Why does lighter skinned filipinos get better treatment than darker skinned filipinos?

Question

I am of ilocano descent and have noticed through society and media that lighter skinned filipinos such as "mestizos" or tagalogs have more prestige over darker skinned(complexion)filipinos or people from the province...It may not be the case in america but in the Philippines its quite common to be discriminated upon...esp. for jobs and service. Do you agree?

Answer 1

well thanks to the spanish!!!!
Colonial mentality!

Colonial mentality refers to institutionalised or systemic feelings of inferiority amongst some societies or peoples who have been subjected to colonialism, relative to the mores or values of the foreign powers which had previously subjugated them. The concept essentially refers to the culture or doctrines of the coloniser being accepted by the colonised as intrinsically more worthy or superior. The subject matter is quite controversial.

Origins
Throughout human history nations and peoples have continuously colonised and been colonised. It is said that when a foreign colonial or imperial power is too strong to be effectively resisted, the colonised population often has no other immediate option than to accept the rule of the foreigners as an inescapable reality of life. As time progresses, the colonised natives would perceive the differences between the foreigners and themselves, between the foreigners' ways and the native ways. This would then sometimes lead the natives to mimic the foreigners in power as they began to associate that power and success with the foreigners' ways. This eventually led to the foreigners' ways being regarded as the better way and being held in a higher esteem than previous indigenous ways.

In much the same fashion, and with the same reasoning of better-ness, the colonised soon equates the foreigners' racial strain itself as being responsible for their superiority. The native soon strives to that strain to give their children a better standing in life than just their native genes.


The Spanish Empire
The former subjects of the Spanish Empire - Hispanic America and the Philippines - are the most commonly cited examples where the phenomenon of colonial mentality may be found. Spanish conquistadors, the first European settlers in the New World, divided the conquered lands among themselves and ruled as feudal lords, treating their subjects as something between serfs and slaves, Amerindians and imported indigenous Africans (called black by Europeans) respectively. Some Spaniards, however, objected to this encomienda system, notably Bartolomé de Las Casas, who insisted that the indígenes (natives) were human beings with souls and rights. Serfs stayed to work the land and slaves were exported to the mines, where large numbers of them died. Largely due to the efforts of Bartolomé de Las Casas, the New Laws were adopted in 1542 to protect the Amerindians, but the abuses were not entirely or permanently abolished.

The Spaniards were committed to converting their Amerindian subjects to Roman Catholicism, and were quick to purge any native cultural practices that hindered this end. However, most initial attempts at this were only partially successful, as Amerindian groups simply blended Catholicism with their traditional beliefs. On the other hand, the Spaniards did not impose their language to the degree they did their religion, and the Catholic Church even evangelized in Quechua, Nahuatl and Guarani, contributing to the expansion of these Amerindian languages and equipping them with writing systems.


The Philippines
In the Philippines colonial mentality is most evident in the biased favouritism for Filipino mestizos (primarily those of native Filipino and white ancestry, but also native Filipino and Chinese, etc.) in the entertainment industry and mass media which they have saturated disproportionately, despite constituting the smallest minority in the country.

Of the current demographics of the Philippines, the combined number of all types of mestisos constitute no more than 2% of the entire Filipino population. Of that 2%, less than half are of the Spanish variety, while the rest of the population - constituting 95% and numbering over 80 million - is composed of unmixed native Filipinos. A recent genetic study by Stanford University, however, indicates that just 3.6% of the population has at least some European ancestry. See also Ethnic groups of the Philippines.

The biased favouritism responsible for their overwhelming presence in film and television is deeply-rooted on established Filipino "ideals of beauty" that are determined on the possession of partial European ancestry, an ideal that stems from colonial concepts first introduced by over 300 years of Spanish colonial rule, then by a further generation of Anglo-American occupation.


Physical consequences
One of the more adverse physical consequences in the idealization and acceptance of the racial concepts of colonial mentality can be seen in the high rate of consumer demand for skin bleaching products in the Philippines. Skin-whitening creams have for a long time been popular and widely used in much of the Philippines for the lightening of Filipino skin tones - a South East Asian Malay people - which is inherently darker, in order to achieve the much desired, sought-after "Mestizo look". The products are used primarily by women who have succumbed to the Filipino ideal and colonial doctrine of the idealization of mestizo beauty to the greatest extreme. The consumers of these products, whether conscious or subconsciously, are following the dangerous edict on beauty by continuing to use those products despite the extremely hazardous side effects to their health, including a high risk of various cancers due to many of its active ingredients, including mercury. These products have been banned in the USA, but their sale and demand in the Philippines continues to be widespread.

Either way, despite the lightening of their skin tones, users of such products do not end up looking convincingly "European" or caucasian due to the shape of their skulls and noses, which remain like that of the typical Filipino Malay. A number of Southern Europeans themselves tend to have darker skin. Some women even have nose lifts.


Pedigree and forgery
Colonial mentality is also at the root of a long established Filipino tradition of ethnic forgery used in the attempt to conform to the idealized mestizo pedigree dictated by the former colonial Filipino socio-racial hierarchy. They pass as other races.

