Skin Bleaching (Beauty Myth)

Women are often compelled to recognize that light skin is associated with higher status, privilege, and beauty since this notion is firmly embedded in our culture. Skin color and the impact on women’s lives have been a topic of discussion since the last decade. We see both racism and colorism in cases of color stratification, thus eventually gives rise to prejudice, discrimination, and various unwanted behaviors. Colorism is meant to describe the system that benefits the fair and smooth skin over the relatively dark-skinned people in the society (Hunter, 2002). The effect of skin color can be a strong determinant not only in the cases of education and income, but it has also played a pivotal role in beauty, aesthetics, and culture.

The history of colorism and segregation has been associated with colonialism and focused on slavery in most literature. One reason behind this is the tendency to consider light skin related to Europeans and symbolize higher status, whereas the darker skin tone was associated with Africans or people of a lower class. Though colonialism no longer exists, these internalized colonialism behaviors are seen in our society (Blauner, 1972). In many African communities, the slave owners divided the people based on their skin color, thus creating distrust, disparity, and hatred, minimizing the chances of revolt or protest. With no significant revolution, the messages of white supremacy were increased and reinforced among American and European societies. They also made the race system mean that people of color are ignorant, lazy, and provincial; these racial meanings are born from various Spanish colonialism and American Imperialism sentiments (Lux and Vigil, 1989). Instead, it was the lives of women who were most severely affected as they had limited access to education and income. Thus, skin color and beauty became a pivotal role in their identity. The definitions of beauty have been highly conflated with white skin so that even beauty products are made and marketed based on that. Besides, Thompson and Keith (2001) have found out that the skin color of women and their self-esteem has a significant level of connection in our society. As a result, we can conclude that woman is beautifying herself. By lightening her skin color, a woman may significantly increase the chances of higher education, getting a good job, and even getting a promotion.

In the cases of women of color, researchers have conducted the most detailed study in patients of years of schooling and the changes of personal income based on their skin tone. The role of skin color has been seen widely in both cases, where women of color are falling behind only because of their skin color in most cases, as seen in the researches of Hunter (2002). We see that a woman with light color skin has over one entire year of additional academic experience than their dark color counterparts with similar backgrounds and characteristics. This also means a very dark brown-skinned woman will go through 1 less year of education than a woman with light, light brown skin. Thus, the disparity can be seen in education as a fair skin woman will get more education than a dark skin woman of similar characteristics and background. The researchers priorly based these factors and studies on the hierarchy of women of color by lightness called "pigmentocracy" (Leeds, 1994). We can also see the cases of such disparity in matters of income among women of color. For example, an African American woman earns $673 less per year than their lighter skin counterpart. If it comes to the comparison of a very dark woman brown and a very light brown woman, then the margins go up by $2600 a year. In short, we can see that light skin increases the chances of higher pay, whereas darker skin decreases the likelihood of higher payment and promotion. Education and Income both are crucial factors for socio-economic status. The social status of a woman plays a significant role in their lies as light skin color women are often considered of higher status and are likely to marry from high status. Because of this white skin color, women with the same background and characteristics have been given priority in most societies. These findings by Hunter (2002) prove that light skin is established as a valuable commodity for women, which allows them greater access, high status, and well-education.

The effect of beauty and glowing skin can be seen in the increased use of K-beauty products with the following increase of K-pop and K-Drama. K-beauty, a term for all the skincare, makeup, and body products that are imported from South Korea (Wood, 2016). The high-point of Korean products was seen from 2010 to 2017 when the Google search trends for both Korean skincare and Korean makeup increase. The companies marketed the products to provide glassy, flawless, or dewy skin, which in common words means hydrated, smooth, and acne-free skin. Manu has gone too far and even taken a skincare routine, which is often called 10-step Korean skincare regimen, which includes around ten products to be used daily. These products became appealing to the consumers because of their mid to low price tag compared to their western counterparts. This allows the consumers to practice or change their routines easily. But if we inspect such advertisements of Korean cosmetic and beauty products, it forms a myth that these products are originated from nature, which highly stresses safe care. But the strong marketing and the ongoing social pressure have lead many to believe that such skincare is indeed necessary, as white or fair skin is gaining more acceptance among the people.

One of the aspects of beauty can be closely associated with the medicalization of beauty and how beauty standards have changed over the past few decades. Given the cultural emphasis on self-fulfillment and success, the producers of enhancement technologies, from drug companies to cosmetic surgeons, now market them as instruments of self-expression and liberation, promising just the proper intervention to improve the quality of one ’ s psychic experience, outer appearance, or social performance. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons(2011) studies, cosmetic surgery now includes both surgical and non-surgical aspects that change the structure of the body alongside enhances appearance, confidence, and self-esteem. The diverse marketing strategies and medials idealize specific standards of beauty by showcasing a particular body image and providing solutions to achieve that particular body through surgery and medications (Teague, Mackenzie, & Rosenthal, 2011). The role of surgeons and healthcare professionals has become more critical in this regard as vulnerable patients should be made aware of the risks, benefits, and downsides of such surgeries. Research has shown that this kind of surgery or beauty enhancement product might lead to cancer, blood clot, and severe complication of the body. Thus, the terms and aspects related to cosmetic surgery and beauty should be researched and assessed further so that the correct information which has not been medically or therapeutically termed are found and delivered.

