Although this article is about Senegal, skin lightening is
an issue all over the world including the Middle East, Jamaica and the rest of the
Caribbean.
It is sad that people have such low self-esteem and devalue
their own looks so much that they are willing not only to spend time and money
to change their skin colour but that they are even willing to endure pain –
whether it is risking chemical burns while bleaching their skin or sunburns while
tanning it. And unfortunately, the problem is not an individual issue but a
symptom of our societal issues around race and beauty.
Perhaps the most disheartening thing of all is that the article
ends with a sentence that only serves to reinforce the racially prejudiced
thinking that causes people to try and lighten their skin. The article quotes a
dermatologist, the expert opinion in the piece, as saying "When women who
use these creams stop, they look horrible. They actually start looking more
black, all the side effects manifest at the same time, which they just can't
accept."
It seems even in 2012 (and even in an article discussing the
dangers of skin lightening) black is still interchangeable with horrible.
Check out the story here and let me know what you think in the
comments.
This is such a huge problem in Africa that it's beyond reason, I know many women that for years have been doing this. These are Indian, Middle Eastern and African women not just one race in particular. What leads to this how these societies are so obsessed with being light skinned they see as a privilege to be light skinned.It saddens me that as black women is't hard enough, we have this as well to haunt us and create inner hatred as well as feed negativity and insecurity to our children.
ReplyDeleteThis issue saddens me that my "people of colour" sees the need to lighten their skin with dangerous chemical while white and light skinned people "bake" themselves on a tanning bed. When are we going to be happy with the way we are born?
ReplyDelete