by KATIE ROGERS
Activists produced a makeup tutorial video, starring Reshma Qureshi, to bring attention to the issue of acid attacks in India. PHOTO/Make Love Not Scars
In her peppy and helpful online video tutorial, Reshma Bano Qureshi promises to teach her viewers “how to get perfect red lips.”
But unlike the more than 200,000 other online videos dedicated to the application of lipstick, this one goes beyond plumping and priming.
After sharing her cosmetic tips, Ms. Qureshi, 18, talks about her far more striking facial features. She is missing her left eye, and her skin is badly scarred from an attack in Northern India last year by her estranged brother-in-law and a group of men who held her down and poured sulfuric acid on her face. Her brother-in-law was arrested after the attack, but her family has said that two of his accomplices were never caught.
In her video, Ms. Qureshi explains that it is as easy for attackers to buy concentrated acid at a market as it is for her to buy a tube of lipstick — and sometimes, it is cheaper. The video, one of several produced by the group Make Love Not Scars, has garnered more than 900,000 views and led to the hashtag #EndAcidSale.
The New York Times for more
(Thanks to reader)