The Skin Debacle
The crude implication that white skin is the right skin is one of the main reasons that Black people stay mentally constrained and unable to reach the potential of global economic influence, educational wealth, and unity.
For the most part, the African men that I have been exposed to care about (1) The bone structure/physical characteristics of a woman’s face (2) (probably moreso than 1), Her body. No matter how skinny a girl is, as long as she has…..endowment, then she’s alright. Typically, bigger women are more admirable because the size of a woman forecasts her ability and success in bearing children. (3) She can’t be dumb. By dumb, I don’t necessarily mean women that didn’t pursue secondary or post-secondary degrees and excel; by “she can’t be dumb”, I mean a woman has to be able to reason, multitask, and handle a household (cook, clean, raise 5-6 children, run a small family business, etc.). These three things were what I observed growing up as the standard of African beauty. Women who may get teased for their features, dark skin, heaviness, etc. in the West, were always the ones that the men in my family appreciated.
CASES In POINT:
By Western standards, Serena Williams’ facial and physical features are described as masculine because of her athletic build and dark skin. By African standards, her facial bone structure is stunning and her body is perfect.
After competing on ANTM, Toccara starred on Celebrity Fit Club, since by Western standards she’s just too big. By African standards, she should stay just as she is.
Kelly Rowland is petite compared to the other two examples, but she still has a figure. Who I once heard referred to as “Destiny’s dark child” (I don’t want to talk about that day), is the favorite DC member of most of my African (and American) friends. While by Western standards her skin may be a bit darker than mainstream entertainers, she is flawless to many African men that I know. (Side Note: This may be why her following is so large in the UK, and even why she chooses to stay there. The UK has a huge African population.)
While the above three women are good examples of the Western/African beauty comparison, there is currently an underground trend occurring in Africa that is warping concepts of beauty: skin bleaching.
Most Africans don’t like talking about it. We are a proud people and don’t like to admit that self-hatred, insecurity, and colonial oppression affected us as seriously as it did. And while for the most part traditional standards of beauty are still respected and upheld, there is now an elephant in the room that refuses to be still, that is now facing us in a dead-lock gaze of opposition and confrontation.
Skin bleaching has been around for a long time. Shulamite, Solomon’s bride in the bible opens up the scribe with reference to her darkness and how she was scolded by her brothers for it. As punishment, they made her stand outside and watch their tents for them.
Skin bleaching traveled to White Europeans also, mostly women and men from the southern and eastern regions, who wanted to look more like the Anglo-Saxon members of their race.
Skin bleaching has been all up and through Asia, a trend that I will (DEFINITELY) expound on later.
Sigh.
Now our turn.
We see them all the time on ethnic aisles at the supermarket, claiming to remove blemishes and freckles. The horrible thing about these creams is that they contain highly toxic chemicals like ammoniated mercury, which has health risks like weakening the immune system and basically melting your skin off. It is also sad because you’ll rarely hear someone say, “Yeah, so, after I bleached my skin this morning….” People that use these products usually do it in secret, and suffer from serious mental inferiority complexes. Think in terms of someone that has bulimia or anorexia. They won’t admit the problem, because they think they are in need of the harm that they cause themselves because of a standard that was instilled into their mindsets.
BBC was probably one of the first to uncover the skin-bleaching industry in the UK a while back. The African population there bought both creams and pills to lighten their skin, most convinced that it would increase their chances of landing good jobs, mates, etc. Soon after, I heard a news story of a South African boy that actually took a bath in bleach, permanently damaging his skin and tampering with his immune system. When asked what inspired him to do it, he said it was to compete for a job. As what? A busboy.
The struggle to survive, to be viable competitors of good jobs and lives in a growing global economy is both killing young African men and women, and rupturing former ideals of beauty. Media also play a role as we see with African-American struggles in the United States and the blatant existence of colorism in both the Caribbean and many Latin American countries. I wonder if the singer Estelle, for instance, would’ve ever been able to make it off of just her talent in mainstream American pop-culture. My guess is probably not. Pop-culture now is barely about talent at all. It is about image. European image. Therefore, the more “globalized” media become, the more products like this will line African store shelves:
<– Black Genocide
Although Africa currently needs the investments that globalization provides to restore their economies, allowing foreign media, businesses, and tourism also comes with the threat of distorting the concept of beauty, pride, and confidence, as we know it.
International (Recognizable) Black Female Stars:
……………………………………….
hmMMMMMMMMMM. Which one of these DOESN’T MATCH THE OTHER ONES………
Wow. Such variation. I’m inspired.
