Ihonvärin vaalentajat kertovat ja uusi dokumentti Light Girls

Katselin Skin Care Talk palstaa, josta tuli vastaan lyhyt keskustelu, jossa naiset kertovat monia syitä halulleen vaalentaa ihonväriä. Tuolta sivustolta voisi etsiä lisää näitä keskusteluja, mutta olen tässä vähän laiska.

Meksikolainen nainen haluaa olla aidon blondin näköinen, mutta nykyisen tummemman ihonvärin takia näyttää epäaidolta. Samainen nainen kuitenkin kertoo, ettei halua olla tavallisen valkoisen naisen näköinen vaan meksikolaisen blondin näköinen, joista nainen laittoi myös muutaman esimerkin, jotka poimin tuohon ylös näytille.

To become a golden-hair blonde, and pass as a real one.

ad the overall brightening and all that

my skin is too tanned to be a realistic blonde, but I would look like a fake blonde otherwise.

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And I like thinking I am pure blooded too, I have a lot of family members who mixed with white blood, and they come out looking 90% white. But I don't want that look....

I want a Mexican look. And I want to be a blonde, since men do like blondes like it was a fetish. But then I don't want to be a cheap-looking blonde, or absolutely fake one. Nor the average Jane Smith blonde that most white women have.

I want to be a Mexican-blonde.

Alla sitten kerrotaan kuinka haluaisi omata paremman tasaisen näköisen ihon, jollainen hänellä oli pienempänä. Näin se tietenkin on, että ikääntyessä tai muista syistä johtuen ihonväri voi muuttua epätasaiseksi ja tummemmaksi verrattuna lapsuuteen, joten jos kerta ihmiset tykkäävät tasaisen vaaleasta ihonväristä voidaan sellainen saada takaisin ihonväriä vaalentamalla.

I have a skin condition that really messed up my skin from when I was a child, and now Its getting better and clear, its been my goal for years to have smooth, even, clear skin. Its not really my dream, but my goals and aspirations for myself is to have nice skin and returning back to my original colour from when i was a young child.

Alla halutaan omata samanlainen ihonväri kuin siskolla, ettei tarvitse selitellä syitä tummemmalle ihonvärille.

i wanna be able to say my sister is really my sister without haveing to look at my colour

Tämäkin nainen haluaa omata samanlaisen ihonvärin kuin muilla vaaleaihoisilla perheenjäsenillä, mutta kertoo samalla kuinka mustien keskuudessa vaaleaihoisia suositaan, joka näkyy musiikkivideoissa.

also within the Black community 'yellow bones - red bones' are soo much more desired now a days.. always being featured in music videos and being treated soo much better than darker tonned females.. idont care if some people wanna defend that but its the truth. its ignorant but true =/

Hän haluaa samanlaisen ihonvärin kuin lapsuudessaan, joka sopii paremmin hiusten kanssa.

My reason for using lightening agents is to get as light as I was as a child...and because it goes with my hair color (golden blonde) and it looks better on me than having a tan.

Tämän naisen mielestä ruskettunut ihonsa ei näytä terveeltä verrattuna ihonväriin, jonka on hankkimassa ihonvärin vaalentamisella.

My tanned skin does not look as healthy as the new skin that is being revealed.

Tällä naisella on ongelmana ihonvärin erilaisuus, jonka haluaa saada samanlaiseksi. Tämä on tietääkseni yleinen ongelma monilla mustilla naisilla, että ihonväri vaihtelee ja on muutenkin kaikenlaisia tummia ja vaaleita läiskiä.

My skin has way too many colors and all I want is one solid color from head to toe. My goal color is caramel, certain parts of my body are already that color (or around it) like my chest, arms (when I don't tan), my hands, and my face sometimes. I have darker knees and elbows...all in all I just want to be the same color from head to toe.

Alla oleva kertoo näyttävänsä paremmalta vaaleampana, mutta on myös havainnut miesten tällöin kohtelevan häntä paremmin.

I honestly think I just look better when Im lighter. Also, (this is going to sound horrible) but when I'm lighter, I have more confidence and people (ESPECIALLY men) are nicer to me. At first I thought I was imagining this, but sadly Im not. Keep in mind, this ISNT why I am lightening my skin, just something I have noticed.

Meksikolainen kertoo kuinka perheessään suositaan vaaleampia ja ei ruskeat silmät omaavia.

Although I'm a naturally olive skinned Mexican-American who comes from a mostly olive skinned family I have a number of relatives with light skin and hair and a few with light skin, hair, and eyes. I've spoken to other olive-skinned Mexicans and we all agree that our lighter relatives are always sort of "ooed" and "aaaed" by our families. They are called endearing Spanish terms like "wedita" or "blanquita" which means little white one. Yet no one talks about the skin tones of the darker people in the family, and if you get a tan no one thinks it looks good, they don't comment on it. So basically, because I come from a culture that prefers white skin I can't help but want to attain it.

Tässä kerrotaan karusti kuinka miehet suosivat vaaleampia naisia, eikä hän tykkää sanonnasta kuinka olisi kaunis mustaksi naiseksi vaan haluaa olla vain kaunis.

so i can be pretty not pretty for a dark skin girl.....
i sit back every day, and watch all my friends (im the darkest one, all of them light)
they treat men like ****, use them for money, they treat them like ****. but becuase there light these men try harder and harder to please them. will do any thing to keep them... this girls have no education and work dead end jobs. but they have all the men literally kissing thier feet. im in medical school and have high honors, but a half way okay guy wont look my way, if i ask them why they all say the same thing
"your cute but im not into dark skin girls"

Tämä latino nainen kertoo kuinka isänsä kertoi jo pienestä lähtien, että seurustele vain vaaleaihoisten kanssa. Tästä huolimatta nainen toi kerran näytille vähän tummemman miehen, jonka takia isä sai melkein sydänkohtauksen.

This is very very true in many Latin families (including mine). We are all pretty much light skin with green or hazel eyes, but the ones that came out with blue eyes are everyones favorites! My father, ever since I was a little girl, told me I had to date someone my color or lighter. I once brought home a boyfriend who had dark skin and he almost had a heart attack, said I could never see him again.

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Alta löytyy uusi dokumentti, jossa aiheena ovat vaaleaihoiset tai eurokeskiset afroamerikkalaiset, jotka nähtävästi voivat kokea syrjintää mustien keskuudessa, koska eivät näytä aidosti mustilta. Sitä voisi äkkiseltään ajatella osaltaan vanhan yhden pisaran säännön takia mustien näkevän kaikki vähänkin afrikkalaisen ulkonäön omaavat mustina, mutta näin ei aina ole tutkimusten mukaan.

Vaikka tutkimuksissa on kerrottu vaaleaihoisilla tai eurokeskisillä mustilla naisilla olevan paremmin asiat koskien varsinkin parisuhteita, koska mustat miehet tykkäävät enemmän näistä naisista kuin aidommista mustista naisista voi tämä olla sitten yksi syy, miksi esim. eurokeskisempi musta nainen voi joutua kiusaamisen kohteeksi mustien naisten taholta, koska ovat vaikka kateellisia naiselle, joka mahdollisesti saa paljonkin huomiota miehiltä.

Dokumentti tullaan esittämään Oprah Winfrey Network tv-kanavalla ensi vuonna, että silloin tiedetään paremmin tästä mustien keskuudessa esiintyvästä colorismista vaikka siitä voi myös lukea tutkimuksista. Muutenkin näitä mustien omia tv-kanavia pitäisi tutkia, mutta sen vähän perusteella, kun katselin näytti ulkonäkö monilla mustilla naisilla olevan sanotaanko eurokeskinen, joka näkyi esim. suorissa hiuksissa vaikka mustilla naisilla on yleisemmin afrotukka.

Light Girls Documentary

Google Scholar:sta muutamia poimintoja tältä vuodelta hakusanoilla colorism ja light skin.

No dark skin girls allowed. (18 May 2014, 22:49) Light skin girls will fart in a place and we’d suspect the dark skin girls …. (16 May 2014, 17:26)

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Phenotyping the system of prejudice and discrimination, which gives preference to European physical characteristics and devalues those of Amerindians, Africans, and Asians, affects the lives of many Latinos in the United States. This study examines the impact of phenotyping on academic and employment outcomes among Latino adolescents/young adults. Outcomes examined include the odds of graduating from high school, finding full-time employment after completing high school, and attending college. Socioeconomic status (measured at individual and school levels), family structure, quality of parent–child relationships, immigrant generational status, and other measures are included as controls. Multilevel modeling and logistic regression are utilized as analytical tools. Results indicate that, among Latinos, light skin and blue eyes are associated with better academic outcomes than having dark skin and brown eyes, while those with darker skin enter the labor market earlier than their light-skinned co-ethnics.

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This study was designed to examine how skin tone discrimination affects African American women. The phenomenon of colorism is not exclusive to African American women, but the manifestations on this group are diverse, and the effects are unique. Previous research has shown that the experience of colorism is pervasive within the Black community and that most African American women have been, either culturally or personally, affected by intra-racial discrimination. This body of work used a focus group to investigate the experiences of African American women who were categorized according to their self ascribed skin tone group. It specifically explored skin tone bias as a three-tiered variable in terms of intra-racial dynamics, including light, brown, and dark skinned women. The experiences of these women were coded into broader themes that depict the experiences of African American women as a function of their skin tone. The findings suggest that women of different hues have unique experiences based on their skin tone, and that these experiences influence how they feel about themselves, and how they interact with others. This research should inform the clinical work of future clinicians engaging with this population. It will hopefully stimulate critical discussions within academic forums that would promote further research and better understanding of this group's dynamics.

