Beyond The Pale By Indo-China

The fascination for white skin has been around since colonial times, during which skin bleaching made its first appearance. Skin bleaching products lighten the tone of one’s skin by chemically removing the melanin in the skin. The melanin is what naturally pigments your skin; the more melanin a body has the darker that body is. Lightening one’s skin would require removing a physical part of yourself and many women do so—willingly. Although it is in their right to alter their body as they see fit, I can’t help but wonder why? Women around the world bleach their skin in pursue of fairer skin for various reasons such as beauty, social mobility, and fitting the trend, among others. Advertisers take advantage of the stigmatization of black by alluding

Paul asserts “In the marriage trade fair skin is virtually the single most highly prized attribute a bride can command.” Essentially, in cultures with arranged marriages, having light skin raises the chances of attracting a wealthy husband. The value of a woman is literally based off the color of her skin. In areas with these traditions men choose their wives and the bride to be has no choice. Therefore, the complexion of a man does not have high stakes. A man does not have to worry about his appearance for the sake of mating since he has the power. Interestingly enough, the wives must not only be light skinned, but they must birth light skinned babies. During pregnancy the women are encouraged to eat white foods such as rice, yogurt, and cashews in hopes of having a light skinned child. However, the obsession with fair skin doesn’t end there. A video posted on YouTube of a commercial aired in India reveals that light genitals are also desired. The commercial begins with sad playing music while a woman stares longingly at her significant other--who seems uninterested. The ad then introduces the skin bleaching product and assuming that this woman used the product the video pans back to the couple. This time the music is happy and up-beat and the male seems engaged and playful. The message of this

This helps in understanding how so few women of color have won the coveted Miss America beauty contest. This along with awareness among women in the Africa-diaspora that the women who have been seen by society as sex symbols have in fact been light skinned (Lena Horne, Vanessa Willias, Halle Berry) only adds to pressures women of African descent face to bleach their skin. These outside pressures do not seem to stir men at all. In large part because bleaching products were pitched as beauty items women