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[ShinNL]

Not at all. Just trying (and apparently failing horribly) to explain a position.

I understand what you're trying to convey, but I feel like you haven't quite understood what I'm trying to argue. Maybe in simple words it would be something like:

"They're trying to look more like white people" sounds like something a white person would say.

 

[Onemic]

Im also white but due to some african bloodline on both my parents side I look black.

Maybe I'm confusing you with another poster but, aren't you dark?

 

[Bucket Mouse]

A thread about skin bleaching and not a single mention of Michael Jackson, probably the most prominent public figure to have apparently changed skin tone. Michael always vehemently denied bleaching his skin and claimed that he suffered from vitiligo, a condition that causes depigmentation. There is certainly evidence of him having the condition in various pictures from the 80s/90s and his autopsy confirmed that he did indeed have it, yet there remains the pervasive suspicion that Michael intentionally bleached himself to appear white, with people citing this and his cosmetic surgery as symptoms of his tumultuous upbringing.

I think if anything, Michael may have used skin whitening products to even out his skin tone as a result of the vitiligo, but this is of course pure conjecture. Are present day skin whitening products even capable of lightening the skin so drastically? Michael's skin was literally white, paler than the average white person's- consistent with a total lack of pigment.

This video about a girl with vitiligo is interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za6nv-CK4xQ

 

[Choke on the Magic]

skin bleaching is offensive.

 

[MIMIC]

It was just an observation of the album covers, and I even said it was up to "you" to judge for yourself, but I suppose if you want candids...

LOL, this can't be real. I mean.....did she really lighten herself up that much? This isn't just an effect of the lighting around her or something? (or photoshop)

 

[Cagey]

I understand what you're trying to convey, but I feel like you haven't quite understood what I'm trying to argue. Maybe in simple words it would be something like:

"They're trying to look more like white people" sounds like something a white person would say.

It is. The notion of a "Eurocentric standards of beauty" and the problems entailed in promoting this standard as the acceptable form of what's beautiful is applicable in Western, predominantly white societies, and only in relation to dark-skinned minorities. Message being conveyed to people, particularly to young and impressionable children, is that "you're inferior, conform to what we look like". The phenomenon behind 'Good Hair' is a great example.

But applied worldwide, it's narcissistic and Eurocentric to think that white people have altered the standard of beauty everywhere to be What White People Like.

 

[Nesotenso]

the desire to have lighter skin in Asia has little to do with wanting to look like white people or holding them as the standard of beauty.

 

[justjohn]

Maybe I'm confusing you with another poster but, aren't you dark?

yes.

 

[Onemic]

yes.

mind is full of fuck.

EDIT: damn, you got me

 

[Dark Octave]

Im also white but due to some african bloodline on both my parents side I look black.

 

[thetrin]

I even saw an ad for it on t.v today. I did some googling, and it seems like a completely normal thing. I asked my sister and her friends, and she said there are tons of products for men and even in stores now for skin bleaching.

I just cannot comprehend how this is allowed?

Here is an ad from India, starring Shahrukh Khan - he is the king of Bollywood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kqd9zaI698

The hell?

As a man of color myself, this just makes me shake my head. Be proud of who you are, for god's sake.

 

[Rocket Scientist]

After looking at the anal bleaching Wikipedia anal bleaching makes sense. Not that I would ever consider it but I see the point of it.

 

[Haklong]

That stuff is huuuuuuugely popular here in Vietnam. A lot of women think the worst thing in the world is a tan. Some status nonsense about darker skin meaning you have to work in the sun all day and lighter skin meaning you're more well off.
Every skin product here has whitener in it. The sunscreen too. It's one of the things we warn all new ex pats about.

I just came from vacation in Vietnam and it was hot as hell yet all the women there were dressed like Ninjas. They had light coats and winter gloves on during the day. It's a subject that came up a lot while I was over there. All of our tour guides brought up that subject. How in Vietnam men like women with light skin so the women strive to keep their skin as light as possible.

 

[Gannd]

On one hand, I agree with this.

On the other, a significant portion of the people engaging in this behavior aren't doing so because they're making rational independent choices, but because of a deep seeded lack of self esteem perpetuated by a white culture that sees lighter skin as more beautiful and darker or black skin as bad or ugly.

I still think it should be allowed, mind you. I just see how it perpetuates Eurocentric standards of beauty. I'd look for ways to move culture away from a Eurocentric standard of beauty generally rather than target this behavior specifically.

Actually, you're wrong. It has less to do with Euro-centrism and more to do with poverty. In Asia, dark skin is associated with poverty and not white folk.