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Over the last decade, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has seen a significant increase in the number of discrimination claims based on skin shade. However, in some ways, substantiating colorism has proven to be more difficult than documenting racism, as skin tone data are rarely collected and few existing skin tone measures have been validated. The present study examines an increasingly popular skin tone scale that includes a professionally designed color guide to enhance rater consistency. Logistic regression analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and General Social Survey indicates that despite the addition of the color guide, the race of the interviewer matters for the assessment of respondent skin tone. On average, African American respondents with a white interviewer were about 3 times more likely to be classified as dark than those with an African American interviewer. We argue that failing to appropriately account for this race-of-interviewer effect can significantly impact colorism findings.

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Black women today still struggle with self-esteem due to the perpetuation of lighter skin and long hair continuously used as the representation of the collective Black women of our community. This is reflected among popular Black women such as Nicki Minaj, Tyra Banks and even Beyoncé who have lightened their skin tone and lightened and straightened their hair to fit a more favorable perception of Black women, which young Black girls idealize.

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Elämä barbie maailmassa - Intia, Nigeria ja Thaimaa

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Valikon kautta pääsee lukemaan paljonkin sekalaisia kirjoituksia, joita pitäisi korjailla tai muokata, mutta lukemaan myös mielenkiintoisia lainauksia tutkimuksista. Olen usein poiminut tutkimuksista yhden mielenkiintoisen kohdan, jonka takia tutkimukseen on jäänyt paljonkin mielenkiintoista tietoa, joista kylläkin osa on toistoa muista tutkimuksista koskien vaikka ihonväriä ja siitä aiheutuvia ongelmia.

Olin nähtävästi poiminut Living in a Barbie World: Skin Bleaching and the Preference for Fair Skin in India, Nigeria, and Thailand tutkimuksesta kohdan koskien Thaimaassa valittua eurasialaista missiä, jonka tutkija sanoo olevan ulkonäöltään kuin italialainen. Tämän naisen tapauksessa on nähtävästi tullut aika eurokeskinen ulkonäkö vaikka muutoin eurasialaiset ovat eurooppalaisen silmissä usein aika aasialaisen näköisiä ellei sitten osaa paremmin tunnistaa, jos vaikka on perehtynyt aasialaisten ulkonäköön, mutta toisaalta tunnistamista osaltaan vaikeuttavat Aasiassa ilmenevät kauneusleikkaukset, että osa aidoista itäaasialaisista voi näyttää eurasialaiselta.

The connection between whiteness, wealth, and modernity is reinforced through Thailand’s beauty pageants. Thailand’s Miss Universe contestants, ostensibly representing the most beautiful and refined that the country has to offer, manifest how Western and Northeast Asian beauty standards of fair skin and wide eyes have been diffused into Thailand’s national image of beauty. For example, with large eyes, high cheekbones, and fair skin with a pink undertone, Thailand’s 2012 Miss Universe contestant could easily be mistaken for Italian.

How half-white, biracial Thais fit into this colorist hierarchy has evolved somewhat over time. Independent researcher Walter Persaud writes that, until around the mid-1990s, Eurasian identity was considered undesirable and sometimes taboo, as half-white Thais were considered potentially illegitimate children of American soldiers on break from Vietnam. Today, however, “‘in the globalized epoch of diasporic nationalism, Eurasians have acquired a privileged place in Thailand, especially in the worlds of advertising and entertainment where Thai notions of beauty are being transformed,’” such that a half-White identity is not only accepted, but is in demand.

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Olen nyt poiminut tutkimuksesta lisää mielenkiintoisia kohtia vaikka valinta ei aina ole helppoa, jonka takia linkin kautta voi siirtyä suoraan lukemaan tutkimusta. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan myös kahta maata, jotka tilastojen perusteella koskettavat monia suomalaisia perheitä, koska suomalaiset naiset pariutuvat paljonkin suurikokoisten nigerialaisten miesten kanssa ja suomalaiset miehet pariutuvat paljonkin pienten thainaisten kanssa.

Ylle poimin videon, jossa mainostetaan thaimaalaista Cute Press tuotetta, joka suojaa auringolta ja vaalentaa ihonväriä. Tuotemerkki mainittiin tutkimuksessa, mutta tässä voidaan taas nähdä erikoinen tilanne kuinka moni eurooppalainen nainen haluaa ruskettaa ja vanhentaa ihoaan auringossa, mutta Thaimaassa osaltaan median takia on enemmän muodissa vaalea ihonväri.

Tämä pitkä tutkimus pitäisi lukea uudelleen, mutta siinä tuodaan esille kuinka kolonialismilla on ollut vaikutusta, että valkoiset ovat olleet hierarkiassa ylempiä. Tässä ei ole sinänsä mitään uutta, mutta sitten kerrotaan myös kuinka vaaleammasta ihonväristä oltaisiin tykätty jo ennen länsimaalaisten tuloa varsinkin eliittiin kuuluvien keskuudessa. Kuitenkin lopulta tällä hetkellä medialla on suuri vaikutus kuinka varsinkin Thaimaassa ja Intiassa lehdet ovat yleisesti täynnä enemmän eurooppalaisen näköisiä naisia varsinkin ihonvärin osalta.

Onhan tämä valitettavaa, että median pitäisi varsinkin tuoda esille erilaista kauneutta, eikä suosia eurasialaisia tai muita vaaleampia, mutta karu tosi asia voi lopulta olla siinä, että ihmiset näkevät yleisemmin vaaleamman ihonvärin kauniina naisella vaikka eihän ihonväri lopulta tee kaunista vaan myös esim. kasvonpiirteet.

Ulkonäön osalta näyttää myös olevan sillä tavalla, että sattumoisin tutkijoiden näkökulmasta katsottuna enemmän eurokeskinen ulkonäkö miellyttää ihmisiä varsinkin nykypäivänä, kun ihmiset voivat paremmin verrata eri etnisten ryhmien ulkonäköä. Valitettavasti eivät ihmiset yleisesti pysty näkemään alkukantaisilta tai maskuliinisilta vaikuttavaa ulkonäköä kauniina naisella, jos ajatellaan vaikka Australian alkuasukkaita. Tämä on valitettavaa, mutta lopulta on tärkeintä, että alkuasukas miehet osaavat arvostaa naistensa ulkonäköä vaikkei kansainvälisissä missikilpailuissa naisille koskaan voittoa tulisi.

In recent years, Mattel’s signature product Barbie has expanded internationally, and is now sold in over 150 countries. Of course, the Barbie phenomenon is just one representation of the U.S.’ growing cultural and media influence around the world. While globalization certainly has its benefits, it also poses serious concerns. The self-image of Americans – women in particular – has arguably been compromised by U.S. popular culture’s unapologetically narrow image of beauty. What happens when that same image is exported to every corner of the globe? Specifically, what happens when a Eurocentric beauty standard of fairness, slenderness, narrow noses, and wide eyes is commercialized in the non-white, non-Western world?

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Seoul, one in five women has undergone cosmetic surgery. The majority of such surgeries are for eyelid lifts, with the goal of widening the eye to achieve a less Asian, more European look.

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Skin bleaching, also referred to as whitening or lightening, involves breaking down the top layer of skin with active ingredients such as hydroquinone, mercury, and corticosteroids to lighten the skin or impede the production of melanin. Globally, the skin lightening industry is expected to reach $10 billion by 2015. The largest market for skin lightening is in Asia, with African and Latin American countries also consuming high levels of skin bleach products.

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Some researchers assert that this global fascination with light skin already existed in many non-Western societies long before the existence of Western media, and before the beginning of the colonial era. Many point to the correlation of indoor labor with light skin and class privilege as a source of colorism around the world. This, as well as colorist undertones in India’s caste system or Nigeria’s pre-modern marriage rituals or Thailand’s traditional oral tales all suggest that the preference for fair skin may have long predated Western interference.

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A cursory glance at America’s celebrities of color conveys that colorism has survived into the 21st century and impacts who is considered beautiful in American society. On the 2011 Internet Movie Database (IMDb) list of the top 100 most beautiful female celebrities, celebrities of color included Halle Berry, Beyonce Knowles, Eva Longoria, Shakira, and Qi Shu. All the women listed possess relatively similar features – straight, long hair, thin noses, wide eyes, high cheekbones, and slim frames. The nonwhite women listed were notably lighter skin and had more European features than the average woman of their races.

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Indeed, female beauty is becoming an increasingly standardized quality throughout the world. A standard so strikingly white, Western, and wealthy it is tempting to conclude there must be a conspiracy afoot” ~ Wendy Chapkis

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Skin bleach companies often market their products as rejuvenating one’s “natural” fairness that the consumer had as an infant before the skin was “damaged” by the sun and the wear of everyday life.

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A 2002 study of adolescents in the northern province of Chaing Mai illustrates how modernity, popular culture, and white skin become conflated for many Thai youth. The study illustrates,

The girls often admired the beauty of the models and the fashions in the magazine . . . These models have westernized features or are Eurasian rather than Thai and the magazines included articles extolling the virtues of “corrective surgery,” skin lightening creams, and so on.

