The Quest for Porcelain White Skin
Anyway, maybe it was because I was tinged green, but for the moments when I crawled out of my very comfortable hotel (the Hotel Viking, book a room in the newly renovated wing), I couldn't help but noticed how very white everyone was. Well, rich-people-in-summer-white, which is to say, bronze.
When I was in Shanghai last month, I was reminded that the Western obsession with toasting is not shared worldwide.
In China, which certainly has its own ethnic tensions, but not (as I'm aware of) those relating to the amount of melanin in the skin, the obsession is looking as white as possible, as you can see in the colorful parade of parasols everywhere, what I can only describe as "forearm cozies" – handmade fabric coverings protecting the skin from the elbow to the wrist -- and for bicycle riders, what looks like a welding mask. (Although I think this is also to ward off projectiles.)
So on the week when President Obama has invited Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and his arresting officer, James Crowely, to the White House for a beer to talk over issues of race, I thought it would be a good time to discuss skin whitening, an obsession of the leisure classes from ancient times that is ongoing in Asia to this very day. The first time I visited China a few years ago, I was startled by the billboards proclaiming the beauty of whiteness, which would never – ever -- survive defacing in this country. (Just imagine if Avon launched a US advertising campaign for its China and Japanese product, Avon ClearWhite Supreme.)
But, whitening has a long history. In an entertaining article about bathing suit shopping in this week's New Yorker, Patricia Marx points out that the ancient Greeks and Romans applied lead paint to whiten their skin. Death is a problem with this cosmetic, and toxic whiteners (particularly those made with mercury) continue to be a problem well into the 21st century.
Top cosmetics manufacturers produce skin whiteners. Yves Saint Laurent has its White Mode line. Dior has its DiorSnowPure whitening line. This Asian beauty website has 115 pages of skin whiteners, from brands you know, ranging from Lancome, to Clinque, to Origins. It's hard to go into a drugstore in Asia and find a moisturizer that lacks whitener, a friend on the scene tells me. And since the Asian beauty market is growing, expect more luxey skin whiteners to hit the scene. Could this trend ever cross the Pacific and enter the U.S. in a big way? While you ponder, read Marita Golden's provocative book on this subject, Don't Play in the Sun.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Goto98 Jul 30th 2009 3:24PM
This is a sad perhaps emperialism leftover concept. Its not only huge in the countries you mentioned but also Indonesia, Philipines, and India primarily.
If you are dark skinned in these countries, they tell you 'you have little chance of being married'.
jeffp9821 Jul 30th 2009 4:40PM
Perhaps they are just more aware of the sun's damaging effects on the skin than the many Americans who flirt with cancer on a daily basis in tanning salons across the land?
Simple Jul 31st 2009 12:16AM
I thought this had a simple historical explanation in the East. If you were poor, you worked in the fields, and got tan. Therefore, paler you are, richer you are. Being pale was a status symbol.
Probably the same explanation could hold for the Greeks. I'm richer than you, I can afford to stay inside all day.
Interesting question is how did this get reversed in the US? Was it an industrial society affect -> everyone works inside. I'm tan, meaning I'm rich enough to spend time just lying around sunning myself, or playing on the golf course?
I'm in CT. Curious if being tan is a status symbol in the South.
azrhey Aug 3rd 2009 4:22PM
When the West went from agricultural ( outside work ) to Industrial ( inside work ) the status symbol changed from "I dont have to work, I can stay inside all day" to "I can take vacations regularly and be outside all the time, I dont have to work inside all day".
In India and most of Asia where people are naturally darker skin, they have the kighter skin = better.
In Africa this is compounded by some weird beleive that lighter skin people have white people's blood in their ancestry which makes them better. Which is crazy IMO but people will beleive the weirdest things...
Saw a documentary about white skin/dark skin obsession worldwide couple of f years ago.
The more people I meet the more I like my dog...
