which was ugly.” She goes on to talk about how the color of your skin dictates how beautiful you’re considered to be — lighter complexions are seen as more desirable and higher-class, so some Indian women spend time and money slathering themselves diligently in whitening creams to change their natural skin tone.

“We brown girls revolt against our own reflections every single time an Indian magazine puts a light-skinned girl on a cover, calling her brown,” Johar raps. “I ask my mother to get me haldi, yellow paste over yellow paste, because anything is better than brown, anything is better than dark.” (Haldi is the Indian word for turmeric, which many women use to make their skin appear brighter.) “Forget Snow White, say hello to chocolate brown,” she says. “I’ll write my own fairytale.”

Read more (and watch Johar perform) at Refinery 29.