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A 2010 study found that young women in all four regions of the country marked a “shapely” figure as the most important physical characteristic, followed by having “bright face skin” and “white-pink skin.” This prioritization placed on “bright,” white skin was most emphasized in the southern region of Thailand, where women tend to have darker brown skin tones than those in the northern region and presumably perceive themselves as further from the beauty standard than lighter women of the North. Thus, this colorist hierarchy seems to be replicated on a local level between northern and southern Thai women. Additionally, the study found that Thai women associate white skin not just with beauty, but also with “high social status, selfconfidence, modernity, and better job opportunities. The perceived psychological and economic benefits of fair skin suggest that Thai women are noticing a system of colorist privilege that extends beyond simply who is considered attractive.

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The image of white-skinned Asians dominates advertisements in Thailand and contrasts sharply with the darker tanned skin of most Thai citizens. Like most advertisements in Thailand, ads for skin-lightening products typically feature “Asian women with glowing white skin, jet-black hair, and delicate, almond-shaped obsidian eyes.” Sociologist Evelyn Nakano Glenn notes that “the message in these ads is clear: It’s okay to be Asian as long as you’re the right kind of Asian.” In other words, while White Westerners are not the dominant face of beauty in Thailand, white skinned Northeast Asian and Eurasian women still reinforce the “white is right” complex that is common in much of Asia.

With the advertising industry’s fair-skinned image of female beauty comes a booming skin lightening industry in Thailand. By 2004, whitening lotions accounted for 60% of Thailand’s 1.6 billion dollar (Bt 47.2 billion) skin care market. Today, an estimated 58% of women in Thailand between the ages of 18-64 use skin-lightening products. Alongside multinational corporations, home-based manufacturers and local Thai companies are competing for a share of the skin bleach market. National brands include Oriental Princess’ “Advanced Whitening Complex” and Thailand’s largest cosmetic producer, Cute Press, which advertises its “White Beauty Body Lotion.”

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Of the nine 14-18 year old boys interviewed, 7 stated that they would rather marry a girl with a light complexion. One stated, “Darker girls I don’t like because it’s not, like, good. In India, nobody like dark colors. Because we are dark colors. We are also dark so we want only light. White and dark? Only light!” He went on to express the gendered expectations behind skin complexion, asserting, “Black for boys, white for girls.”

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Dark-skinned female infants are at a disproportionately high risk of infanticide, because their families know that these infants will one day require higher dowries. As described above, dark skin on an infant functions as a financial liability for the family. Brown baby boys are less at risk for infanticide, partly because “a darkskinned son is not so much of a liability to a middle-class family as a dark-skinned daughter, for he can easily acquire other socially desirable qualities.” In short, being both female and dark-skinned poses a doubly high financial burden for a family, and puts one at increased risk of infanticide.

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By 2000, there were over 30 fairness creams available to Indian consumers. One study found that more skin lightening products are sold in India than Coca-Cola. India’s 200 million dollar skin lightening industry is dominated by the British owned skin bleach company Fair & Lovely, which is infamous for its advertising strategies that overtly equate fair skin with self-worth, family pride, happiness, and life opportunity. One such television advertisement sets the following scene:

A young Indian woman and her father humbly walk into the Modern Beauty Company. The fair-complexioned female employee scoffs at the young woman for her brown skin. Her father returns home and concocts a fairness cream from all natural ingredients. After applying the cream and achieving flawless white skin, the woman strides back into the Modern Beauty Company with full confidence and is admired by the woman who had mocked her. A white male authority figure at the company gasps at her newfound beauty. Immediately after, she is shown elatedly strolling off of a plane and being met by paparazzi clamoring to photograph her. The commercial concludes with her proud father stroking her now-beautiful, white face that has brought the family success and happiness.

The commercial’s message is clear: fair skin will bring an otherwise average Indian girl fame, success, confidence, and the admiration of white men. Fair & Lovely claims that its products whiten skin dramatically in only 6 weeks, and whether this is factual or not, it appears that women around the world are buying that message. Fair & Lovely is marketed in 40 countries and claims a customer base of a whopping 27 million worldwide.

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Similar to Thailand and Nigeria, India’s celebrities and beauty pageant contestants provide an additional illustration of how colorism is manifested. Bollywood star and 1994 winner of the Miss World pageant Aishwarya Rai is often referred to as the World’s Most Beautiful Woman. With hazel-blue eyes, fair skin, brown hair, plump lips, and a slender frame, Rai provides an image of beauty for millions of South Asian women to look up to, yet she bears little resemblance to their natural phenotypes. Though achieving Rai’s European-esque physique is virtually impossible for the majority of Indian women, many try in vain to reach it, spending valuable portions of their incomes on beauty parlor visits and lightening creams.

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Advertisements for skin bleaching in SSA have adopted less overtly racist marketing strategies over time, yet the message remains the same: “lighter is better.” The early 1900s saw classic colonial-era advertisements for Pears Soap depicting benevolent white people cleaning dirty and savage black Africans.

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In a study of female secondary school students in Ibadan, Nigeria, Durosaro found that the girls perceived skin whitening as a route towards achieving a range of social and economic benefits. In addition to enticing men romantically, they believed bleach products would enable them to “enter into connection with high calibers, attain high social standard, become more successful in life, look fashionable, express positive self-concept and be able to compete well with their male counterparts.” Whether real or imagined, the perceived benefits of fair skin expand far beyond one’s appearance.

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Like in Thailand and India, colorism is reflected in the overrepresentation of light-complexioned models, actresses, and beauty pageant winners that Nigerians are exposed to. One does not need to look far to see that “women with lighter complexions are more often used to advertise a wide range of products including alcoholic beverages, toiletries, cosmetics, and clothing.” Famous Nigerian models and celebrities include Munachi Abii, Tonto Dikeh, and Omotola Jalade, all of whom have markedly lighter skin than average Nigerian women. Slightly darker celebrities such as Genevieve Nnaji, the face of Lux Soap, and singer Tiwa Savage provide skin tone diversity in the circle of famous Nigerian women, yet all have straightened hair or weave extensions, reinforcing a Eurocentric image of African beauty.

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Darego’s light caramel skin, straight hair, slim figure, and thin nose sparked debate in Nigeria regarding the possibility of national beauty standards being confronted with quite different international standards. Should Nigeria succumb to the West’s international definition of beauty in the spirit of global integration, or work to ensure that the next generation continues to value Nigerian women’s natural beauty?

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Whereas the Indians I interviewed openly admitted personal and societal preferences for fair skin, many Nigerian youth I corresponded with were hesitant to discuss Nigeria’s colorism and skin-lightening practices. One insisted that she personally had no color preference and that Nigerian society shows no real preference to fair skin. However, she also stated that lighterskinned women do receive social benefits and that she doesn’t mind that fair skin is considered more beautiful, because she believes that, 9 times out of 10, lighter women genuinely are more attractive.

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One common counterargument to the assertion that international beauty standards privilege lighter skin is the idea of tanning. Those who subscribe to this argument assert that there is no global bias towards whiteness. Rather, humans simply admire what they lack. After all, white women tan to darken their skin, just as women of color around the world lighten theirs. However, it is important to note that when white women achieve a real or artificial tan, they are not trying to change the way they are perceived racially. Hunter notes that the goal of tanning is “not to look half black or half Mexican. It is to look white with a tan.” Conversely, “Many women of color are trying to alter the way they’re perceived racially, such that people think, ‘maybe she’s half-white.’” White women can tan and still maintain the privileges attached to appearing white, while women of color often alter their bodies with the goal of buying themselves some of those same privileges.

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In April 2012, a British television show competition named 18-year-old Florence Colgate the most beautiful woman in Britain. Fair-skinned, blonde, blue-eyed Colgate has appeared on Good Morning America and in a variety of other media outlets that tout her as the scientific physical ideal. While her 2:1 facial symmetry may naturally appeal to humans across national borders, many around the world have also been socially primed to consider Colgate’s appearance beautiful. Scientific symmetry is only one factor influencing Western society’s perceptions of attractiveness. The media industry, and advertising in particular, wields enormous power over what many are taught to associate with the word “beauty” from a young age.

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The bodies deemed most worthy for emulation in 20th century America looked much like Marilyn Monroe: blonde hair, blue eyes, a slim nose, and unmistakably of European descent.

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Baumann reviewed 1,508 American advertisements and found that they prioritized fairness as an important factor in female beauty, across racial categories. He notes that American culture associates moral values with lightness and darkness, which has important implications for that which is considered beautiful. He writes,

Associations with whiteness or lightness include youth, innocence, purity, virginity, vulnerability, and delicacy. Associations with blackness or darkness include threat, aggression, virility, mystery, villainy, and danger. Lightness and darkness together compose a stable, clear, and well-known cultural dichotomy.

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Baumann quotes, “In Western Caucasian society, there seems to be a popular image of beautiful women as having a fair complexion, light eye color, and light hair color, in contrast to an ideal image of men as having darker features…. We have the ‘fair maiden,’ and the ‘tall, dark, and handsome’ gentleman.”

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How does this cultural bias towards female fairness effect American’s hair color preferences? Researchers Melissa Rich and Thomas Cash conducted a study of American media and the preference for blonde hair on women. Based on their sample, around 26.8% of white American women are blonde. Contrast this with the fact that 41% of women in Playboy magazine centerfolds are blonde. This overrepresentation of blondes in a popular men’s magazine suggests that blonde women serve as a sexual icon in American culture. Additionally, the image of blonde beauty seems to impact how women view themselves individually. Rich and Cash cite a 1992 study that found that while “22% of women sampled were natural blondes, 39% reported that they wished to be blonde.” Moreover, 84% of women in the sample “believed that men preferred blonde women. In reality, however, only 35% of the men preferred blonde women.”

