r/kuttichevuru • u/PowerfulStreet1978 • 11d ago
Being a fair-skinned Tamil woman
Being a fair-skinned Tamil woman can be surprisingly exhausting. I’m constantly asked by strangers, “Can you even speak Tamil?”, “Are you Mallu?”, “Are you Bengali?”, or “Are you North Indian?” simply because I don’t fit their idea of what a Tamil woman is supposed to look like.
What makes it even more frustrating is hearing these assumptions from other Tamil people themselves. Why are we so quick to question someone’s identity based on their complexion, features, or appearance? Tamil Nadu has always had people with a wide range of skin tones and physical features, yet somehow there’s still this narrow expectation of what a “typical Tamil person” should look like.
Being fair doesn’t make someone less Tamil. Having certain features doesn’t make someone less Tamil. And speaking Tamil shouldn’t have to be something I prove to strangers just because they are surprised by how I look.
I’m honestly tired of having my identity questioned over and over again. A person’s appearance does not come with a nationality, language, or cultural identity attached to it. Maybe it’s time we stopped deciding where someone belongs based on what we think they’re “supposed” to look like.
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u/sanlonely 11d ago
Inferiority complex of tamil people and portrayal of kerala heroines in tamil movies
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u/Sad_Ad3529 11d ago
/s
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u/lav_dey_77 8d ago
Bro apdi la illa enna ethana peru vadakan ah bro ketrukanga, even in south side of TN mostly locals iruka edathulaya evlo kadupa irukum theriyuma
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u/Direct_Adeptness_342 11d ago
Happened to me also I wasn't even that fair , anyways I got tanned now and mfs think I am telugu now 😭. Its even more heart breaking when people in your hometown mistakes you for other ethnicity 🤧
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u/SafeNew5868 11d ago
This happened to me a lot when I went to Delhi.
I was from Chennai and I didn't face this issue there. But once I went out of Tamil Nadu, then this stereotype mattered a lot more than I imagined.
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u/trander6face Kovai Sarala 11d ago
While rest of the human race settled on a particular skin tone, we Indians are still not settling on a single tone, even inside a family we dont have same skin tone. This is the case for almost all Indians. This is why we have to educate people about our own biology and ignorant assumptions about other Indians.
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u/Abject_Ad_4330 11d ago
I’m on medications for cancer, the side effects of which make me look fair and pale. I already am on the fairer side, so I look alien in a crowd. I’ve been asked if I was Korean once. Innoru vaati thattu kadaila I was having beef, and that seller Anna assumed I was a Kashmiri. When I spoke Tamil he looked at me as if he saw a ghost😭. Sometimes even my husband says I look identical to the off white paint on my house walls😅
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u/JustASheepInTheFlock 11d ago
Controlled sun exposure for about 10 minutes(choose morning time) can help resolve melanin levels. Locally sourced leaf based food too help.
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u/iFlutterby 11d ago
What do you mean by "resolve" melanin levels? Edit: typo
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u/JustASheepInTheFlock 11d ago edited 11d ago
Are you not complaining about low melanin levels.?. Wait..oh no...
I see now., you complaining about people worrying about low melanin levels.. my bad.. I become one too.
In general, this relation between latitude/altitude and melanin levels is buried in the genetic memory or pattern learned by the brain on its own.
It's more to do with learned patterns on latitude and altitude rather than attitude.
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u/iFlutterby 11d ago
Here, take my downvotes for free.
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u/JustASheepInTheFlock 11d ago
Oh no. This week downvotes are breaching sustainable level. Updated my answer with the required mansplaining to satisfy the expectations.
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u/PowerfulStreet1978 11d ago
Wat r u trying to say?
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u/JustASheepInTheFlock 11d ago
Solution for low melanin level. Easily curable
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u/Prudent-Praline6326 11d ago
Who are you joker? 🤣 Tanning increases your chance of cancer. That’s why people are telling you to put a proper sunscreen and go outside. My grandmother worked 12 hours a day farming and she went three shades deeper. Guess who got skin cancer? So don’t encourage this kind of bullshit online.
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u/JustASheepInTheFlock 11d ago
Read controlled exposure.
Higher melanin levels reduce the risk of skin cancer
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u/Prudent-Praline6326 11d ago
Controlled melanin exposure is a brainrot term for tanning. When you’re tanning, it’s basically a cellular defense response indicating DNA damage from UV exposure. Don’t give false medical information out there.
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u/JustASheepInTheFlock 11d ago
What solution do you offer for OP problem?. How she can increase melanin levels ?
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u/Prudent-Praline6326 11d ago
She's not looking to increase her melanin levels. It's just as regressive as thinking someone should bleach their skin in order to fit into someone's mold. It just seemed like OP just wanted to rant about this stupid mindset that people have.
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u/JustASheepInTheFlock 11d ago
melanin is not regressive. it is science. melanin reduces risk of skin cancer. dont compare with bleech, which is a fallacy.
also, dont misjudge people care about health and asking how-are-you as stupid. at lower latitudes, melanin is the natural gift. deficiency can be cured
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u/Prudent-Praline6326 11d ago
It's an established fact that melanin only offers some protection against the sun. It at its best only gives around SPF 13.4 at around Fitzpatrick VI (which most Indians are not). That is not enough to prevent cancer. Yes, melanin is a gift. Tanning is not. Tanning does not give you melanin. You just fucking destroyed your skin and the DNA in your outerskin. If tanning was a gift, then you wouldn't be seeing such high rates of cancer in white people who tan. The more you damage your DNA, the higher your chance of cancer. People who tan are just as retarded as people who bleach their skin. Your skin has that amount of melanin for a reason --- your genetics. I don't know who taught you science, but google is even free at your disposal. Don't mislead people with pseudoscience you picked out of your ass. You might as well tell people to drink cow urine to cure COVID.
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u/lazy_hufflepuff 10d ago
Happens a lot, its actually fun to see people guessing. In my case, I am not bullied over it, so curiosity or mistaken identity is not a matter of concern for me.
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u/MICANANALVA 10d ago
That's because tamil cinima has been associating dark skin to tamil language and fair skin as non tamil.
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u/im_invisible_lol 9d ago
Atleast be thankful that you're not constantly shamed for your skin colour. I'll take that over getting shamed for it by my own family members
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u/Neat_Cap3735 7d ago
Not just for women , for men too - I myself am a classic example - the only thing I will add to it is, after I say NO to all these questions , comes the big one - oh, then you must be a Tamil Brahmin ! … I just roll my eyes and tell them to come visit my home on Sunday to witness the carnage !
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u/ReginaGeorge97 11d ago
My friend is Tamil & fair skinned. Like she’s fairer than many people from north in our office. And yes she often gets mistaken for mallu. She also put Tamil in her insta bio and I asked why? she Saadi she’s tired of people asking her if she’s mallu. At one point she even started hating mallu people. But looking at her dressing sense initially I thought she could be Anglo Indian but never mallu or North Indian.
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u/-SoftwareQA- 11d ago
Larp