There was a story on the radio this morning about skin lightening creams. There was a fascinating discussion about the value put on fairness – that the fairer one was, the whiter one was (or is?!) the more beautiful one is considered. There’s tremendous scholarship and history behind it all. My favorite moment was when a woman called in, clearly an expert on the subject, and made me wonder why they hadn’t called her to be the guest on this show in the first place. She reminded me that when one isn’t invited to the party, sometimes you just have to show up anyway.
The other great moment in this discussion was a mother who called in to tell a story about her daughter. They saw “fairness cream” somewhere and her daughter asked “Is that what you use if you want to be a judge?”
Obviously, that sort of fairness is so much more important than the other sort.
The Hamlet Project 