Even Beyonce, named People Magazine’s most beautiful woman of 2012, has gradually transitioned from a dark brown hair color to blonde over the years, and her skin is occasionally lightened in advertisements through Photoshop. With this fixation on blonde hair, it seems that American women have internalized the idea that being blonde comes with disproportionately high social capital.

In short, there exists a social premium on light skin across races and on lightcolored hair. In part, this premium is a manifestation of white privilege. Regardless of one’s race, being closer to looking white accrues privileges tied to being white.

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But what about models and actresses of color, who are also represented in American advertisements? As noted in Chapter 1, popular American celebrities of color such as Zoe Saldana or Eva Longoria are not white, yet reflect physical traits that are widely associated with whiteness. Asian female celebrities often have relatively wide eyes, while their black counterparts have atypically thin noses and straight hair. The vast majority of brown and black female celebrities have noticeably lighter skin tones than the average women of their races. Margaret Hunter calls this phenomenon of including lightskinned women of color in advertisements an “illusion of inclusion.” The same essential model of beauty is being promoted, yet industries can congratulate themselves on diversifying their ad campaigns.

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Perhaps unexpected is the fact that magazines marketed to African-Americans, such as Jet, Ebony, and Essence, uphold this same “illusion of inclusion.” Of 96 Ebony covers from 2000-2008, 73 prominently feature black women, yet the women on 67 of those covers reflect a European image of beauty: straightened hair, light brown skin, thin noses, and large eyes. These magazines targeted to black consumers in the U.S. are important to analyze because they too are a form of Western media that has gone global, circulated in urban areas of SSA and the Caribbean.

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Western advertisements in Thailand that promoted fashion and beauty products in particular were most likely to employ globalized appeals, using Caucasian models, English wording, and Western aesthetic ideals. The popular women’s magazine Cosmopolitan, for example, publishes international editions around the world, and has published 29 monthly magazines tailored to Thailand over the past three years. On the covers of those 29 magazines, 23 of the women are racially white (or white-appearing), one is a light-complexioned black woman, and three are Asian. Of the Asian women, two reflected a European standard of beauty: rosy cheeks, pale white skin, wide eyes, and dyed brown hair. Of all 29 covers of Cosmopolitan’s recent Thai publications, not one model on the cover looked ethnically Thai.

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In “Melanin on the Margins: Advertising and the Cultural Politics of Fair/Light/White Beauty in India,” Parameswaran and Cardoza describe,

Almost all magazine and television advertisements produced in India feature light-skinned models. On browsing the pages of the dozen national and global glossy women’s magazines that target middle-class Indian consumers, even a casual reader would learn quickly that light skin color and flawless skin devoid of pores and blemishes define ideal feminine beauty.

Like in local magazine advertisements, the covers of Cosmopolitan’s Indian edition typically display Indian models and Bollywood actresses, though many appear to be racially white at first glance. All have long black or brown hair, fair, lightly tanned skin, slim figures, angular facial features, slim noses, plump lips, and high cheekbones.

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A 1986 study of the Human Relations Area Files concluded, “Of 51 ethnically diverse societies for which such information is available, ‘47 state a preference for the lighter end for the locally represented spectrum, though not necessarily for the lightest possible skin colors.’” How could it be that, of such diverse societies around the world, the vast majority demonstrate a preference for relatively fair skin tones?

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Colonialism in Nigeria lasted from 1900-1960. The British “came to northern Nigeria desirous of identifying and collaborating with a group of rulers representing a cultural and political entity that they deemed ‘civilized’ and sophisticated enough to be partners in the colonial project.” In the North, colonial administrators showed political preference to the Hausa Fulani, who they considered "members of a higher race distinct from the indigenous Negroid peasant population,” largely due to their slim, tall builds, fair skin, and finely arched noses.

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The vast majority of Bollywood actresses throughout the 20th century have reflected a relatively narrow image of beauty: bright (often hazel) eyes, fair skin, and long (often brown rather than black) hair. Since their inception in the 1950s, Indian beauty pageants, such as Femina Miss India and Miss India South, have reflected a similar standard of beauty. Even in Tamil Nadu – the southern state with some of India’s darkest skin tones, where I conducted my research – the winners of Miss Tamil Nadu and Miss Chennai (the state’s capital) have medium to fair skin on average.

In reviewing a variety of Indian magazines – included Femina (1959), New Woman (1996), and Outlook (1995) – I found the same homogeneity in the physiques of women portrayed: fair skin, bright eyes, long hair, and narrow frames. In popular culture magazines, women with medium and dark skin tones are generally only found in rare lifestyle articles about poverty, natural disasters, or village life.

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While many Nigerian actresses and magazine models are lighter-than-average, there is significantly more skin tone diversity in Nigerian media than that of India. Dark and medium skin tones are surprisingly represented in publications like Drum magazine’s Nigeria edition and fashion magazines like Bella Naija marketed to Nigeria’s middle class. However, while color diversity does exist, medium to light skin tones are still disproportionately represented in Nigerian media, particularly in music videos of popular rappers like P Square and D’Banj.

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Thailand’s contemporary image of female beauty and its validation of Eurocentric ideals can be observed in the country’s domestic fashion magazines. In 1954, Thai publishing giant Sri Siam Printing Press was founded, and now circulates popular women’s magazines, including Kwanruen Magazine (1968), Fashion Review (1982), and Fashion Bangkok Show (2003). The ubiquitous magazine image of pale white skin, wide eyes, a thin figure, and dyed brown hair noticeably contrasts with the phenotypes of everyday Thai citizens.

[...]

Clearly, there existed some degree of bias towards fair skin in each case study long before the rise of Western media. However, this hypothesis argues that contemporary Western media is the force that took preexisting colorism and made it an overwhelming bias, to the point where 58%, 61%, and 77% of women in Thailand, India, and Nigeria respectively are enticed to use skin lightening products. After having studied the global skin-lightening phenomenon, Evelyn Nakano Glenn advocates this hypothesis. She writes,

This recent rise in the use of skin lighteners cannot be seen as simply a legacy of colonialism but rather is a consequence of the penetration of multinational capital and Western consumer culture. The practice therefore is likely to continue to increase as the influence of these forces grows.

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According to Asia Pacific specialist Otto von Feigenblatt, Thailand’s standard of beauty for women before the 1970s was “smooth light brown skin with a golden shine to it, about one meter sixty centimeters tall, strong small dark eyes, long dark straight hair, a small round nose, and a strong healthy complexion.”

[...]

By the 1980s and 1990s, South Korea and Japan, and later China, had developed thriving markets exporting their cultural products, largely to consumer nations like Thailand in Southeast Asia. As these Northeast Asian media exports grew in popularity, so did the images of beauty they propagated. Today, the new image of the “Korean pretty” - complete with porcelain white skin, wide eyes, and rosebud lips - is hugely popular in Thailand.

[...]

While contemporary foreign media appears to be the primary driving force behind colorism only in Thailand, its impact on Nigeria and India is still significant. In all three countries, Western media has intensified an important dimension of colorism. To be urban, English-speaking, light-skinned, and global is now collapsed into a singular image of progress and prosperity. As this image is propagated on billboards, television screens, and in the words of aunts and uncles, the drive for young women in the developing world to achieve this ideal of beautiful, fair modernity is increasing. In truth, we in 2013 are likely only beginning to see the impact that Western (and Northeast Asian) media will have on the preference for fair skin globally.

[...]

In truth, this perception that light skin translates into economic advantage has much validity. With a global Gini coefficient of .893,263 the world’s distribution of wealth cleanly falls along racial lines. According to the 2007 World Distribution of Household Wealth survey, North America and Europe alone own 64% of global wealth and the developed Asia-Pacific countries (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand) own 24%. 264 India holds .9% of global wealth, Thailand .2%, and all of Africa a shockingly low 1%. For women in the developing world observing this regional distribution of global wealth, it is difficult to ignore the uncanny association of whiteness with class privilege.

[...]

I write this thesis because I would rather my daughter not grow up in a world where she’ll be taught, as I was, to equate “lighter” with “better.” I write this thesis because I fear that this is just the beginning. As capitalist consumerism imbeds itself more deeply in traditional societies around the world, as popular media and the global wealth gap continue to privilege fair skin, the beauty hierarchy may become further entrenched.

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It is commonly believed by social scientists and lay public alike that the media impose arbitrary images of ideal female beauty on girls and women in our society, and force them to aspire to these artificial and arbitrary standards. Nothing could be further from the truth.

According to this claim, girls and women want to look like supermodels or actresses or pop idols because they are bombarded with images of these women. By implication, according to this view, girls and women will cease to want to look like them if the media would cease inundating them with such images, or else change the arbitrary standards of female beauty. This view has been promoted, among many others, by the former model turned feminist social activist Jean Kilbourne in her documentary film series Killing Us Softly.

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Ihonvärin mahdollinen yhteys sukupuoleen

Antropologi Peter Frost:in blogista tuli vastaan uusin kirjoitus, jossa jälleen kerran on aiheena ihonväri. Peter on jo 80-luvulla julkaissut tutkimuksia seksuaalivalinnasta koskien ihon, silmien ja hiusten moninaista väriä varsinkin eurooppalaisissa.

Yltä löytyy mielenkiintoinen kuva kahdesta henkilöstä, joista vasemman ihmiset ovat nähneet naisena ja oikean miehenä. Todellisuudessa kyse on samasta henkilöstä, jonka ihonväriä on tummennettu oikeassa kuvassa.

