Albino woman has embraced her pale skin and says kids now often mistake her for Elsa from Frozen
A woman bullied for being albino has embraced her pale skin and white hair and says kids now often mistake her for Elsa from Frozen.
Fleur Van Der Ven, 20, didn't realise she was different until she was seven and other children started to avoid her - cruelly calling her a vampire and a ghost.
She claims she was picked on for her appearance - which left her dyeing her locks dark brown and coating her white eyelashes in black mascara.
But at the age of 15, Fleur learnt to embrace her albinism and stopped dyeing her hair and wearing a full face of make-up.
She proudly shows off her blonde hair and pale skin and says it boosts her confidence when children in the street stop her and compare her to Elsa from Disney's Frozen.
But Fleur claims her albinism also means she has to deal with "gross" comments from men who sexualise her - calling her "innocent and pure".
Fleur, a hotel management student, from Nijmegen, the Netherlands, said: "My teenage years is when I experienced the most bullying.
"I started to wear make-up to avoid the name-calling but it didn't stop as I looked strange because of how pale I was.
"I remember trying to make friends with a group of girls and they just wouldn't let me sit with them.
"Kids will often come up and ask if I am Elsa or tell me I look like her.
"People will also comment on social media and say the same.
"It has definitely made me feel more confident, Elsa is seen as a strong woman, she is also very pretty which makes me feel really good."
Fleur was picked on by other children from the age of seven and says they would run away from her.
She said: "I noticed that children would be avoiding me - they would find my eyes scary which is really sad for a kid.
"I knew I looked different - kids would call me a ghost or a vampire and exclude me from friendship groups.
"It is a horrible thing to go through but looking back it has made me stronger and made me more confident in who I am and what I stand for."
Fleur said the bullying continued when she was a teen and she would wear lots of make-up and constantly dye her hair dark brown to avoid comments.
The tipping point for Fleur came when she was 15.
She said: "I got to the point where I was so sick of drawing on my eyes, putting black mascara on and getting my roots dyed once a month.
"One day I just clicked and I was so done. I went to school with white hair and eyebrows - I thought 'f**k it, I don't care anymore'."
"I have stopped caring about the past and what people used to say about me.
"It has been a gradual process for me, I didn't stop caring immediately and sometimes comments do still affect me but I am nearly there."
Fleur said she is often compared to Disney princess Elsa which has given her more confidence.
Fleur has learned to love being in her own skin and embracing albinism but one thing that she does struggle with is being sexualised by some men.
Fleur has had to put filters on all her social media accounts to stop what she calls "gross" comments.
She said: "I am often sexualised for being albino which is something I did not expect.
"I am seen as innocent and pure, it makes me feel gross.
"People will often ask me about my pubic hair or talk about how they have always wanted to sleep with an albino person - it makes me feel really uncomfortable."
Fleur Van Der Ven, 20, didn't realise she was different until she was seven and other children started to avoid her - cruelly calling her a vampire and a ghost.
She claims she was picked on for her appearance - which left her dyeing her locks dark brown and coating her white eyelashes in black mascara.
But at the age of 15, Fleur learnt to embrace her albinism and stopped dyeing her hair and wearing a full face of make-up.
She proudly shows off her blonde hair and pale skin and says it boosts her confidence when children in the street stop her and compare her to Elsa from Disney's Frozen.
But Fleur claims her albinism also means she has to deal with "gross" comments from men who sexualise her - calling her "innocent and pure".
Fleur, a hotel management student, from Nijmegen, the Netherlands, said: "My teenage years is when I experienced the most bullying.
"I started to wear make-up to avoid the name-calling but it didn't stop as I looked strange because of how pale I was.
"I remember trying to make friends with a group of girls and they just wouldn't let me sit with them.
"Kids will often come up and ask if I am Elsa or tell me I look like her.
"People will also comment on social media and say the same.
"It has definitely made me feel more confident, Elsa is seen as a strong woman, she is also very pretty which makes me feel really good."
Fleur was picked on by other children from the age of seven and says they would run away from her.
She said: "I noticed that children would be avoiding me - they would find my eyes scary which is really sad for a kid.
"I knew I looked different - kids would call me a ghost or a vampire and exclude me from friendship groups.
"It is a horrible thing to go through but looking back it has made me stronger and made me more confident in who I am and what I stand for."
Fleur said the bullying continued when she was a teen and she would wear lots of make-up and constantly dye her hair dark brown to avoid comments.
The tipping point for Fleur came when she was 15.
She said: "I got to the point where I was so sick of drawing on my eyes, putting black mascara on and getting my roots dyed once a month.
"One day I just clicked and I was so done. I went to school with white hair and eyebrows - I thought 'f**k it, I don't care anymore'."
"I have stopped caring about the past and what people used to say about me.
"It has been a gradual process for me, I didn't stop caring immediately and sometimes comments do still affect me but I am nearly there."
Fleur said she is often compared to Disney princess Elsa which has given her more confidence.
Fleur has learned to love being in her own skin and embracing albinism but one thing that she does struggle with is being sexualised by some men.
Fleur has had to put filters on all her social media accounts to stop what she calls "gross" comments.
She said: "I am often sexualised for being albino which is something I did not expect.
"I am seen as innocent and pure, it makes me feel gross.
"People will often ask me about my pubic hair or talk about how they have always wanted to sleep with an albino person - it makes me feel really uncomfortable."
Transcript
00:00 I'm albino, of course people tell me to dye my hair brown. I'm albino, of course people tell me I'm not because my eyes aren't red. I'm albino, of course people ask me if the carpet matches the drapes. I'm albino, of course people compare their tan to my skin tone in the summer. I'm albino, of course people tell me my shaky eyes freak them out. I'm albino, when you wave to me on the street, I won't see it. I'm albino, of course I burn to a crisp after only being in the sun for five minutes.
00:29 As someone who grew up albino, I used to get a lot of stares. I still do, especially when I'm on vacation because in my own country, I'm Dutch, it's not uncommon to be blonde, be pale or have blue eyes.
00:44 But here in Spain, it's not as common. So I get a lot of looks. And when I was younger, I always thought to myself, what's going on? Do these people think I'm ugly? Do I look weird? What's going on?
00:57 And now that I'm a bit older, I realize that maybe they're not thinking something negative about me. Maybe they find me pretty. Maybe they've never seen an albino before. Being albino at the end of the day is quite rare.
01:10 So yeah, if you find yourself in the same situation that a lot of people are staring at you and it bothers you, just think to yourself, maybe it's not something negative.
01:22 I at least, I gaslight myself a little bit into thinking that they find me pretty or they like my hair, something like that. Because you don't know what they're thinking. You don't know if it's positive or negative.
01:35 So you can just make it up yourself. And so by making it positive, I at least feel a lot more confident when I walk on the street and people are looking at me.
01:45 So yeah, I hope this helps someone.