You are beautiful for a dark-skinned girl and other stories — A review of “Yinka, where is your Huzband?”
I have recently been reading “Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband?” a novel by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn. The novel focuses on Yinka, a 31-year-old woman who struggles with finding love. She is a dark-skinned woman who perceives her skin tone as the cause of her singleness and for not feeling good enough for any man. To add salt to injury, Yinka experiences pressure from her Nigerian mother and society to marry, especially since her younger sister is already married and has a kid and almost everyone around her seems to have a thriving love life.
Yinka goes through a crisis when loses the only thing she feels she has going for her, her job at a major investment bank after her role is made redundant. She goes through dating and changing herself for various men due to being desperate to have a date at her cousin Rachel’s wedding. She turns ‘savage’ towards everyone who accuses her of changing herself for a man and even lies about her job, her love life, and her motivations.
What caught my brain however is when she goes through a mental breakdown after being rejected by Emmanuel, a supposed player. She grabs her keys and goes to purchase skin-lightening products. Fortunately, she is brought to her senses by the memory of a conversation with her late father about her skin tone. This reflects the societal pressure that young dark-skinned girls and women face due to colorism. They are told things like they are beautiful for a dark-skinned girl or are never perceived to be beautiful because of their skin tone. I found myself empathizing with the young lady as a dark-skinned woman myself, and know the struggle of not being perceived as beautiful due to my dark skin tone, despite beauty is not something I learnt to aspire to.
While some may say colorism is not real, this book delves into the theme of colorism and how it can wreak havoc on one's self-esteem. This is especially as it interacts with society's expectations and culture and the weight of expectations that come along with it.
Other themes in the book include culture, modern dating and love, Christianity and secularism, colorism, therapy. The role of literature is to act as a mirror to society and Lizzie Damilola Blackburn definitely reflected society in present times.