Tässä ei pidä tehdä päätelmiä, että tumma ihonväri tekisi naisista yleisesti miehiä tai miehen näköisiä, koska eihän sukupuolen määrittely ainoastaan kasvoihin perustu ja ovathan myös eurooppalaiset miehet yleisesti vaaleaihoisia, mutta se ei tee miehistä naisen näköisiä.

Tästä huolimatta tutkimukset yleisesti osoittavat miesten yleismaailmallisesti näkevän useammin vaaleamman ihonvärin kauniina naisella. Yksi selitys tähän on mahdollisesti siinä, että estrogeeni tekee naisista vaaleamman ja punertavan sukupuolen, mutta toinen selitys on myös siinä, että ikääntyessä ihonväri tummenee, joten vaaleampi ja myös tasainen ihonväri näyttää nuorekkaalta ja terveeltä.

Skin color differs by sex: women are fairer and men browner and ruddier. Women also exhibit a greater contrast in luminosity between their facial skin and their lip and eye areas. These differences arise from differing concentrations of three skin pigments: melanin (brown); hemoglobin (red); and carotene (yellow).

[...]

Women are fairer than men in all human populations. The difference is greatest in people of medium color and least in very dark- or very fair-skinned people, apparently because of "floor" or "ceiling" effects (Frost, 2007).

[...]

Skin color also differs by age. It can be used to distinguish younger from older women, since the contrast in luminosity between facial skin and the lip/eye areas decreases with age (Porcheron et al., 2013). It can also be used to recognize infants. All humans are born with very little melanin, and the resulting pinkish-white skin is often remarked upon in different cultures.

This is especially so where adults are normally dark-skinned, in striking contrast to newborns. In Kenya, the latter are often called mzungu ('European' in Swahili), and a new mother may ask her neighbors to come and see her mzungu (Walentowitz, 2008). Among the Tuareg, children are said to be whitened by the freshness and moisture of the womb (Walentowitz, 2008). The situation in other African peoples is summarized by a French anthropologist: "There is a rather widespread concept in Black Africa, according to which human beings, before 'coming' into this world, dwell in heaven, where they are white. For, heaven itself is white and all the beings dwelling there are also white. Therefore the whiter a child is at birth, the more splendid it is" (Zahan, 1974, p. 385). A Belgian anthropologist makes the same point: "black is thus the color of maturity [...] White on the other hand is a sign of the before-life and the after-life: the African newborn is light-skinned and the color of mourning is white kaolin" (Maertens, 1978, p. 41).

[...]

The sex-specific aspects of skin color have influenced the development of cosmetics in many cultures. Even in ancient times, women would use makeup to increase the natural contrast in luminosity between their facial skin and their lip/eye areas (Russell, 2009; Russell, 2010). They would also make their naturally fair complexion even fairer by avoiding the sun and applying white powders or bleaching agents.

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Europeans, particularly northern and eastern Europeans, are unusually colored. Their hair can be not only black but also brown, flaxen, golden, or red, and their eyes not only brown but also blue, gray, hazel, or green. Their skin is pale, almost like an albino’s. This color scheme is more developed in women than in men and seems to have been selected for its visual properties, particularly brightness and novelty. Sexual selection is a likely cause. It favors eye-catching colors and, if strong enough, can produce a color polymorphism, i.e., whenever a visible feature becomes differently colored through mutation, the new color will spread through the population until it loses its novelty value and becomes as frequent as the original one.

Such selection is consistent with 1) the many alleles for European hair and eye color; 2) the high ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous variants; and 3) the relatively short time over which this color diversity developed. Sexual selection will target women if they outnumber men on the mate market. Among early modern humans, such imbalances resulted from 1) a low polygyny rate (because few men could provide for a second wife and her children) and 2) a high risk of early male death (because long hunting distances increased exposure to environmental hazards).

Sexual selection of women was stronger at latitudes farther from the equator, where men were less polygynous and more at risk of death while hunting. It was strongest on continental steppe-tundra, where men provided for almost all family food needs by pursuing herds of reindeer and other herbivores over long distances. Although this type of environment is now fragmentary, it covered until 10,000 years ago a much larger territory—the same area where, today, hair and eyes are diversely colored and skin almost milk white.

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Another dimorphic feature that may underpin part of the lower ratings for the female African faces (but increase those for male African faces) is that adult males on average have darker skin than females, and that this affects attractiveness judgments (van den Berghe and Frost, 1986; Lewis, 2011). Obviously skin color dimorphism alone is not the only factor that matters, or all of our participants would have rated European female faces as most attractive (which they did not always do), and European male faces as least attractive (which they never did), but this factor is likely to have interacted with other factors to produce the patterns we found. The ordering of the male preferences for mixed race faces tracks variation in skin color, such that the darker-skinned mixes are rated as less attractive than the lighter-skinned mixes, so perhaps this is a more important cue for males.

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Our findings confirm earlier studies insofar as facial pictures of ovulatory women were chosen significantly more often as being more attractive, healthy, sexy, sociable, trustworthy, young, and likeable than luteal faces. We could identify the shape changes that occur between the luteal and ovulatory state. The lower face is more robust in the luteal phase, the nose is broader, and the eyebrows are more pronounced. This corresponds to what have been described as masculine features in the literature (ROBERTS et al., 2004). In the ovulatory phase the lips are fuller and the whole face is less robust. Fuller lips and a fragile lower face have been previously associated with youthfulness and high levels of oestrogen (GRAMMER et al., 2003; SYMONS 1995). The increased redness of the face is probably due to higher peripheral blood circulation

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Afrokeskinen ulkonäkö ja ihonväri

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Alla olevassa tutkimuksessa kerrotaan paljonkin ihonväristä ja afrokeskisestä ulkonäöstä, joten valitsin noiden perusteella otsikon. Tässä tutkimuksessa, jota en muista ennen nähneeni vaikka siinä on paljon tuttua näyttää sisältävän valtavan paljon mielenkiintoista tietoa kuinka esim. Yhdysvalloissa mulateilla ja vaaleamman ihonvärin omaavilla on elämässä paremmin asiat, mutta muuallakin maailmassa on hyötyä vaaleammasta ja eurokeskisemmästä ulkonäöstä, kuten esim. Latinalaisessa Amerikassa.

Although formal racial classifications were developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the preference for white skin, blonde hair and European features is rooted in antiquity. Beginning with Greek sculptures of Aphrodite and Roman depictions of Venus, and into the European Renaissance, pale complexions, blue eyes, and flowing blonde hair have been the gold standard for feminine beauty. When Europeans colonized Asia, Africa, and the Americas, they imposed their standards of beauty on the indigenous groups and on the Africans they imported and enslaved. Today, the European norm for beauty and attractiveness is ubiquitous and constantly reinforced in movies, magazines, television programs, online and elsewhere. Young children assimilate these conceptions at an early age, and they remain embedded in their psyches as they mature into adults.

African-Americans, South Asians, Latin Americans, and other people of color have, for many generations, internalized this Eurocentric standard of attractiveness. Using hair straighteners and skin-lightening creams, they attempt to look white without consciously realizing they are doing so. The evidence indicates that in America, socioeconomic disparities resulting from colorism can be as severe as those traditionally attributed to racism. As America becomes a more multi-racial society, old fashioned “Jim Crow” racism has slowly diminished, while color bias persists.

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In The Skin Color Paradox and the American Racial Order, the authors used surveys to develop an empirical analysis that found:

[D]ark-skinned blacks have lower levels of education, income and job status. They are less likely to own homes or to marry; and dark-skinned blacks’ prison sentences are longer. Dark-skin discrimination occurs within as well as across races. Some evidence suggests, in fact, that intraracial disparities are as detrimental to a person’s life chances as are disparities traditionally associated with racial divisions. . . . With some exceptions, most Americans prefer lighter to darker skin aesthetically, normatively and culturally. Film-makers, novelists, advertisers, modeling agencies, matchmaking websites–all demonstrate how much the power of a fair complexion, along with straight hair and Eurocentric facial features, appeals to Americans.

[...]

Skin-lightening creams increased $432 million in sales in South Asia during the first nine months of 2008, and the industry expects to continue growing as the levels of urbanization and affordability augment their target populations by expanding the market for men in the following decade. However, this phenomenon is not limited to South Asia. An increasing number of East Asians are using their rising incomes to purchase skinlightening products. In Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan, four of every ten women use a whitening cream.98 And, as is the case elsewhere, the cosmetics industry is reaping enormous profits. In Hong Kong, pale Asian models dominate the flat-screens and multimedia billboards of public transit. They appear on the pages of glossy magazines and cinema advertisements promoting such products as Blanc Expert, White-Plus, White Light, Future White Day, Active White, and Snow UV. Skin lightening has a long history in Asia. In ancient

Colorism is also pervasive in Latin America. Unlike America’s “onedrop rule” in which any amount of African ancestry classifies an individual as Black, Latin America exhibits a more fluid classification system based on color gradations and appearance. Racial distinctions are based on phenotypes that focus more on physiognomy than ancestry. The flexibility in Latin America’s racial designation system is limited to those whose lighter complexions and European phenotypes allow them to distinguish themselves from darker-complexioned Blacks, since Blackness is subjectively perceived as an offensive racial category in the social hierarchy. In Latin America, individuals are valued by how closely their appearances, status, and progeny approach whiteness.