ICanHasBroccoli? Aug 8th 2009 8:32AM
Simple is correct, at least as far as what I learned while visiting Greece - on Crete I visited the Minoan Palace (as in The Labyrinth and The Minotaur), with preserved frescoes and other art from that ancient time. The pale ones were the royalty, as evidenced by the depictions of dress and jewels - the dark ones were not a darker race- they were tan from laboring outside while the royals rarely left the shelter of the indoors. It was a sign of caste but also practicality- the sun can be scorching so of course they ones cold could do so stayed indoors.
lilywhite Aug 18th 2009 12:04PM
Beautiful pale, creamy skin was also appreciated and equated with status in the West, ergo the phrase "lily white". And it was in part attributed to the divide between the working class/laborers and the wealthy elite. However, this changed with Coco Chanel, who was quite the sensation in Paris upon returning from vacation sporting a newly acquired tan. The rest, as they say, is history.
But interest in skin lightening/paleness is also shared by other ethnicities, including blacks. In fact, this is an area of prejudice within the black community, where the degree of blackness, or relative lack thereof, is very ingrained in their perceptions and consciousness, with "high yellow's", mulattos, and others on the pale side often taking great pride in their lighter complexions. Bleaching creams, e.g., Ambi, are popular for this reason. Also, this is why blacks don't understand it when whites say blacks "look all the same", because that's one of the first things they notice about one another - skin tone.
Alison Wellner Jul 31st 2009 11:21AM
Definitely, the whole question of status and skin color is a huge and complicated subject, and it varies considerably by geography. But in Asia, Simple, I think you're right, in that laborers were more likely to be tan than aristocrats. In the West, I also think it has to do with a perception of time for leisure, although I did read that it was Coco Chanel who first made the tan something desirable. It's certainly true that we have fewer people in the United States working outdoors today than we did a century ago.
liam Aug 4th 2009 11:45PM
This is a classic example of people wanting what they can't have.
White folks wanting darker skin,and non whites wanting light skin.
If they were born with that i'm sure they would want to change it too.
Susan Aug 6th 2009 9:22PM
Look at the Reubenesque women idealized in paintings... they were not only pale, but plump, signs of their wealth and aristocratic station.
marina7518 Aug 11th 2009 7:09AM
I came from the Philippines and lived in the U.S. since 1980. I know that it's common for people to use the umbrella to protect the skin from the sun. Here in the U.S., people don't use umbrellas when it's sunny, they use umbrellas when it's raining.
Being white or lighter skinned in the Philippines is the goal of a lot of women. They associate this with being rich. It's not desirable to be dark because they associate this with being poor, because poor people work in the fields.
I went back to the Philiipines after 6 years of stay in the States, I was darker because I love gardening and was mostly outdoors. When my relatives saw e, they said that I looked like I was a farmer. That was funny. I told them that I could care less because I love working outside. They said, you don't look like a Nurse. So I educated them the way it is is in the U.S. People don't think that way and that women love to have a nice tan.
Another misconception in Asia is that if one is fat and has a big stomach, they think that the person is rich and that means he has a lot of food to eat.. It's funny how many cultures differ. If one is thin and trim, people in the Philippines would think that the person does not have anything to eat.
thatcantbdcase Aug 13th 2009 6:47AM
I am Nigerian American. A number of women do use skin lighteners but the reasons range from blending discoloration to actually obtaining a lighter skin tone. However, contrary to what someone wrote prior, Africans historically have placed high value on bloodlines and profess no desirability in having white blood in their ancestry. In fact, this has generally been frowned upon (of course as with everywhere else, folks are getting more liberal in these areas).
I believe in Nigeria and the rest of SSA, status is conferred to being lighter simply because the lighter the more you stand out in an otherwise dark skinned population. Even with the history of colonization, I don't feel it has much to do with Euro imperialism on a day to day level. Also noteworthy is that distinct lighter skinned populations (non-mixed Igbos; Arab-mixed Fulanis) existed in Nigeria pre arrival of the Europeans.
Annie Scott Aug 19th 2009 2:38PM
"Death is a problem with this cosmetic" LOL, that's terrible.