Tags: African-Americans, Estelle, Skin bleaching, South Africa, UK
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July 9, 2008 at 11:43 am
Hello
I am an African brotha and that Serena Pic is on Point ………………I discovered your blog yesterday and you have touched on very important issues and i applaud you for that …………
I second what you said about Kelly ,back in the destiny child debut i had my eyes on her n her only i did not hear about beyonce this beyonce that until i got to America ………..Kelly is definitely my favorite (sidenote = she still got it going on to these days )………………
July 10, 2008 at 11:41 am
I second the Kelly motion. Its a shame that she had to move to where she was more accepted though. Personally I didn’t think she should have moved. She should have made them like her here. It makes it seem like she ran away just because people didn’t think she was pretty enough.
July 13, 2008 at 10:05 pm
personnaly i love to have estelle’s skin tone
July 22, 2008 at 10:36 am
You are so right. And to Colombe: Nothing is worse than having a person say that they “wish” they had something that they will never experience especially when it’s on the bottom of a heirarchy. Come on now, you don’t wish you had her skin tone, just use what you have a date/love women who do.
August 14, 2008 at 4:31 am
we have become perpetrators of this one ourselves i am a dark skinned kenyan woman and i love everything about me from the colour of my skin to my strong(not nappy) hair that i can do most anything with. i also have adult acne as a result of a hormonal imbalance that runs in my family and i love it, it gives me character! because of the stereotype or maybe despite it, i have no particular interest in light-skinned guys or gals even though i have friends who are. i love them for who they are. many light skinned people have an air of self importance and many, not all, often act as if that itself is enough to get them through life. in my book, the darker you are the more beautiful you are to me. God was not laughing when he made that decision, he had a plan!
September 4, 2008 at 6:12 pm
I am in awe of this blog. You hit the nail so many times, I tremble lol. Thanks a lot for this, I pray that many more read this blog and come to terms with the issues that we have all as africans living outside of Africa or even still on the continent. The problem is really deep, it has to do with self-acceptance and love. In order for black ( dark)women to start bleaching, they will have to begin to accept that they are beautiful just the way they are because God intended for them to be so. I am from the Ivory Coast and a lot of the ladies I know have been bleaching their skin. You will see that mostly the uneducated ones will do it as a way to get ahead. Some of the professional ladies do it to only because they want to catch bigger fish. In the end, no one really benefits from it and I have to say that it does not speak well of us in the eyes of others. What type of legacy are we leaving for the next generation? I don’t have children but I don’t think I want my daughters to follow these footsteps in trying to reject who God created them to be. They are a lot more issues that I believe we need to address as well. African people have not learned to really embrace one another and I pity that. We hate one another and then we come to American wanting our African-Americans brothers and sisters to welcome us with open arms when deep inside we can not stand them. Always stereotyping people without giving them a chance to prove themselves and this goes on both sides. It’s time to call a truce I believe, we can’t continue to perpetuate the ignorance generations after generations.
October 22, 2008 at 5:10 pm
your blog was awesome, really moving, and enlightening for me. I’m a white gurl, but I got a lot of black friends, including my bf, but they normally don’t talk to me about this kind of stuff. i never really thought much of it honestly. but even before i read this though i always thought that black gurls were beautiful, & looked way better than some of the too skinny white gurls, & i have always been equally attracted to both black and white guyz.
people are just people, god gave us our skin colour and we dont need tanning or bleaching to be considered beautiful.
October 28, 2008 at 12:58 am
Just a comment as a white man - I think the dark skinned women are very beautiful…
November 8, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Hey I’m white and i am obsessed with black women. I understand why some black people would wish to become lighter but i don’t think it’s right. The face features still remain african, and there is nothing wrong with it. Dark skin is sexy as everything else in the black race. Even if bleaching was safe i wouldn’t like it. Just be proud and be yourselves. Spit pon racists and haters
November 10, 2008 at 6:02 pm
this is wack fuck your opinion …i hope you die
November 12, 2008 at 12:55 pm
The entire world is under pressure to look a certain way. An article about “western” influence on the “african/african american” is simply a bias approach. Have you ever seen the ammount of tanning salons in North America? What about the hugely popular lip enlargments? It would appear that white women are attempting to look like beyonce as well. The problem is not the “opressive” media but the lack of self-confidence is the female world. All the males in fashion/entertainment advertising are portrayed with tanned, hairless washboard abs and perfect teeth but you very rarely hear the male community complain because we don’t let it affect us. It’s another typical “plight of the (insert minority here)” article.
November 16, 2008 at 3:44 pm
This site should be shut down! Why are you incuraging segregation. What about the white folks that clearly hate with all due respect, there skin, body figure and type and facial features. African women have there natural hues. Pale skin people lost theres because that group of African people traveled to colder climates. I have a higher education, read and study human journey so you will not be confused.