Mexico’s colonization illustrates how discrimination on the basis of color influenced the creation of a racialized hierarchy, which continues to affect the socioeconomic and political systems at present. Spanish colonizers imposed a stratified status system in Mexico where Whites were the elites and Native Mexicans the slaves. These groups intermingled creating a large population of mixed-race mestizos that resulted in the creation of a color hierarchy. Light-complexioned persons occupied the upper rungs of the social strata. The darkest persons were relegated to the lowest levels

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There is a conspicuous absence of dark-skinned Mexicans in telenovelas, commercials, and other forms of advertising, which are an inadequate representation of the country’s inhabitants. A study that examined the content of six Spanish-language telelenovelas and a drama on three Spanish language television networks in the United States (Telemundo, Univision, and Azteca America) found that “lighter skin characters were more likely to play major roles, were more fit and younger, and more likely to be upper class than their darker skin counterparts.” A promotion for Televisa’s popular program, “Destilando Amor” (Distilling Love), presents an example of how color status is portrayed. In one scene, an upscale woman with blonde hair sits at a dinner table expressing her displeasure with a family member for falling in love with a working-class woman. As the fair-skinned woman speaks, a servant with dark, indigenous features stands silently in the background.

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Despite the Brazilian efforts to project a racially neutral structure through what is known as a racial democracy, scholars have shown that a racial hierarchy composed of a graduated scale of color persists. The data shows that Afro-Brazilians are more economically, socially, and politically disadvantaged than their lighter-skinned counterparts.

Brazilian media also reinforces the social preference for Whites by portraying them as symbols of “beauty, happiness, and middle-class success.” The concept portrayed in television seems consistent with the perception of reality. As indicated by Patricia de Santana Pinho, “the power of whiteness is lived by everyone in Brazil, and it is always operating either in opening or closing doors of opportunity and achievement.”

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Puerto Ricans perceive that having lighter skin and European features increases an individual’s socioeconomic opportunities. Darker complexions and African features severely limit an individual’s economic and social mobility. According to Wendy D. Roth, medium skin tones confer upon people a certain amount of status compared to those further toward the dark end of the color spectrum.

Research suggests that being discriminated against on the basis of color produces feelings of shame and embarrassment. Many Latin American Blacks harbor internalized attitudes about color and phenotype. Skin color, nose width, lip thickness, and hair texture weigh heavily on the self-esteem of Afro-Latinos, since these are considered racial signifiers of denigrated African ancestry. The belief exists among some Latin Americans that color is something that can be controlled by utilizing whitening creams and to “‘improve the race’” of their children.

Marrying someone with a lighter complexion is referred to as adelantando la raza (improving the race) under the theory of blanqueamiento. The concept of blanqueamiento refers to ethnic, cultural, and racial “whitening.” It is an ideology and a social practice that places a higher value on White culture while implicitly devaluing non-White cultural norms. Blanqueamiento perpetuates a social hierarchy based on race by linking whiteness to status, wealth, power, modernity, and development, while implicitly associating blackness with a lack of cultural refinement, ambition, and civilization.

Despite the national ideologies of racial democracy, mestizaje, and racial blindness in Latin America, skin tone is a major marker of status and a form of symbolic capital. Light complexions and European features are highly valued; the darker, more African an individual appears, the lower that person is likely to be on the socioeconomic scale.


In America, skin color is an important signifier of beauty and social status. African-Americans’ preference for light complexions and European features dates back to the antebellum era when skin color determined an enslaved person’s work assignments. Dark-skinned slaves worked in the fields, while light-complexioned slaves worked in the slave owner’s home.

[...]

Colorism lives on. Today, African-American entertainers and actors are far more likely to have light coloring than dark complexions. With the exception of an occasional dark-skinned exotic, most Black models can easily pass the “paper bag” test, and many have racially ambiguous coloring and features. African-American news anchors and reporters rarely have dark complexions. Female entertainers, in particular, tend to have light skin and hair that is dyed blonde and made longer with hair extensions. Consider Halle Berry, Rihanna, and Alicia Keys. In her hit song, “Creole,” Beyoncé Knowles sings about her Creole heritage and being an attractive combination of “red bone” and “yellow bone” (terms that refer to light-skinned Black women).

Pop singer Fantasia Barrino rose to fame as the 2004 winner on the popular television show, American Idol. She was the object of a barrage of negative publicity surrounding her affair with a married man and the lawsuit his wife filed against her. Barinno attempted suicide and later told reporters that the media criticism was based on her dark skin and ethnic features. She said: “[w]hen I did [American] Idol, it seemed like everybody there was Barbied out. Slim, long hair, light eyes, lightskinned. And here I come with my dark skin, full nose, short hair and full lips—it was hard.” “Barbied out” referred to the appearance represented by the Barbie doll, one of the most successful toys of the twentieth century. Barbies are grown-up looking dolls that allow girls to reflect their personality and dreams in the roles imagined for them. Their appearance is an icon of female beauty and the American dream. The classic thin figure, blonde hair, and blue eyes reflect the Eurocentric ideal, a look that a dark-skinned person with African features could never achieve. Interestingly, when Barbies were introduced at the 1959 Toy Fair, blonde dolls outnumbered brunettes two to one.

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During the Renaissance (ca. 1300–1600), the aesthetics of the Classical period were revived. Botticelli’s Birth of Venus depicts the goddess emerging from the sea as a full-grown woman. Her cascading blonde hair accentuates her slender body and alabaster complexion. In another Botticelli, Venus and Mars, Venus lies opposite her lover Mars, god of war, who has fallen asleep apparently after making love to her. Her alertness, as the goddess of love, represents the triumph of love over war. Although it is believed that Simonetta Vespucci inspired the work of Boticelli, Venus was the expression of the artist’s ideal perception of beauty. During the Renaissance, realistic interpretation was avoided and positive attributes were highlighted. Venus has perfect skin, a high forehead, and a sharply defined chin. Her hair is strawberry blonde, she has delicate eyebrows, a strong nose, narrow mouth, and full lips. This idealized depiction shows the conception of perfect beauty that prevailed during the Italian Renaissance.

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Titian’s Venus with a Mirror and Tintoretto’s Leda and the Swan are examples of art that celebrate beauty in the “whiteness” of European women. Other Renaissance expressions of feminine beauty were along the same lines: Caucasian women with pale complexions and fine features.

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In Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks, Donald Bogle identified other stereotypes depicted in popular films. Toms were always loyal, never turning against their White masters or employers. Coons, in contrast, were irresponsible, lazy, and dishonest. The Mammy was depicted as outspoken, overweight, and cantankerous. The Black Buck was a large, fearsome, dark-skinned, and hyper-sexualized male. The Tragic Mulatto was a fair-skinned female attempting to pass for White. She was a sympathetic character confused by a divided racial heritage. More recently, the “Jezebel” was depicted as seductive, promiscuous, and predatory. Racial stereotypes were a staple of films, cartoons, comic books, and novels well into the 1960s.

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Colorism is a vestige of the colonial era when European countries invaded Africa, Asia, and the Americas and imposed their standards on the indigenous populations along with the Africans they imported and enslaved. Perhaps unconsciously, Michael Jackson and Sammy Sosa wanted to make themselves more physically attractive, which to them meant having a light complexion, European features, and straightened hair. Colorism is well documented in academic research but largely ignored by policymakers. It is as alive today as it was a century ago. Dark skinned African-Americans and other minorities do not have the same opportunities for advancement as those with light complexions. This form of discrimination is as injurious as invidious racism. Colorism is a combination of overt and unconscious discrimination that places a high value on light complexions and European features while devaluing dark skin and African phenotypes. As America becomes a more multi-racial society, old-fashioned racism is declining, but colorism and unconscious bias persist. If this trend does not change, it will mean that the darkest complexioned, most African-looking people will continue to receive the worst treatment.

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Background: The parameters of beauty and facial attractiveness have a significant impact on the population because aesthetic standards are important factors of social acceptance. The aim of this study was to assess the major determinants of facial profile aesthetics and attractiveness according to laypeople and correlate the obtained results with ethnicity.

Methods: A cohort of 125 patients (or their guardians) receiving treatment in municipal or private health care services in Caruaru, PE, Brazil, was analyzed. A defined sequence of 6 photos was shown to each individual, who then assigned a score of 0-10 for evaluation of aesthetics and beauty. The images were previously treated and manipulated using Adobe Photoshop CS3 and corresponded to the main criteria of facial profile (classes I, II, and III) and ethnicity. Results: Average values of 8.02 ± 1.63 were obtained for Caucasian class I, 6.60 ± 2.35 for African class I, 4.72 ± 2.71 for Caucasian class II, 4.23 ± 2.29 for African class II, 4.54 ± 2.33 for Caucasian class III, and 3.49 ± 2.10 for African class III. African facial profiles were considered statistically less attractive than Caucasian facial profiles.

Conclusions: The facial criteria of both Caucasian class I and African class I were the most attractive, whereas to the facial criteria of class III were less attractive. However, in this study, the African class received lower scores for aesthetics and attractiveness in all criteria.

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The Asian-American female group demonstrated statistically significant preference for the orthognathic profiles, followed by negligible acceptance of the protrusive profiles and rejection of the retrusive profiles. A body of work exists which suggest that male and female Asians tend to rank orthognathic profiles as the most acceptable (e.g., Soh73 and Maganzini et al.75).

