Colourism: How Bollywood and Indian Mass Media Promote Discrimination

In this episode of the 2AUTHENTIC podcast, my guest Priya Sharma speaks about change, challenges and cultural pressures on her path to happiness and success. Priya (@himynameispriya) and her partner Sid have given up a careers as mining engineers to travel Australia in a van. Since then, Priya has started a family business selling a unique spice mix. She shares her recipes and adventures with more than 550,000 followers on TikTok.

In episode ten of the 2AUTHENTIC podcast, my guest Nisha Balsara shares her experience of growing up as a biracial South Asian woman in Texas. We touch on topics such as racism, colonialism, white supremacy and cultural identity.

In episode nine of 2AUTHENTIC Jas and Clinical Psychologist Dr. Aneesa Shariff explore the roots of South Asian parenting practices. Both discuss tips and strategies for South Asian women to deal with the pressures and expectations they face within their families and communities.

In episode number eight of 2AUTHENTIC, we discuss what's going wrong and right in the fitness industry and explain our holistic approach to health and fitness - including exercise, strength, mobility, flexibility, longevity, sustainability, healthy nutrition and mental wellbeing.

In episode seven of 2AUTHENTIC, we speak about our personal experiences with depression and grief. We both share very personal insights of our lives to show that there are ways to stay strong through adversity and to pull yourself out of the dark spaces of your mind. We also reflect on how our environment can affect the way we feel about ourselves and the way we deal with negative events such as the loss of a loved one.

In episode number six of 2AUTHENTIC, we unravel how patriarchal societies oppress women through controlling their access to education. Education is used as a privilege that is being given or taken away by the people in power. Instead of empowering females and supporting their independence, patriarchal systems feed off a lack of education amongst females.

In the fifth episode of our podcast 2AUTHENTIC, we discuss the issue of colourism, its negative impact on the Indian society and how Bollywood and TV commercials in India feed into the idealisation of "fairer" skin tones and the discrimination of people of "darker" skin.

In the fourth episode of our podcast 2AUTHENTIC, we talk about the positives and negatives of an interracial relationship. We discuss whether two partners of different race or culture are facing different challenges to a "normal couple" and explain why we think that every relationship is "intercultural" in some way.

In episode three of 2AUTHENTIC, we speak about the inequality between men and women in the Indian culture and how patriachal structures affect Indian women around the globe.

In episode two of 2AUTHENTIC we discuss tips on how to set and achieve your goals, developing a growth mindset, staying positive when times get tough and finding your career path as well as different aspects of health and fitness.