Fair and Lovely, who? I don't know her.

In a world where information is more accessible than ever, more technological advances are being made, and people are connecting with people of other ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, and sexual orientations, it's very difficult to understand and hard to believe that fairer and lighter skinned women are often still praised over darker skinned women. There is this massive pressure a lot of darker skinned ladies face from media, society, and their own families to have lighter skin and do whatever it takes to attain that. Bleaching creams such as Fair and Lovely, Fairever, and Garnier Skin Naturals White Complete Speed White Multi Action Fairness Cream (Wow, that's a long ass name.) do a great job at capitalizing off these archaic beliefs. But, what if I were to tell you that maybe..............just maybe.............darker skinned women don't need to have lighter skin.............and, instead of using bleaching creams or undergoing some sort of procedure, perhaps...........they can begin the process of loving their skin as it is. I know. I know. OMG, THE HORROR!!!! Women with melanin actually loving the skin they are in?! Hell, yeah!! This is the 21st century for heaven's sake, and people need to stop perpetuating the idea that only light is beautiful and dark is somehow repulsive. Here is my gallery of beautiful women (who just happen to be darker skinned), who will make you say, "Fair and Lovely, who? I don't know her."

Pretty impressive gallery, right? Note that this is not a diss towards fairer and lighter skinned people. They are beautiful as well. It's just that dark skinned beauty is largely underrepresented in the global mainstream media, and I thought I would share some images that hopefully can inspire others. In the comments below, please let me know if there are any other darker skinned women that are standing for representation of dark beauty.