Burning to be beautiful:

Modern beauty standards drive some to skin whitening—at dangerous costs

Jill Russell - russeljv@plu.edu Mast Op-ED Columnist

Google search: “skin whitening.” You might be surprised at the results. I was.
There are pages upon pages of skin bleaching creams, lotions and balms that promise to enhance your beauty by lightening it.

This is not a new phenomenon.

Take a look in some of the nostalgic, old, black-owned newspapers. The 1930-40s Pittsburgh Courier, the former self-proclaimed “black daily,” freely and frequently advertised skin-bleaching creams (ironically adjacent to reports of the horrors of lynching and editorials promoting black empowerment). A lot has changed in the media, and all self-proclaimed progression aside, it seems beauty standards have been slow to catch up.
“Guaranteed to become lighter and more beautiful.”

Recently I read a BBC report commenting on women in Africa and the growing popularity in bleaching their skin. I read similar reports pertaining to women in Hong Kong, China and throughout the Middle East. These regal women, with their smooth, dark skin were going to great (and dangerous) lengths to chemically whiten their complexions because many explained that darker skin just wasn’t desired anymore.

I understand that the U.S. has a legacy of systemic racism and prejudice that reinforces these ideas of beauty. These ideas are a reflection of the people in power. The majority class. The mainstream. The thing that struck me as strangest about these women is that on their continents, dark skin is the norm. What was motivating these women to go to such dangerous lengths? What was different? What was changing?

One Senegalese woman remarked that it was getting harder to find a husband without being lighter. She explained that the men look to the lighter skinned women they see in the media, like singer Beyoncé Knowles, as their new ideals of beauty.

So. The media was one of the roots of the entire ruckus.

What’s next? Are they going to say there are systemically racist ideas of “white being superior” and they also add fuel to the fire?

Ok, being serious for a minute.

As a future media professional, I cringe at the thought of my technology being used to spread racially destructive ideas. I am also very aware of the power that the media has to persuade, cajole and reinforce our overly stringent ideas of male and female beauty.

The media gives us messages and information everyday. The advertisements try and convince us of who we are, what we want, where we want to go, and who we think is beautiful.

“Because you’re worth it.”

These messages are then circulated around the world. But let’s think about it for a minute. What image is being circulated? The images we see every day project the same standards of beauty that have always been there: young, light and thin.

It seems to me that the world is in a time of great societal progression. As one of the strongest nations in the world, the U.S. is taking the great leap into a new era with the emergence of our first bi-racial and woman presidential candidates.

A lot of citizens believe that these two trailblazers are proof that the U.S. is truly changed. We have finally reached that “Promised Land” Martin Luther King Jr. prophesied decades ago.

But then we are reminded that we still have a long way to go. In the midst of all the talk of progression, we are still oblivious to the damaging little details. What makes us who we are?

What about us makes us unique and valuable to this world? We all have things we wish we could change about ourselves. Some want to be taller, thinner, have better hair. But really, what is beauty but a figment of our imaginations? A socially constructed concept. Abstract in its purest form.

The most important thing we have to remember is whose standards we are trying to live up to and why those standards were created in the first place.

“Maybe she’s born with it.” You’re damn right she is.