In just 2 minutes, the poem portrays gamut of feelings and emotions on how girls are burdened with stereotypical notions on their body type and skin tone. Although the poem is penned and recited by a girl, it fairly balances the judgments framed about boys and men as well.
Aranya started her poetic journey at the tender age of 11 and her piece ‘A Brown Girl’s Guide to Gender’ hit a staggering 1 million views within two days of its upload and is currently over 30 million and counting. This time through “A Brown Girl’s Guide to Beauty” Aranya strives to speak aloud about the set norms by the media and the society.
An innovative initiative started by standup comedian and poet Simar Singh, UnErase Poetry is a bilingual medium that creates and promotes spoken word poetry. The digital creators are at the forefront of bringing about a change in the society about the regressive concepts such as taboos on menstruation, human trafficking, marital rape and many such relevant and important subjects.
Sharing his thoughts, Simar Singh said “This campaign is an effort to bring awareness of how skin tone of a girl shouldn’t be a parameter to marry her. Aranya has done remarkable work with her poem. We have the befitting partners with Shaadi.com and with Qyuki Digital being the platform, we are rest assured for it to reach out to its audience.”
Sagar Gokhale, the content head, expressed “Qyuki has always stood for change and we are glad to be associated with such a unique talent as Aranya’s. Her poetic form has formed a bond with viewers and we want to strengthen it. We are glad to showcase the power of such an impressive talent.
According to CEO Gourav Rakshit, Shaadi.com, "The bias against complexion and body type is something that exists within our society at large. While eliminating this mindset is a long way off, this is our first step to help people look beyond and really get to know a person before making their decision. It’s only fair to give finding love a fair chance!”