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Full Disclosure: I'm white Skin bleaching is a cosmetic procedure where one lightens their skin tone. There's a variety of ways of doing this, one of the worst being a chemical cocktail that literally peels away your skin. More benign methods include creams though sometimes these have toxic chemicals in them such as mercury. One perspective on skin bleaching is that it is akin to tanning or other cosmetic modifications such as piercings. Another is that skin bleaching is a response to colonialism and deeply-entrenched cultural values that trend to favoring lighter skin. Obviously, geography plays a big role for any conversation around skin bleaching. While skin bleaching is seen as benign in some places, such as Japan, in others skin bleaching products are outright banned, such as South Africa. If you want more information just about the cosmetics of skin bleaching, wikipedia is where I went and it seemed fine to me, but I'm far from familiar with this subject. Okay, that's the high-school essay intro for the thread. Skin bleaching is a big deal where I'm living right now, which is Jamaica. Some people view it as harmless, others view those who do it as race-traitors or outright racist, and then there's a lot of in-between. I made this thread to help get more perspective on this issue and to better prepare myself for when the kids I work with engage me on this subject; I want to be able to provide them a meaningful response, so far, all I can really muster is "I don't think you need to do that to be beautiful/handsome/successful". Some of the older kids are aware of how racist the world is though and don't take that response too seriously. But my situation is unique! Other cultures have different experiences with this subject and I welcome those conversations. I was unaware, for instance, that Japan did skin bleaching as well but that the emphasis is primarily on the face and not the body. In Jamaica, it's more extreme with some Jamaicans using dangerous mixes of chemicals to burn their skin off. If your response to this is "Do not police what people do with their bodies," I understand. If your response is, "that's not your place to talk about it," I understand. Please share those thoughts.
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Sep 25, 2016 21:02
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Here's an article if you guys want something more substantial to respond to: http://www.dontparty.co.za/africa/whiter-shade-of-pale/ quote:South Africa, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, and more recently the Ivory Coast have banned “skin whitening” creams and lotions over fears that the cosmetic products can cause longterm health problems. There is definitely a conflict between what authorities are trying to asset and what the general population is doing in South Africa.
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Sep 25, 2016 23:43
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DeusExMachinima posted:i thought this thread was going to be about why people bleach their buttholes skin bleaching and poo; a journey from brown starfish to white eye Liberal_L33t posted:It is important to remember that skin tones have no inherent value one way or the other. I hear this. I feel slightly bad telling the young girls that they're skin is beautiful because I'm reinforcing a gender norm that they're supposed to be working towards beauty as a woman. They get enough poo poo when they don't act like the right kind of woman, I'm worried that my statements are pushing them to recognize their only value is their body. woke wedding drone posted:Beyond issues of disrespect, there's not too much to say. If you try to say that society values their darker color, well, that isn't true. They will face increased discrimination if they don't do it. The problem is not the kids wanting the product, the problem is everything that led up to them wanting it. This is helpful for me. I should try to direct their attention to attitudes and paths that can let them get to where they want to be. And if that path is just to look paler with no other purpose, then I guess there's not much to say to that person. But if it's because they believe they'll be more successful if they're pale, I can articulate other methods of achieving success or challenge them to better describe what that success is. I don't know. Thanks for the responses so far y'all.
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Sep 26, 2016 05:01
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