I WILL never forget the day I agreed to have a talk with a friend who was on the verge of ditching her husband for another married man.

“I am tired of giving birth to ugly children”, she snapped when I broached the subject, telling her my mediating was at the insistence of her husband, who was also a close friend. “My daughter is so dark I feel for her at times as there is the possibility of her attracting only ugly men. 1 am dark, my husband is dark. You have seen the new man yourself, he has lovely children. Let me also have children 1 can be proud of for a change!” So she left and eventually had three children by this other man.

I wished I could say they are as ugly as the ones she had with her first
husband, but no. They are quite attractive and athletic, and she was proud of her feat! Her husband also remarried, of course. “And his new set of kids are even uglier than the ones I had for him,” smirked my friend. Lately, I learnt both of them were thinking of going back together since they were not properly divorced. I thought the idea absurd. I would have termed it impossible, if I hadn’t heard it from the now bitter father of her ‘lovely’ children, her second ‘husband’.
When she phoned a few days later, I told her of the ridiculous rumour I heard about her first husband coming back to her. “Don’t mind the jerk, he’s just jealous,” she said of her now ex-lover, “By the way, Jide (her real husband) is here and wants to talk to you.” “Are you back together” I asked him incredulously when he came on the phone. “Of course, we are!” he actually sounded happy.

“That stupid man is just an opportunist who wants to spend my wife’s money. He can talk until his face muscles burst, 1 am back with my wife. You tell him that! Let him try his luck elsewhere.”

It is true really, that some of us, dark or light, prefer light skinned mates so we could have “pretty babies”, that is why skin lightening creams and horribly concocted local bleaching soaps still sell; though they are now advertised as good for making blemishes fade rather than for lightening the whole complexion.

Jennifer was a dark skinned beauty in her secondary school days and had her share of boyfriends – though not particularly spectacular ones. She travelled abroad and came back ten years later almost as white as the next white; sporting multi-coloured hair extensions and wearing green contact lenses! “When you are abroad,” she said later, ‘You experience a lot of racism because of your skin. It got worse when I discovered that even coloured people were also picky. Being rejected by blacks because your skin is cocoa and not cream, ebony and not olive or because you are short with kinky hair instead of tall with wavy hair hurt.

“Back home, I’ve discovered that my investment in changing the colour of my skin has more than paid off. It didn’t come cheap either. Apart from very costly injections I paid to slow down the pigmentation of my dark skin, I have to keep on using expensive creams and lotions. I look in the mirror and I like what I see. It is money well spent. And my confidence has had a great boost. In this part of the world, it is often the ‘yellow pawpaw’ as those with very light skin are called, that reap the most attention. I mean, if someone was described that way, there was no need to say that person was good-looking. It was a given that light was lovely. It is up to those with darker skin who have to now prove themselves.

“It is a general belief that dark-skinned people often don’t take time to groom themselves – but that is not true. When I was darker, I really put in more effort than now, but it seldom showed. If we want to be frank with ourselves, we would admit that light skinned girls get picked up first – either as dancing partners or lovers. We shouldn’t be fooled by the “Black is beautiful” mantra, that died with the seventies!”

Little wonder then that men too have jumped into the “yellow-pawpaw”
bandwagon with glee! Few years ago, a prominent lawmaker that was impeached in one of the Northern states proudly defended his bleached, ‘glowing’ well groomed skin, and said it had nothing to do with his efficiency. How true! But there is a limit to how far you should compete with your partner in the bleaching department!’

A colleague’s husband works with a big advertising agency and he is one of their top officers. He grew from fairly light-skinned, to albino light. “It was a bit embarrassing trying to talk him out of his stupid obsession with his skin but tried, I did” confessed his wife. “He didn’t listen to me, of course. He did look better as he made the effort to slim down to compliment his new complexion – until he over-did it and spotted black patches all over his face and neck.

Honestly I never realized how much skin color meant to some Nigerians until my early 20s and I was really surprised such concepts existed. How can you attribute beauty to the fairness of skin? It's funny.

So, cream is finer than caramel? Some reasoning!. Perhaps few patches of slave-mentality linger on in some minds.

Even in our naija banks... some still prefer Light skin girls than the dark ones...

I personally think it a case of " inferiority complex" when you don't love nor value yourself, you are open to such radical extreme things.


Hence you come with this mumu bull'sh'it like the first example you gave of your female friend whom said her daughter dark and ugly. In my personal opinion that mother worwor and it goes deep within, to even look at her child with such "judgemental eyes"


In saying that it very common for people to have such distasteful views. I am light skin but I find black just as beautiful, my mother the fair one and my dad dark yet I don't go around wishing my father was white or fairer skin. It shallow as hell!


I also think it comes down to the individual, it not a matter of light skin being picked first, I have many dark skin sisters whom get a lot of admirers and attention, baby it a confidence thing! Own it!


Black is just as beautiful as light skin, my 18 yr old sister darker than me and my 27 yr old sis( she took after dad) but I remind her every day that she beautiful n has flawless skin, that she doesn't need bleach creams or all that fake sh'it, she beautifully BLESSED already

Me I like black babes..I won't lie

Demonic thread and demonic op.

The media my friend is one powerful tool in mind control and, an impossibly large amount of black men has fallen prey to their divisive consumption including our male artists. The only heaven i know is between a black woman thighs.

Light or dark
Its Gods handiwork

I've never really digged light skin girls, I prefer Choco anyday...

light, dark, pink or yellow.. no be punny dem all get?
jst bang well and u gon get cute kids

And this is how stories that touch always begin.

After you are "picked first" like an item for sale, what next?

Thats naija for we people

czarr:
Light or dark
Its Gods handiwork

Hahaha the most reasonable comment I've ever seen from u Nwanne idi kwarekt

MrsPhyno:

Hahaha the most reasonable comment I've ever seen from u Nwanne idi kwarekt

I 4 say make thunder do him work for ur head.


but on second tot,









where aff you been?

czarr:
I 4 say make thunder do him work for ur head.

but on second tot,


where aff you been?

Missed me?

MrsPhyno:
Missed me?

see as fifu de use fail exam.
simple question wey I ask, OK eh I miss ya lips.

e be like I see you where you been dey protest for Biafra....

czarr:
see as fifu de use fail exam.

simple question wey I ask,
OK eh I miss ya lips.


e be like I see you where you been dey protest for Biafra....

U know ur a czarr so I'm grateful that royalty such as urself even knows I exist

I missed all of una too. Yes that was me at the protest in the green top. They didn't shoot me sha

The order day I was in a public transport when I overheard a conversation,someone called the girl sitting beside me on phone.The girl is into ushering job so she was asking d person on phone if the girls were dere already d person said yes and d next thing I heard was"hope they are fair girls,dont bring black girls oh".I was like wtf,are we not africans,are we no meant to be black,Bleaching cream now d order of d day in 9ja

MrsPhyno:

U know ur a czarr so I'm grateful that royalty such as urself even knows I exist

I missed all of una too. Yes that was me at the protest in the green top. They didn't shoot me sha

welcome back.

I think say na ban you chop.

czarr:
welcome back.

I think say na ban you chop.

Nope jez busy

kaziblake:
The order day I was in a public transport when I overheard a conversation,someone called the girl sitting beside me on phone.The girl is into ushering job so she was asking d person on phone if the girls were dere already d person said yes and d next thing I heard was"hope they are fair girls,dont bring black girls oh".I was like wtf,are we not africans,are we no meant to be black,Bleaching cream now d order of d day in 9ja

no biggie.

The main thing is dont do the ushering job forever and dont consider male attention as your ultimate in life.