 

[Gannd]

I just came from vacation in Vietnam and it was hot as hell yet all the women there were dressed like Ninjas. They had light coats and winter gloves on during the day. It's a subject that came up a lot while I was over there. All of our tour guides brought up that subject. How in Vietnam men like women with light skin so the women strive to keep their skin as light as possible.

My wife is from Taiwan and she'll go out with an umbrella during a sunny day, she wears big hats and even in the car she doesn't want sun on her. She's so afraid of becoming dark. It's an all over asia thing. They associate dark skin with poverty.

 

[Wilsongt]

It would be nice to be able to tan. With my skin type, I just get extra crispy really fast.

*shakes fist*

I wonder if this bleaching still provides natural protection from the sun or if that is compromised?

 

[akira28]

these threads on GAF are always shocking and entertaining.

goddamn, humans are so fucked. I'm dying at that Uncle Ruckus.jpg

There was a show on This American Life about this family where one side identified as white and the other identified as black.

 

[Alligatorjandro]

I dont know why anyone would want to bleach their skin.

 

[Choke on the Magic]

After looking at the anal bleaching Wikipedia anal bleaching makes sense. Not that I would ever consider it but I see the point of it.

So what is the point of it? It's just a cosmetic thing.

 

[akira28]

I guess if you're going through the trouble of bleaching your anus, you're keeping it shaved too, and showing it off? Well done.

 

[Mudkips]

The point still stands. Light = good. Dark = bad

Explain the multi-billion dollar tanning industry, then.

 

[Devolution]

Explain the multi-billion dollar tanning industry, then.

Jersey Shore.

 

[akira28]

Explain the multi-billion dollar tanning industry, then.

Well, take humanity in context. At one point, a fair skinned blonde woman was the shit. Westerners still had rednecked and swarthy and ruddy skinned people working out in the fields. And their lead powdered skin, white wig wearing men and women inside the house. Now today, those wealthy people pay money to get their skin darkened. Tanning is a sign that you have time and money and leisure lifestyle to look "exotic". Even if you work 50 hours a week at a video store, you want to tan to have that look. The shit is flipped.

 

[Spongebob]

Not much different than tanning which I think is stupid as well.

 

[Log4Girlz]

I dont know why anyone would want to bleach their skin.

People like different.

 

[CitizenCope]

Not much different than tanning which I think is stupid as well.

Going in for 11 minutes tonight. =)

 

[kaioshade]

I dont know why anyone would want to bleach their skin.

Acceptance. Do not underestimate humanity. Especially where i am, where being a certain shade gets you all sorts of wonderful treatment, like not being harassed, not being profiled, and most importantly, hired.

 

[Alligatorjandro]

Acceptance. Do not underestimate humanity. Especially where i am, where being a certain shade gets you all sorts of wonderful treatment, like not being harassed, not being profiled, and most importantly, hired.

People want to look like white people to fit in basically.

Do not want.

 

[sixteen-bit]

video games too

 

[nOoblet16]

People want to look like white people to fit in basically.

Do not want.

But fit in where?

It doesn't always comes down to "trying to look like white people" .
In a lot of countries (like India for eg.) you have a large variation in skin colour ranging from the darkest to the lightest, and regardless of exposure to Europeans the mentality of the society over centuries has been built up in a way to have preference for lighter skin. One has to wonder though, why is it that in every non European culture (but even Europeans in the past), when it comes to skin colour there's a general preference for lighter skin and never for darker skin....I suppose it has something to do with the lower class/peasants work outside and have darker skin and others don't.

 

[joedan]

It's embarrassing is what it is. It's hardly about cosmetics. It's all about insecurity and 'people trying to look white'. Legacy of colonialism and slavery. I'm from the Caribbean. It's popular in Jamaica but the island where I'm from the few who do it are roundly mocked...and deservedly so.

 

[MWS Natural]

 

[Dali]

God damn Lark. I didn't even know who that was until I quoted to reply. Other than fact it looks like Ashely Larry slapped her across both sides of her face then rubbed his belly in it, she looked just rough in general in that picture. It looks more like a case of makeup fail though, but Im not schooled in these things so who knows. She used to have a really nice complexion too. Like Tatyana Ali or Samantha Mumba.

 

[CountAntonius]

Holy Crap

 

[Rocket Scientist]

So what is the point of it? It's just a cosmetic thing.

Yup, cosmetic. It looks ''better'', because the color is more even.

 

[Perkel]

anal bleaching is where it's at.

Yep it is prety weird to see people wondering why something like this exist when porn stars use it all time be it man or women

 

[Perkel]

But fit in where?

