"Prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group."
Now that you know what colorism is, you will be able to understand everything I'm about to talk about.
The most recent colorist situations are of Sooyoung of SNSD and Seungyoon and Taehyun of Winner. Now, since I am mostly an unbiased person, I am gifted with the ability to see situations from both sides. Therefore, I'm not going to be extremely one sided on these situations.
Let's start off with Sooyoung's banner about Yuri below.
Members of Girls' Generation sent a coffee truck to Yuri's shoot of "Neighborhood Hero" with a banner on it. The banner is translated as "Thank you for filming our Yuri so that she looks white <3. From. SNSD." It is well known that Yuri has the darkest skin Girls' Generation. To me, I see this as not a big deal while also seeing this as offensive at the same time. It does not seem like a big deal because this may just be light teasing that the girls do towards Yuri. They may have done so ever since they first debuted or even during training. It's like how some friends tease one another on their height, either for being so tall or so short. She's probably used to it and doesn't see it as offensive, like harmless fun.
On the other hand, does Yuri feel embarrassed inside? Sooyoung posting this picture on Instagram for the world to see could make Yuri feel humiliated inside. Yuri's skin color is something she cannot change and being teased about it every now and then (if you remember Tiffany's Instagram post from a couple of months ago) can cause some damage to her internally over time.
And for Seungyoon's and Taehyun's drawings of Mino. Before I go any further: I am an AVID fan of Winner. I would stan everyday, all day if I had the time. On top of that, Taehyun is my bias. Anyways, 1theK recently uploaded an "Ask In A Box" segment of Winner on YouTube. When asked to draw their members, Seungyoon and Taehyun drew the pictures below.
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| Seungyoon's drawing |
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| Taehyun's drawing |
Similar to what I said about Yuri's situation: this could JUST be a joke among the members and Mino even laughed out loud at Seungyoon's drawing. However, this was on camera for the world to see, which could probably make Mino feel a little humiliated inside. His skin color is something he cannot change.
More on THG: Kim Jaejoong's "Memories of 100 Days" Photos
Colorism in South Korea may not be as big of a deal as some international kpop fans make it out to be. It can just be a simple norm, just like how other countries may have norms that others may consider rude or abnormal. I understand colorism derives from an old concept in South Korean history on how lighter skin means that you are wealthy, but I'm not going to get into that. However, if it is a real issue that resides within those targeted, then it should be called out. Only those affected by colorism can step up and advocate against it in order to end it in South Korea. It's a shame, but, it may take a couple of more generations for colorism to end, even though we are now in 2016.