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A PREFERENCE FOR PLACEMENT ALONG THE ANCESTRAL-TO-DERIVED DISCRIMINANT IN AN EUROPEAN POPULATION

Ihonvärin vaalentaminen Intiassa

Nyt kun sain siirrettyä huomattavan osan kirjoituksista ja tutkimuksista otetuista lainauksista tähän blogiin, niin ajattelin myös kirjoittaa jotain uuttakin tänne. Vanhat kirjoitukset ovat aika sekalaista luettavaa, että niitäkin pitäisi parannella, mutta niistä voi ainakin löytää mielenkiintoisia lainauksia tutkimuksista, joita kannattaa etsiä lisää koskien vaikka ihonväriä kirjoittamalla Google Scholar:in hakuun esim. jonkun valtion nimen ja skin whitening.

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Google Scholar:sta tuli vastaan tutkimus liittyen Intiassa ilmenevään vaalean ihonvärin ihannointiin, jota voi ihmetellä katsomalla Youtube:sta löytyviä omituisia mainoksia, joista varmaan syntyisi suuri rasismikohu Suomessa ja länsimaissa. Näissä mainoksissa tuodaan usein esille kuinka varsinkin nainen voi vaaleammalla ihonvärillä löytää hyvän puolison, hyvän työpaikan ja voi jopa muuttua ulkonäöltään eurooppalaiseksi.

Kuten alla olevien lainausten määristä voi havaita on tutkimuksessa ainakin minun mielestäni paljonkin mielenkiintoista tietoa, joista kyllä hyvin moni on ennestään tuttua, mutta ei tietenkään niille, jotka eivät ole näihin asioihin perehtyneet. Lainausten lukemisen sijasta kannattaa vaikka heti klikata lähde linkkiä ja lukea koko tutkimus.

Jospa näistä lainauksista vähän kertoisi tuodaan alla esille kuinka vaaleaa ihonväriä on pidetty historiassa kauniina ja näin se tietysti on varsinkin Itä-Aasiassa, jossa vaalean ihonvärin ihannointi ei ole länsimaalaisten vaikutuksesta johtuvaa tai ei ainakaan täysin. Toisessa lainauksessa tuodaan esille kuinka valkoisuus olisi tutkijoiden mielestä jonkinlainen rotuidentiteetti, josta on paljon hyötyä. Google Scholar:sta voi näitä erikoisia white privilege ja whiteness rotututkimuksia etsiä, jos kiinnostaa.

Monissa muissa tutkimuksissa on myös kerrottu kuinka mustien keskuudessa oltiin vielä 70-luvulla ylpeitä aidommasta mustasta afrikkalaisesta ulkonäöstä, mutta siitä huolimatta tänäänkin voidaan havaita monien mustien naisten vaalentavan ihonväriä, suoristavan hiuksiaan tai käyttävän peruukkia. Muistaakseni kuitenkin jossain tutkimuksessa tuotiin esille, ettei 70-luvullakaan sanotaanko enemmän eurokeskisen ulkonäön ihannointi kadonnut, joka varsinkin näkyi siinä, että hyvin monet mustat miehet alkoivat pariutumaan valkoisten naisten kanssa, kun sekarotuisista parisuhteista tuli Yhdysvalloissa laillista.

Tilastojen perusteella mustat miehet ovat pariutuneet jo 40-vuotta moninkertaisesti valkoisten naisten kanssa verrattuna valkoisten miesten avioliittoihin mustien naisten kanssa. Tällainen pariutuminen näkyy myös Suomessa, että suomalaiset naiset pariutuvat tilastojen perusteella moninkertaisesti mustien miesten kanssa ja oman kauneustutkimukseni perusteella kyse on osaltaan ulkonäöstä, että länsimaalaiset miehet tykkäävät enemmän eurokeskisestä tai itäaasialaisille tyypillisestä ulkonäöstä, mutta eurooppalaisen naisen voidaan tilastojen perusteella havaita tykkäävän enemmän mustista miehistä.

Tutkimukseni perusteella miehet tykkäävät yleisesti naisella esim. vaaleammasta ihonväristä ja pitkistä hiuksista, mutta mustilla naisilla ei yleisesti ole vaaleaa ihonväriä tai pitkiä hiuksia. Mustalle miehelle ei näytä näistä tekijöistä olevan yhtä suurta haittaa, koska eurooppalainen nainen ei samalla tavalla näe kielteisesti tummaa tai mustaa ihonväriä ja kähärää tukkaa tai kaljua päätä vaikka hänelle itselleen näistä olisi samalla tavalla haittaa kuin tutkimusten perusteella mustille naisille.

Neljännessä lainauksessa kerrotaan kuinka Amerikassa missiksi valittua Nina Davuluri:a ei oltaisi tumman ihonvärin takia valittu missiksi Intiassa. Pohjois-Intiassa on tapana kutsua tummempia intialaisia mustiksi afrikkalaisiksi, jollaisen taustan omaavia myös löytyy Etelä-Aasiasta orjakaupan takia. Koillisintialaisia naisia häiritään seksuaalisesti ja kutsutaan chinkeiksi. Näillä ihmisillä taidetaan tarkoittaa enemmän itäaasialaisen ulkonäön omaavia, joita elää paljonkin Intiassa. Näihin aasialaisen näköisiin ihmisiin kohdistuvasta syrjinnästä on ollut juttua muissa tutkimuksissa.

Tämän jälkeen kerrotaan kuinka keskiluokkaisissa perheissä arvostetaan vaaleata ihonväriä ja pyritään ylläpitämään naisten vaaleutta, jotta löytävät hyvän miehen, koska esim. vaalea ihonväri edustaa eliittiä ja tumma ihonväri rumuutta. Vaaleita naisia käytetään paljon suurissa Bollywood elokuvissa, heitä näkee mainoksissa ja kauneuskilpailuissa. Ihoväriä vaalentavien voiteiden myynti kasvaa koko ajan Intiassa ja sitä osaltaan lisäävät nämä mainokset kuinka vaaleampana menestyt paremmin elämässä. Tästä syystä järjestöt ovat Intiassa alkaneet kampanjoimaan mainontaa vastaa, johon liittyen alempaa löytyy Dark Is Beautiful linkki.

Inequalities and discrimination based on skin colour or rangbedh is not a new phenomenon rather it is deeply ingrained in mindset across India and throughout the world. Historically, skin colour has been used as a parameter to accord treatment to the individuals either intentionally or inadvertently. And even today, those with fair skin are considered as superior and those with the darker hues are placed at the lower rung of the social hierarchy.

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It is claimed that having white skin color implies that “one has access to obvious yet unspoken psychological and economic privileges associated with `whiteness’”. Classism further intensified the effects of colourism. Shome argued that the institutionalized and systemic nature of whiteness "is maintained and produced not by overt rhetorics of whiteness, but rather by its 'everydayness'"—“an unquestioned normativity that makes invisible the ways in which whites participate in, and derive protection from, a system whose rules and organizational relations work to their advantage". However, when people think of racism, they usually think in terms of the harms inflicted upon Blacks without considering the benefits afforded Whites. Indeed, White is not commonly viewed as a racial identity. Rather, it has assumed a quality of invisibility. In recent years, scholars have been exploring whiteness as a racial identity and the privileges it carries. Skin colour functions as an indicator of a person’s access to the benefits associated with a particular class.

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However, to counter racism, colourism and structural oppression, a strong movement emerged in West in the 1960s and 70s which gave popular slogan like “Black is Beautiful” and term Black Power to encourage racial pride. Other affirming statements like “the blacker the berry the sweeter the juice,” “Say it Loud, I am Black, I am Proud”, have also been made to counter racial and skin colour discrimination. However, in spite of resistance bias continues to exist in everyday life.

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Further, when Nina Davuluri from South Asia won beauty pageant in America many back home speculated that she could not have won the title had she been in India because she is not fair skinned. All these indicate that colour consciousness permeates everyday in the manner in which one relates to people around him or her. In the streets of North India, people from the South of the country are disdainfully categorized as Madrasis, Black people from Africa are irreverently dismissed as habshis, and women from North east are often being targeted as chinkies, and are sexually harassed.

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In many middle class families, older women stress the usage of such products for unmarried young women in order to get the better marital match. Media and Bollywood valorize the idea of fair skin, promotes prejudicial norms and reify the hegemonic norm of beauty even pushing the limits of unattainable cultural beauty ideals. Also, often, the choice of spouses is determined by the skin colour. Many matrimonial advertisements that appear in the local daily newspaper or matrimonial websites in their “grooms” or “brides wanted” sections clearly states that they prefer partners with fair skin colour even if the advertisements lately announce ‘caste no bar’ phrase specifically. Men prefer brides who are tall, fair and slim. Similarly brides’ families prefer fair skinned grooms for their daughters. Fairness is equated with feminine beauty, noble aristocracy, superiority, intelligence, refinement, prosperity and power while darkness is often associated with toughness, meanness, indigence, criminality, and masculinity. Frequently, those with darker skin face rejection and humiliation. Dark is equated with ugly, clumsy and uncivilized person.

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The dominant culture frequently equates beauty with the fair color and perfect flawless skin texture. Skin shade thus becomes a marker of beauty. Often, in employment, preference is given to a person with fairer skin, specifically in those sectors where client interaction is more, it is generally understood that fair skinned women will attract more clients. Regularly, fair toned women play lead roles in major Bollywood movies. Even those with darker hues are portrayed with layers of makeup to highlight the perfect looks. Lighter-skinned women also predominate in beauty pageants, music videos and commercial advertisements. Cultural hegemony and philosophical nihilism has entrenched so deeply that in certain occupations people are hired for their fair skin i.e. industries like aviation26, films, fashion where lead role are given to women who possess fair skin colour. The cultural meaning that assigns superior status to lighter skin tone thus plays a major role in negotiation of roles and goals. Fairness, thus, has a strong influence in defining identity, marital relations, employment, status and income of a person.

