logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2025
23m 48s

BBC OS Conversations: Colourism

Bbc World Service
About this episode

The issue of colourism was highlighted in a recent BBC news report about a Nigerian woman who bleached the skin of her six young children leaving them with discoloured skin, burns and scars. It is a form of racism where light skin is more highly valued than dark skin amongst people of the same ethnic group. In our conversations, we hear from women who share experiences of colourism in India including Chandana who has faced colourism from an early age. We also bring together two black women who work in the fashion and beauty industry, where appearance is everything. Beauty journalist, Ateh, shares her experiences of colourism with Nyakim, a Sudanese-American model known as Queen of the Dark after her naturally dark skin tone.

Up next
Today
Belarus's university in exile
In Belarus, new legislation from the government of President Alexander Lukashenko targets anyone who might be regarded as an opponent with charges of being ‘extremist’. Dozens of independent media outlets including the BBC have recently been designated as ‘extremist organisation’ ... Show More
26m 22s
May 2
Mapping Epstein's global connections
The personal correspondence, photographs and papers of the late convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein have been released to the public in stages, beginning in December 2025, after an almost unanimous vote in the US Senate. The released files run to three and a half ... Show More
26m 29s
Apr 25
Inside the Mugabe dynasty
Late Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe died in 2019, but in the years before and since his death, his three children with his former wife, Grace, consistenly made headlines for all the wrong reasons. In April 2026 Bellarmine Mugabe pled guilty to a firearms offence in South Afri ... Show More
26m 29s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2022
Confronting colourism
“I was trapped in my own skin”: The illegal trade which preys on prejudice. How skin colour discrimination is still exploited with harmful black market products. Ellen’s skin bleaching nightmare had a devastating impact on her - both physically and mentally. And the prejudice whi ... Show More
31 m
Jun 2020
Colorism
<p>On this episode of RTT, Jada, Gammy, and Willow tackle Colorism, a rarely talked about form of discrimination that continues to divide the Black community. Learn why this hateful bias entered into Black culture years ago, and meet Jada’s lifelong friend Mia and daughter Madiso ... Show More
25m 3s
Nov 2022
Notes from America: 'Blackness (Un)interrupted'
So many of our perceptions of race have to do with color. How does that change if you've lived in both Black and white skin? Our Executive Producer Veralyn Williams, explores this question in conversation with her sister, Lovis. Lovis has vitiligo, a skin disease that causes loss ... Show More
29m 45s
Jan 2022
A whiteness that's only skin deep
We use words related to color to describe different racial categories all the time — Black, white, brown. But how much of race and identity actually has to do with the color of your skin? What if what appears to be "whiteness" is only skin deep? Today we're sharing stories from p ... Show More
24m 57s
Sep 2021
Racism: living as a person of colour in the UK
Mymuna Soleman, founder of The Privilege Café, educator and influencer, Char Bailey; and Cassie Logan, founder of the Black Culture Movement in Northern Ireland, talk about their experiences of racism in the UK, and what life is like as a person of colour. They explore everything ... Show More
38m 51s
May 2021
Colorism and global standards of beauty
From the media we consume to our social groups, Chika Okoro describes the effects of colorism on our culture and offers a call to action to address this damaging construct. This talk was filmed at TEDxStanford. All TEDx events are organized independently by volunteers in the spir ... Show More
7m 5s
Nov 2022
Beauty costs: A spotlight on skin lightening
Products that claim to lighten skin are often physically harmful, often containing toxic chemicals and dangerous ingredients. We look at why skin lightening products still exist, speak to people affected by their messaging, and find out why stopping sales is not as simple as it m ... Show More
17m 30s
Mar 2023
This Racism Is Killing Me Inside
This week, we revisit an episode from 2018 that looks into how discrimination not only degrades your health, but can cost you your life. We hear the story of Shalon Irving, who died after giving birth to her daughter. Black women like her are 243 percent more likely than white wo ... Show More
29m 17s
Dec 2021
Ask Code Switch: What Does Race Have To Do With Beauty?
This time of year, folks are being inundated with messages about how to become more beautiful. But beauty is an ever-changing goalpost that has everything do with race, class and power.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorsh ... Show More
47m 37s
Feb 2023
S4E23: Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.
<p>Race, ethnicity, skin color, and the like are very sensitive topics. <br>The basis of today's episode is <br>a from Kimberlé Crenshaw: “<strong>Treating different things the same can generate as much inequality as treating the same things differently.</strong></p><p><br>Contac ... Show More
49m 33s