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It seems that a black person from Africa/of African descent who admits to bleaching their skin faces far more stigma than a Chinese, Korean person who does it. They'll be typically called a "self hater", "mentally ill" (referring to body dysmorphia). The same however doesn't apply to Asia. There is criticism but not to the same degree.
One reason I heard is that African skin lightening is viewed as subjugating to colonial ideals of beauty and race and that's an uncomfortable topic for many. Asian skin lightening is just viewed as "trying to get a lighter shade".
It seems that a black person from Africa/of African descent who admits to bleaching their skin faces far more stigma than a Chinese, Korean person who does it. They'll be typically called a "self hater", "mentally ill" (referring to body dysmorphia). The same however doesn't apply to Asia. There is criticism but not to the same degree.
One reason I heard is that African skin lightening is viewed as subjugating to colonial ideals of beauty and race and that's an uncomfortable topic for many. Asian skin lightening is just viewed as "trying to get a lighter shade".
Quote:
Originally Posted by goofy328
Asian skin lightening is also subjugating to colonial ideals of beauty and race.
And people are commenting on Indians doing this so I don't know where you've been for the last 20 years.
Agree and disagree.
1. It depends on which Asian. On average, for East Asians, since they tend to be lighter, it is less obvious lightening efforts are happening. It is easily camouflaged as trying to improve evenness. And while some mild lighteners are used, it is more common to see really active sun avoidance stuff - hats, umbrellas and religious use of sunscreen.
2. For South East and South Asians harsher lightening products are common and prevalent. And this behavior is criticized.
3. As for the lightening, it is not always related to colonial ideas. For South Asia, yes. For East Asia* it is mores about class - darker people had physical jobs like farming and rice production. Light skin was a sign of wealth. For South East Asians, both the class and the colonial influence play into it.
In general, society is just starting to recognize colorism in its various forms and impacts.
It seems that a black person from Africa/of African descent who admits to bleaching their skin faces far more stigma than a Chinese, Korean person who does it. They'll be typically called a "self hater", "mentally ill" (referring to body dysmorphia). The same however doesn't apply to Asia. There is criticism but not to the same degree.
One reason I heard is that African skin lightening is viewed as subjugating to colonial ideals of beauty and race and that's an uncomfortable topic for many. Asian skin lightening is just viewed as "trying to get a lighter shade".
It is a complicated issue.
Everywhere the British/English (and or other Europeans such as the Spanish, French and Portuguese) went they exported the ideal beauty as fair skin with preferably blond hair and blue-eyes. If one couldn't get bleached hair (until contact lenses came about changing eye color was out of the question), at least one could bleach skin to get a more fairer complexion. Obviously going from jet black to white wasn't going to happen. But the lighter shades of coffee, brown, caramel and so forth could be reduced to looking more like a tan or even in some cases shades of white.
Asian countries not having the importation of Africans that the British and Europeans inflicted on North and South America, along with those who arrived in England, France, Spain and so forth from their various colonies didn't have the racial intermixing that produced various mulattoes with hair and skin colors that ranged from those who could pass for white (such as Lena Horne) with perhaps a bit of "help", to those with kinky hair and dark skin. You also didn't have the inherent bias between whites (slave owners) and those of African American and or Indian background (slaves).
While many Asian women long used various concoctions to bleach/lighten their skin. This at first was done mainly same as for other cultures. Being fair skin implied one was not a field or whatever sort of worker who had to be outdoors all day. A "lady" who remained indoors most of the day, wore gloves, carried an umbrella and or other means of shielding themselves from the sun had "fair" skin.
East and Southeast Asians range in complexions from quite fair to deep brown/tan. However say in India having a darker skin tone (not fair) is referred to as "dusky". Just as in USA, GB and elsewhere there are various creams and other treatments to used by women (and some men) with a dusky complexion to appear more fair.
Of course India, Hong Kong, and a few other nations were once part of the British Empire, and all that implied. Whites arrived in these countries and to some extent exported also a certain standard of beauty. White men did what they did all over the world; slept with Indian women. But if the woman was obviously "dark" any possibility of marriage often was just out of the question. The word "ni**er* wasn't reserved for blacks alone; but anyone who was of a race darker than the British or any other European.
Famous British film star Merle Oberon was in fact bi-racial. You'd never know it thanks to the black & white films and photographs of the day. But there was also fact Ms. Oberon beginning at an early age used skin bleaching concoctions in an attempt to hide her race.
British films and society (much like the USA) was rather closed to darker persons, and Merle Oberon feared she wouldn't get work if she had dark skin.
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Nowadays people can transition & pick their own gender....but it's a problem if someone of any race wants to lighten their own skin? I say they are adults. It's not that far off from changing eye color with contacts, breast implants, dying hair, darkening skin with tanners...all done for "beauty". Tho I know all those things are not all exactly the same, it's all stuff adults decide for themselves.....
1. It depends on which Asian. On average, for East Asians, since they tend to be lighter, it is less obvious lightening efforts are happening. It is easily camouflaged as trying to improve evenness. And while some mild lighteners are used, it is more common to see really active sun avoidance stuff - hats, umbrellas and religious use of sunscreen.
2. For South East and South Asians harsher lightening products are common and prevalent. And this behavior is criticized.
3. As for the lightening, it is not always related to colonial ideas. For South Asia, yes. For East Asia* it is mores about class - darker people had physical jobs like farming and rice production. Light skin was a sign of wealth. For South East Asians, both the class and the colonial influence play into it.
In general, society is just starting to recognize colorism in its various forms and impacts.
The preference for light skin is much older than colonial times. It can be traced back to the Indian caste system and probably predates that. The reason is that darker skin implied working outdoors and therefor probably not of the moneyed class. It's more an issue of classism than racism.
I'm in thought of the motto from Civil Rights days - "I'm Black and Proud." Perhaps that encouragement to feel good about one's racial markers complicates attitudes towards skin bleaching. You rarely hear other racial groups commenting on their differences from other groups.
History books, ancient paintings of Geishas, queens, and beauties that existed in the past long before the East met the West have shown that Asians revere someone who has very white skin. It has nothing to do with Western culture. White skin is the symbol of someone with privilege that are associated with royalty, while dark skin is someone who worked outside in the sun such as the rice fields.
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