Better whiter
My girlfriend is traveling through Southeast Asia for a few months, and commented today on the sheer abundance of skin whiteners that she was finding in pharmacies throughout Thailand, Laos, and Hong Kong. Whiter is considered better, more attractive. One explanation is that the obsession with lighter skin is rooted in a centuries old concept (common also to European cultures) that light skin is a sign of nobility or aristocracy — those with lighter skin weren’t working out in the fields all day getting tan. Light skin was a privilege. But of course, another interpretation would suggest that the powers of colonialism and the continued mass infiltration of US/EU cosumerist ideologies have a nefarious effect on cultural self-image. One look at any fashion spread, advertisement, movie, TV show, etc. would tell the story that “whiter is better”.
Needless to say, the skin whitening products on the market (usually over the counter) are nasty stuff. There has been a serious increase in cases of mercury poisoning in China due to skin whiteners over the past few years. It’s both very popular and a very contentious issue throughout Southeast and East Asia.
From CNN.com:
“In what may be the biggest toxic cream outbreak ever, 1,262 people flocked to a hotline set up by Hong Kong’s health department [in May 2002], after warnings that two whitener creams — Rosedew and La Rose Blanche — had mercury levels between 9,000 and 65,000 times the recommended dose.”
So for my “search a day”, I thought I’d check out some of these products. Here are a couple of selections from the advertisements that I found.
