Lightskin Privilege

Lightskin privilege means black women with lighter skin tones are favored more than black women with darker skin tones which is rooted in colorism. Why is that?

Colorism and light skin privilege began during slavery. Owners would rape their slaves for light-skinned children, with much better treatment than dark skins, not in a way that they weren’t facing racism, but rather tasked with easier objectives. Lightskins were always seen as more prettier or intelligent, now and then.

Even in the media, you can see people voicing their preference for light-skin women, whether it’s with songs or movies. The treatment is significantly better because they’re “closer” to white than dark-skin.

It’s wise to express light-skin privilege to others and acknowledge that you have it, so you can utilize it to spread awareness to reject this ideology. Light-skin and dark-skin women should be treated equally; we’re all black at the end of the day. Preferential treatment towards either side shouldn’t have existed; it’s disappointing that this ideal is still being adopted into our society.