I saw this in the paper yesterday and it just made me livid. Here's the thing -- if "brighteners," formerly known as bleach, were just being advertised as something to make your skin luminous, I'd probably pass it off as just another snake oil ad. Yes, bleaches are bad and have their own racist connotations*, but this ad goes so far beyond that. I know you can't see the photo well, but allow me to describe it.
On the left, the before pic, there is an olive-skinned woman with curly brown hair, distinctly brown eyelashes and eyebrows, and mocha-colored lips. She also has blue eyes, which is a fairly unusual combination, but not unheard of. The right side, the after, has porcelain skin (which is what the product is supposed to do) but also blond hair, eyebrows, eyelashes,, and rosy lips. The after, in short, could not possibly match the before without the application of other, probably dangerous, products (I don't even know if eyelash bleaching is a cosmetic option, but let's assume it is).
Those traits, including the improbable blue eyes, are generally considered the "preferable" traits. Why? Because they're rare. Most normal women don't look like this. But okay, most normal women don't have 22 inch waists and double-E breasts, either. Our society has flipped out. But if it were just this, this constant pressure for women to fit an ideal that barely exists, I probably would have thrown the newspaper into the recycling bin with the briefest thought: "Piece of shit."
But what really bothered me is that the half a woman on the left looks ethnic, perhaps Hispanic. And on the right, there's no question -- she's white. Within African-American culture, there's a distinction between skin colors, and generally, the lighter the better. Asian women regularly use bleaching products like this because again, lighter is better. There was a study recently that immigrants with lighter skin tones make more money than those with darker skin. Do we really want to continue to perpetuate this sort of discriminiation? Wasn't it FORTY years ago that MLK hoped his children were not judged by the color of their skin? I mean, why do we still do this to each other and to ourselves? I just don't understand.
3 comments:
My skin's so white, it's almost clear. Trust me people, it's not any better.
The funny thing about this is that it is only in "white" culture that the whiter the skin you have the unhealthier, socially unacceptable, and poorer you are. Everyone looks at the "tanned" as healthy products of the "good life" (aka the leather women on the show that shall not be named, but live behind the orange curtain) This has always killed me-since I am naturally white and did not like to tan and my sister is naturally dark and loved to tan. So in San Diego culture, I was seen as a misanthrope outcast and my sister was seen as "hot" in a "white way" not a Latina way. I wished I was naturally darker in a "Latina" way because I think that's "hot". Instead I am seen, just as my twin, Monkeygirl, as striking with light skin and dark hair and eyes. So, I guess it's all relative. Oh, and by the way, I don't subscribe to women's magazines any more for that reason-the ads always shouted, "Fix what is wrong with you!!!"
I'm glad you de-lurked!
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