We can see a different type of discrimination based on skin color in the Indian Subcontinent, where the roots come from various caste systems and superstitious beliefs. Historians have hypothesized that the class and caste divisions have been the practice since the defeat of the darker-skinned indigenous Dravidian population by the hands of fair-skinned Caucasian Aryans (Shevde, 2008). Later on, these rifts were further emphasized through various religions as devils and demons were described as darker-skinned, whereas gods and heroes were fair-skinned and benevolent. Though a good deal of might argues about the role of ancient scriptures in promoting racism based on skin color, they have created a deep admiration for fair skin in the people. The British raj period further increased the divisions based on skin color as many native Indians started considering fair skin as a sign of superiority and higher intellect. These superstitions are still seen today, as Unilever has successfully used these business opportunities and India's obsession with lighter skin tones to profit from cosmetic products like Fair and Lovely. The agencies market these products for young women from the age of 18-35, and the price range best suits the middle class (Shevde, 2008). Its most significant market share of consumers is focused in India’s southern part, where a considerable portion of the population hails from people of comparatively darker complexion. The Indian film industry, i.e., Bollywood, also plays a crucial role in marketing and spreading such commodities as several popular actors promote such beauty and cosmetic products. We even saw fair and lovely to market a montage of images which was termed as various stages of the skin whitening process. Alongside visual imagery of different delicate and pastel-colored flowers like lotuses and roses are used in their promotions of these cosmetic products. These promotional materials blatantly use the promises of social and cultural superstitions. Some ad campaigns have taken it further and added values like if a woman is fair-skinned, she is beautiful and thus will make her family proud (Shevde, 2008). But recently, they have changed their name to Glow and Lovely from their previous name of Fair and Lovely, which implies a more modern message about skin color and empowerment. It is tempting to draw similarities between western hype over skin tanning and Indian obsession towards fair and soft skin. But these beliefs in Indian society have been wired for centuries where the reputation of women depends on marriage, dowry, prestige, and oppression which are linked to their skin color. But evidence suggests that historical and social attitudes towards women and beauty within India are changing and undergoing necessary reforms, but as long as the people remain whitewashed with the notion of fair skin and beauty, beauty products and myths will continue to thrive in the market.

Skin color has been an important factor in the life of women for centuries. They were judged, discriminated and often neglected because of their skin. Though several movements and platforms are working relentlessly to make everyone aware of the facts, a wide number of the audience is still superstitious and believes in various myths which are created solely for reaching marketing goals. As Simone de Beauvoir said, women can be equal to men only if they want it; it is time to clarify the stance that the color of the skin should not be the basis of disparity. Thus, the time has come to judge a person based on their qualities and talent rather than their color of skin.

Reference:

American Society of Plastic Surgeons. (2011). Cosmetic plastic surgery statistics: Cosmetic procedure trends. Retrieved from http://www.plasticsurgery.org/Documents/news-resources/statistics/2010- statisticss/Overall-Trends/2010-cosmetic-plastic-surgery-minimally-invasivestatistics.pdf

Blauner, Robert. (1972). Racial oppression in America. New York: Harper and Row.

Hunter, Margaret L. (2002). If you are right, you’re alright, Gender & Society, Vol. 16 No. 2, April 2002 175-193.

Leeds, Maxine. (1994). Young African-American women and the language of beauty. In Ideals of feminine beauty: Philosophical, social, and cultural dimensions, edited by Karen Callaghan. London: Greenwood.

Lux, Guillermo, and Maurilio Vigil. (1989). Return to Aztlán: The Chicano rediscovers his Indian past. In Aztlán: Essays on the Chicano homeland, edited by Rudolfo Anaya and Francisco Lomelí. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

Shevde, N. (2008). All's Fair in Love and Cream: A Cultural Case Study of Fair & Lovely in India. Advertising & Society Review 9 (2), doi:10.1353/asr.0.0003.

Thompson, Maxine S., and Verna Keith. (2001). The blacker the berry: Gender, skin tone, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. Gender & Society 15:336-57.

Teague, M. L., Mackenzie, S. L. C., & Rosenthal, D. M. (2011). Your health today (3rd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Wood, D. (2016). K-Beauty: The Exhausting Skin-Care Regimen That May Be Worth the Effort. Retrieved March 3, 2021, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/k-beauty-theexhausting-skin-care-regimen-that-may-be-worth-the-effort-1459970031