Mzungu Ghafla Reader Opens Up About Vera Sidika’s Bleaching: This Has To Be The Most Intelligent Response To Caroline Mutoko!
I swear to the ancestors that Vera Sidika is currently the hottest thing in Kenya right now! Talk about social capital! She has harnessed the little mileage Ghafla gave her and then the attention -that as always comes eons too late- from traditional media and run with it. There is no stopping Vera Sidika or her bleaching!
Yesterday, I reached out to Baba Ghafla’s mentor Caroline Mutoko for her opinion on bleaching and she humbly obliged my request and she gave me a piece which has generated alot of debate around the subject of “skin toning” or as we ratchet people say, bleaching.
But one commentor had something to say that I found profusely wise and intelligent and I had to share his take on the entire matter:
Caroline Mutoko, what a frustrating, ill-informed article you’ve written. Comparing blooming eye-liner to skin bleach. Really?!!! Are you actually insane?? Bleaching – an act which stems from centuries of self-loathing, an act, which puts your health at significant risk, strips the racially defining melanin from your skin is comparable to applying eye-liner? Okay, love. Here’s the thing. You are an imbecile who is far more dangerous to young black women than the likes of Vera because you posit as a social commentator whose views are respected. The likes of Vera most people with more than one brain cell will not take seriously – she’s harmless and dumb and can carry on doing her thing. You on the other hand should be ashamed of yourself. Not for defending her right to do what she wants with her own body – I too defend a woman’s right – it’s your inane simplifying of bleaching, which I find incredibly offensive and nuts. You need to consult your history books – read up on how colonialism and slavery affected and continues to affect post-colonial Africa and transplanted Africans. Educate yourself on the harms of bleaching and the damage it has done to many. Clearly, you are one of those who has been adversely affected. Seek help. Embarrassing!
And why did I post this article? Because bleaching is an attempt to get a lighter skin tone to placate the colonized mind’s struggle to get closer to western standards of beauty. I wanted to give a “mzungu” the opportunity to let those of us who feel lightskin is the benchmark for beauty something to ruminate on.
The Pope Of Pissing Off People has spoken!
The Pope Of Pissing Off People has spoken!