It doesn't always comes down to "trying to look like white people" .
In a lot of countries (like India for eg.) you have a large variation in skin colour ranging from the darkest to the lightest, and regardless of exposure to Europeans the mentality of the society over centuries has been built up in a way to have preference for lighter skin. One has to wonder though, why is it that in every non European culture (but even Europeans in the past), when it comes to skin colour there's a general preference for lighter skin and never for darker skin....I suppose it has something to do with the lower class/peasants work outside and have darker skin and others don't.

Bingo. It was the same in Europe. Tanned people were mostly poor.

 

[travisbickle]

People want to look like white people to fit in basically.

Do not want.

I live In South Korea and these whitening products are popular here. They don't want be white, they just want to have a little control over their skin tone, like tanning.

 

[ShinNL]

It is. The notion of a "Eurocentric standards of beauty" and the problems entailed in promoting this standard as the acceptable form of what's beautiful is applicable in Western, predominantly white societies, and only in relation to dark-skinned minorities. Message being conveyed to people, particularly to young and impressionable children, is that "you're inferior, conform to what we look like". The phenomenon behind 'Good Hair' is a great example.

But applied worldwide, it's narcissistic and Eurocentric to think that white people have altered the standard of beauty everywhere to be What White People Like.

Ah thanks, I couldn't find the correct word.

Narcissistic.

Narcissistic indeed.

 

[barbecube]

Say it with me: "My excess fat is disgusting". Now again: "My skin color is disgusting".

So, what makes one of these things okay to say, but not the other?

Obviously both of those statements are problematic, but I feel like whatever side of the line you fall on, you have to fall on it consistently. Either your fat and your skin are both disgusting, or neither of them are.

This is complicated by the fact that excess fat is physically unhealthy, whereas you can have any of a range of skin colors and be healthy regardless, but aesthetically I think that you have to either accept all appearances as equal, or be able to criticize them all equally.

As a man of color myself, this just makes me shake my head. Be proud of who you are, for god's sake.

As a man of color myself, I don't think my skin color is an important part of who I am.

I can still be a practicing Hindu if I were to have white skin and a face like an Abercrombie model. I can still respect my family's traditions and eat my ethnic food and it would still remind me of home.

Changing what's on my outside doesn't change what's on my inside.

Honestly, I feel like a lot of this thread contains a lot of gross skin-color policing, and I think it's driven by racism - If they can lighten their skin, how will we know who the darkies are? It's just as racist and oppressive to say that a black woman can't change the way she looks as it is to say she's "ghetto" because of her skin color.

 

[Riggs]

Lisa Turtle, I miss you : (

 

[Thunder Monkey]

Simply because people can fuck up their natural beauty however they see fit.

White people do it too. See plastic surgery lion face lady, or Nikki Cox.

It's stupid, unbelievably so. But people are people. And they be weird, so I just roll with it.

Even when it turns beauty into an abomination.

 

[Apath]

This is my take, also it's really depressing seeing people go from beautiful and dark skinned to some weird shade and just wrong.

This is not the same person.

...

I refuse to believe it.

 

[KefkaPalazzo]

Because people are shallow and want to make a change to "enhance" their beauty.

 

[Gorillaz]

video games too

wat? thay cant be the same person

 

[Joni]

If white people have the right to become orange Oompa Loompa's, black people should have the right to become pale faced ice cream.

 

[MWS Natural]

Is that you, India Arie?

The 37-year-old star is almost unrecognizable in the cover image from her new single "Cocoa Butter," which is causing a lot of backlash and many to believe that she has been lightening her skin. This is quite a shock considering the afro-centric R&B singer is known for promoting black beauty-- most notably expressed in her hit songs "Brown Skin" and "I Am Not My Hair."

Huffington Post

 

[IdreamofHIME]

In Thailand every 2nd commercial on TV is for creams to make skin whiter. Big business.

 

[Dali]

Is that you, India Arie?

The 37-year-old star is almost unrecognizable in the cover image from her new single "Cocoa Butter," which is causing a lot of backlash and many to believe that she has been lightening her skin. This is quite a shock considering the afro-centric R&B singer is known for promoting black beauty-- most notably expressed in her hit songs "Brown Skin" and "I Am Not My Hair."

Huffington Post

Could just be shopped or the way the picture was taken. What does she look like in person today?

edit:

http://www.theindychannel.com/entertainment/indiaarie-blasts-skin-lightening-rumors_42717886

And she says that is indeed what it was.

 

[Fury Sense]

Such a weird concept to me. Maybe it's because I'm American, but I always thought of our natural appearances as a source of pride and individualism. Sure insignificant tones aren't important, but when you look like a completely different person or race... it's weird.