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Skin Bleachers in Jamaica

Despite being entirely illegal, skin lightening creams are big business both in the UK and in Jamaica - but who are the women - and men - who use them? And who sells them?

Colonialism leading to the whiter the better, the blacker the worse mentality...Thanks a lot, Britain.
Lighter is Better

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Words fail me. This is too painful to read.

Yes. It is really painful to see. this is just...

When I first read about the bleaching years ago I was horrified. Bleaching products are bad enough but some women who cannot afford those are actually using bleach. It’s really sad.

At the same time way too many (white) people tan themselves until they look like raisins. Both habits are equally unnecessary and even dangerous. They cause skin problems and even cancer. I fail to see any conspiracy by the cosmetic industry here – people have always admired and/or wanted what they don’t have. Take a blond child to Italy and local people find the child really beautiful. Even though their own children are adorably cute. When I visited New York and stayed at a family friend’s (she’s from Curacao) place at Bronx I wanted to adopt all the lovely little girls with braids and gorgeous smiles. Their equally gorgeous mothers might have objected though...

On the other hand people have always been decorating their bodies through the history by dieting, using various hair-styles, wearing colorful clothes, pearls and beads etc. Tattoos used to be part of a tribal culture, later on just sailors and prisoners were tattooed but now it’s hard to find a (young) person without a tattoo. Personally I find “body carving” revolting. Mainly because just thinking about the pain makes me ill. But who am I to judge? I’m just hoping “the bone through the nose” fashion doesn’t come back... ;)

Adores_draco, White British people instituted a society that said that dark skin was ugly and foul and evil, and white skin was the pinnacle of beauty. This was backed up by using the imagery of teh Christian religion: white =good, black =bad. This kind of BS had a profound and very fucked up impact on many Caribbean populations, especially since economically, since the lighter skinned you were, the more economic and social opportunities you were able to get. This kind of prejudice still endure today, it is no coincidence that many of the poverty-striken people in the innercity are darkskinned. The fact of their poverty and its resultant dehumanisatiion. leaves them more vulnerable than other populations to the siren song that says maybe if I am a little lighter, life will turn out better for me. Cosmetic companies capitalize on this and reinforce the prejudices when they market these dangerous creams to them. What is worse, many creams when marketed to Third World people's contain even worse ingredients than they would have have marketed to First Wold people's , due to the fact that very inadequate legislation governing this kind of thing is on place. I consider the cosmetics industry predatory and completely morally and ethically bankrupt for thus profiting off a very disgusting and insidious piece of neo-imperialism.

This kind of imperialism is not comparable to historical methods of adornment. Setting up a paradigm that privileges one race's features over another is one weapon in the fight to subjugate and exploit us. Its is not, I repeat, NOT a harmless episode in the history of bodily enhancement, and I find that assumption trivializing and insulting. The personal psychological damage from this type of nonsense is massive and it's societal implications are most dire.

I knew I shouldn't have written anything... I was afraid I would annoy you. As I've told you several times I admire how passionately you feel about race issues. I'm not a native speaker so whatever I'm trying to say might seem naive or even impolite. I definitely do not mean to trivialize or insult. But I think that people have always wanted what they don't have and that's one of the main reasons we have all these problems.

I quite agree with you that it is still unfortunately a white man's (definitely man's!) world. It's most certainly not fair that people get paid better if they're a) white b) male c) tall (ridiculous but true). The colonial policy of the British was of course horribly wrong and it's sad it still affects so many people.

The sins of the cosmetic industry are various but I still think that marketing the beauty of a tanned skin to white people is as wrong as selling whitening products to darker skinned people. It's naturally all about the money. No matter that there're too many cases of skin cancer. I just think it would make more sense to teach people (at school etc.) that they're beautiful, valuable and good just as they are. No matter what race, religion or skin color. Maybe they wouldn't be fooled to buy dangerous and unnecessary products.

I just think it would make more sense to teach people (at school etc.) that they're beautiful, valuable and good just as they are.

Go look at some of the advertising being used to market these products in developing ountries. There's plenty of it youtube. Its not as simple as 'just teach them' when there is a multibillion dollar industry out to profit from the opposite.

But I think that people have always wanted what they don't have and that's one of the main reasons we have all these problems.

But perhaps people don't have education or money in places where skin lighteners sell so well is that black people/darker skinned people are kept in poverty and ignorance by white racism and colorism shoved into and around these communities by way of colonization, post-colonization, and wealth-stripping through colonization and post-colonization.

I still think that marketing the beauty of a tanned skin to white people is as wrong as selling whitening products to darker skinned people.

How are these equal?

There aren't 'tanned people' who hold entire economies hostage on a global level. There aren't 'tanned' people buying and selling nations in the world markets from other 'tanned people'. There aren't tanned people buying up European nations through opportunistic lending plans and owning most of those nations economies for generations at a time.

Edited 2009-04-09 17:41 (UTC)

marketing the beauty of a tanned skin to white people

A lot of people were bringing this up in the comments section of the post

unusualmusic linked to, and there's a discussion there about why it's different.

sorry. had to jump in. *twitch*

Feel free to jump in at anytime. Thanks.

"Both habits are equally unnecessary and even dangerous. They cause skin problems and even cancer. I fail to see any conspiracy by the cosmetic industry here – people have always admired and/or wanted what they don’t have."

not even remotely the same dynamic and you know it.

Ponds Flawless White to the rescue! *retch*

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