L. Ayu Saraswati

Putih

This. was. PACKED. The title gives a complete summary of what it is about; the history of skin color and beauty standards in Indonesia. It's rather academic with lots of jargon and technical term, but they're there in an actual attempt to explain something. I need some time to get used to that but every chapter still manages to be so damn important. It started with the origin of skin color nuances before colonialism, how it is enforced with the spread of chinese, caucasian & japanese culture and beauties on the ever-biased + affective adverts, and proceeded to discuss a LOT of aspects around this topic very deeply. Beberapa konsep yang memorable:
- putih kosmopolitan
- perkembangan bagaimana 'putih' dipasarkan
- bagaimana metode pemasaran kulit coklat yang digunakan pun akhirnya masih mengokohkan 'putih' sebagai yang superior
- how moldable people are
- mempercantik dan memutihkan diri adalah sikap 'tahu malu' yang dianggap indikator kepatuhan sosial. bila tidak dilakukan akan dihukum oleh masyarakat dengan dipermalukan
- agar tidak dihukum masyarakat, ibu mewariskan standar kecantikan dengan memaksakan rasa malu pada anak perempuan sejak dini
- and I think to myself~~ what a fu-ucked up world ~~ 

Saking padatnya konsep dan temuan yang dikenalkan, sebenernya banyak banget bagian yang membagongkan dan personally revolutionary. I'm still far away from digesting this book fully (definitely re-reading this soon) but it already gives so much clarity to so many issues I was just iffy about in passing before. These beauty standards have caused so many people esp women to suffer for decades if not centuries. But being as old as time doesn't make it the truth. It doesn't have to be like this. 'Putih' as the standard is starting to erode now, but it's still standing pretty much solid. Most if not all of the visual standards we unknowingly internalize, we are better off without. As such, being collectively aware of this would change our lives so much, me thinks. This book helps a hell lot in that purpose. Semua orang, perempuan laki, tua muda, kanan kiri, plis baca Putih!

Putih

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