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Currently, the situation in India is that the country is obsessed with fairness and this is evident through the quantified data available on consumption and the growing market of fairness products. In 2010 India's whitening cream market was worth $432m and keeps growing at 18% per year, according to ACNielsen. Tapping onto the desire of women to have a fair and glowing skin tone, the MNCs are boasting of creating artificial solutions without realizing the fact that such products undermine and subjugate women. India's whitening cream market swelled from $397 million in 2008 to $838 million currently, according to research by Euromonitor International. The annual sale of skin care products is worth Rs 9641 crores. The market, which initially focused on women, is now pitching to men too with the evolving concept of metrosexual men. Capitalizing on the need to look good, new products are being promoted in the market to alter the skin color thus exploiting the obsession to become fair. In fact, new products like whitening face cleansers, shower gels, fairness baby oil, armpit whiteners and even vaginal washes have been launched lately in the market.

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Women’s organizations also lobbied with the Advertising Council of India (ASCI) to come up with guidelines against advertisements that discriminate against dark skin. In its guidelines issued recently released on advertising for skin lightening and Fairness Improvement Products the ASCI specifically banned the advertisements that perpetuate the notion that dark skin in inferior and undesirable or reinforce any negative stereotype based on skin colour. The new rules proposed that advertisements should not show darker skinned people as unhappy, depressed, or disadvantaged in any way by skin tone, and should not associate skin colour with any particular socioeconomic class or community. However, ASCI in itself is a toothless powerless body which can issue a code of conduct and can receive complaints against unfair trade practices, yet in actual it has no powers to take action against the defaulters and advertisements continue to appear regularly, repeatedly over all the television channels, magazines, newspapers, billboards, internet and other technologies affecting the psyche and mind of common people coercing them to believe that beauty lies in fairness and implicitly contribute to violence against women like Arti and Namita.

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Googlen kuvahausta voi löytää lisää mielenkiintoisia kuvia ja kirjoituksia.

India Skin Whitening - Dark Is Beautiful

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The World Before Her

Jamaika

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Alla on pari kauneusaiheista tutkimusta koskien osaltaan Jamaikaa ja varsinkin ihonväriä. Näissä tutkimuksissa tuodaan esille historiaa kuinka osaltaan valkoisten takia nykyään monissa enimmäkseen mustien asuttamissa maissa suositaan vaaleamman ihonvärin omaavia samaan tapaan kuin valkoisillakin oli tapana suosia mulatteja esim. kotipalvelijoina. Onhan tämä tietysti valitettavaa, jos todellakin länsimailla on paljonkin vaikutusta tänä päivänä myös mustien hallitsemiin maihin, mutta eikö sitä pitäisi enemmän yrittää hillitä vaikka ihonvärin vaalentamista. Toisaalta tutkimusten perusteella myös mustat miehet tykkäävät vaaleammasta ihonväristä vaikkei yhtä vaaleasta kuin vaaleammat miehet, niin eipä tälle taida paljoakaan voida, jos nainen vaalentamalla ihonväriään saa esim. miehiltä enemmän huomiota.

Gabriel (2007) states, “In recent years there has been a preoccupation within the mainstream Jamaican media regarding color issues, particularly skin bleaching, but on the whole, the treatment has been more sensational than constructive and informative.” He also states, “There has never been any attempt at explaining what drives non-white people to burn their skin with chemicals other than subtle attempts to suggest it is borne of a desire to be white, thereby reinforcing the concept of the white beauty ideal” (Gabriel, 2007). “Media images reinforce racial hierarchies by presenting lighter skin as beautiful and preferable over darker skin,” (Lewis, et al., 2011). Farlane (2006) states, “The images of lighter-skinned people seen on music videos and on advertisement boards promote the message that lighter-skin is more beautiful and desirable to the opposite sex, and a prerequisite for access to the ‘good life’” (as cited in Gabriel, 2007, p. 44-45). O’Brien and Berry (2008) convey “It was not until the 1960s that dark-skinned [African] Jamaicans were allowed to work in banks, government offices, or in the front offices of private businesses” (p. 147). Gabriel (2007) states, “In spite of the gains of the Black Power era, how did the BLACK POWER ERA affect Jamaicans? The mantra of I am Black and I am Proud has receded into the background only to be replaced, once again, by bleaching creams” (p.44-45).

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Cicchetti and Cohen (2006) states, in practical terms, “in all societies, lighter-skinned African women are valued over darker-skinned African women.” Charles (2009) states, “Since the influx of colonization, the ideology that light skin is better than dark skin persists in Jamaican culture. In all forms of Jamaican ‘societal institutions’ we find the promotion and preservation of this ideology.”

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Regarding social class and the practice of skin-bleaching, the more economically privileged groups are able to mask their practices and shield themselves from public criticism. This secret ambiguous behavior describes other ways in which Jamaicans of varying social classes bleach. Brown-Glaude (2007) asserts, “[p]eople refuse to have children with someone whose complexion is as dark as or darker than theirs. They are, in fact, lightening their lineage, bleaching generation next, if you will” (p. 45).

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In colonial Jamaica, Black customers preferred to be served by fair skinned girls (although these girls treated Blacks disrespectfully) so businesses in Kingston readily employed these girls (Henriques, 1951). Colorism continued after Britain granted political independence to Jamaica in 1962. A young black woman in the early post-independence years destroyed her photograph because she looked too dark in it (Brown, 1979). One study found that adolescents’ judged each other using the benchmark of White physicality so the preferred complexion was clear or fair (Miller, 1962). White adolescents saw themselves as higher and more worthy than Brown adolescents who saw themselves as higher and more worthy than Chinese and Black adolescents (Miller, 1973). Jamaica is a plural society with three unique cultural sections based on race and cultural ancestry, Whites, Brown and Black. The Brown cultural section reveals that colorism also influences social stratification (Smith, 1990). A review of 1000 newspaper ads for household workers from 1920-1970 revealed that employers had a preference for light skin workers and these workers revealed their skin tone in the ads they placed (Johnson, 1996). Some Black Jamaican men prefer to have a browning partner which is the contemporary manifestation of the desired Mulatto woman of the colonial period (Mohammed, 2000).

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Skin bleaching is an old practice because it existed in ancient Egypt, medieval Europe, colonial North America, the colonial Caribbean and colonial Africa. Skin bleaching is not only popular and controversial in the contemporary era, it is also global. The practice occurs in the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific region, Europe, Africa, North America, Central America and South America. People of all races, ethnicities, levels of education and income engage in the practice (Charles, 2003; Blay, 2007; de Souza, 2008; Dorman, 2011; Gooden, 2011; Saraswati, 2010; Winders, Jones III & Higgins, 2005).

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A Man Whitney Test was performed to determine if the difference in the mean selfesteem score of the skin bleaching group (164.24) and the mean self-esteem score of the nonbleaching comparison group (162.24) was statistically significant. The results reveal that there is no statistical difference in the level of self-esteem based on whether or not an individual practices skin bleaching (U = 27022.000, p=.888). The study participants who bleach their skin do not have low self-esteem so they do not suffer from self-hate.

The participants in the study reported six categories of reason for bleaching their skin. They stated that they bleached their skin to “remove skin blemishes,” “light skin is pretty,” “to attract a partner,” “to get light complexion,” the altered complexion is “style and fashion,” and the practice “is popular because our friends and other people are doing it.”

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The majority of the documentary shows Jackson Miller in the “downtown” urban area of Kingston interviewing various women and one man, who bleach. Responding to the question of why they bleach, similar to the responses I garnered, some women indicated that they either “liked” the lighter, browner skin color as it made them “more prettier,” or that they thought their skin was too dark as is, and bleaching “bring [them] up likkle more” (Brings them up a little more). Still, some responded that because of their professions as beauticians, a lighter skin tone made them more visible to potential customers- visible in the sense that a lighter complexion was deemed more attractive as it implied some degree of sophistication and modernity, and moreover because “when yuh black nuh baddy nuh si yuh” (When you are black nobody sees you). Some interviewees also identified skin bleaching as “fashion ova style” - a fashion statement that gives one a more “glammy look”- a glamorous look. These responses all reflect sentiments no doubt at least underwritten by ubiquitous mass media representations of female black popular culture icons like Beyonce, Rihanna and Halle Berry, but arguably also by the fact that in Jamaican society oftentimes skin color is a referent for social class and mobility. While she discusses broader social issues and causes, albeit quite briefly with Dr. Hope’s intervention, Jackson Miller noticeably does not engage her subjects on matters of social mobility, accessibility, or how and why they feel these constructions of beauty and glamour have ascended.

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Some of them are monkeys (monkey noises accompanied by imitations of monkey behavior) when you see them. Anything that ugly (is a monkey). When you see them, and they have not made it (not successful or attractive from bleaching). Because some of them are very ugly; I will not lie, some of them are very ugly. It is not that all the bleachers are ugly, but some of them are monkeys. They are very ugly. Some of them can’t be worked with (have nothing to work with) and would be ugly regardless of bleaching.

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Anybody who bleaches looks good but, I would not be attracted to a man that is bleaching. What is the reason for men to bleach? Bleaching is for women. Yeah! Bleaching is a woman thing! Why would a man bleach? He is competing against women, because I am supposed to be the one who looks good (as a woman).

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The girls love it man! See, your face looks brown and looks good. Ha! The girls like it. My mother curses me everyday saying I am bleaching and look like a woman, but the girls pray for it man (support and adore)! Lots of girls (like it)!

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