This ethnic forgery is characterized by the habit of many Filipino families and individuals claiming mestizo status. It is often accompanied by handed-down oral accounts of a presumed Spanish great-great-grandfather or mestiza great-great-grandmother with no evidence other than a Spanish surname. However, unlike the people of the Hispanic world, of the millions of Spanish-surnamed Filipinos, very few families in the Philippines actually received their Spanish surnames from an actual Iberian ancestor. The overwhelming majority of Filipinos with Spanish surnames acquired them as a result of the Catálogo Alfabético de Apellidos ["Alphabetic Catalogue of Surnames"] decreed to be imposed on the entire Filipino population by the Spanish royal courts in order to facilitate record-keeping and tax collecting.

This preoccupation among Filipinos with identifying as anything other than Filipino also takes on a new form known as IMSCF Syndrome among Filipino Americans in North America and other western countries with expatriate Filipino communities.


Latin America
As in the Philippines, colonial mentality can also be seen in much the same form across Latin America. However, the demographic reality of Latin America is that much of its population is comprised of a majority that is of mixed race, either mestizo (mixed white and Amerindian) or mulatto (mixed white and black), who together they account for approximately 50% of the total population, with a large minority (30%) of Latin Americans of mainly European descent. In the Latin American context, the "Ideal of Beauty" isn't to be of mixed European and other ancestry - as most Latin Americans are of that ancestry - but rather to be unmixed European.

In this instance, the Latin American entertainment industry is saturated with criollos (people of pure Spanish ancestry) or other Europeans, with very few mestizos, basically no mulattos, and much less unmixed blacks or Amerindians. In the Dominican Republic, a predominantly mulatto country, skin whitenning products are also quite popular and readily available.

This European idealisation of beauty has also lead to a condition of ethnic forgery among many Latin Americans. However, in contrast to the Filipino experience where the majority is composed of unmixed native Filipinos of whom some attempt to claim mix-blooded status, in Latin America the norm is for some within the mix-blooded majority to concentrate on attempting to diminish, hide or deny any non-European admixture. These will then often falsely claim to be pure Spanish in their attempts to conform to the idealized pedigree dictated by their Latin American socio-racial hierarchy. See also Passing - Race

A common joke in the United States, among both Hispanics and non-Hispanics alike, is the presence of more blonde and blue-eyed presenters on US-based Spanish language television networks such as Telemundo and Univisión than on the general public networks such as NBC or CBS. In Mexico the joke is made by suggesting the re-naming of media giant TV Azteca into "TV Blanca" (White TV), because in a country of over 100 million, where 60% is mestizo, 30% is Amerindian and 9% is unmixed European, almost every single presenter is an unmixed Spanish descendant or other European, there are almost no mestizos, and there are absolutely no natives after whom the network is supposedly named after, the Aztecs.

Answer 2

I've noticed that. Like on TV, usually the darker skinned Filipino's are the 'comic relief' and the lighter skinned are the ones that get the serious roles.

I think it's just in our programming. Darker means you've been out in the sun all day working...and light means you have the luxury of staying home getting manicures all day. ^_^ It's the whole 'life is better outside of my country' mentality. I think it's just something that has remained in Filipino society (probably since the Spanish came & felt superior to the darker skinned 'real' Filipino's) and is now part of our subconscious. That's my theory anyway.

Answer 3

It is the same everywhere in the world, darker is not better to most people. My wife is Filipino and I am a white American. She comments often on my skin color saying she loves it, but then she apologizes for being tan. I asked her before why so many Filipinos are obsessed with being white? She had no answer. I remember a commercial there on TV that advertised for a product that made the skin lighter. I love the dark hair and tan skin. That is what attracted me to her. Very sexy.

Answer 4

Absolutely. Surely it is a misguided trait continued to be practiced by some Filipinos.

Common names for it include 'colonial mentality' et al. It stems from the branwashing, intentional or otherwise, by the Philippines' ?former? colonial masters, the Spaniards, Americans and the Japanese--mainly the Spaniards.

Arguably, the Filipinos' predisposition to practice and believe in shamellessly discriminative and prejudicial behavior towards others and oneself is one of its greatest weaknesses that hold it down socio-economically in the global society.

Answer 5

This is not a problem just for Philippinos. Studies have been shown that lighter skinned people in all continents get better treatment. For example, in African tribes lighter skinned women are selected first for marriage.

Answer 6

I noticed that a lot. When I visited the Philippines, the first things I noticed was that the advertisements were usually done by light skinned people. Posters, commercials, you name it. What is up with that? My wife tells me that for Filipinos, being light skinned is considered more beautiful.

Answer 7

Well, in asia generally you are prettier and better if you are lighter skinned and seem different, like you are foreign. In the same way that in Europe people want to get tanned and darker and like latino or such.

Answer 8

This kind of discrimination is prevalent among all third world countries, especially Latin American countries where the light or white people has the power and the money to keep the "status quo". The Philippines has the same background as Latin America, with the same virtues and the same sins.
You can see this in the television programing were almost the majority of host and artist have a white complexion.

Answer 9

Sadly this is the trend all over Asia and has nothing to do with colonial attitudes or slave trade.

Dark skin is associated with the poor, being outside all the time, farmers, peasants etc.

White skin is associated with wealth, because you dont have to go out in the sun.

Answer 10

"Women's beauty" in some Asian cultures refer to the whiteness of the complexion rather than overall features - that's why until today Chinese girls/women use umbrellas when walking outdoors to protect their skin from the sun damaging UV rays. Somehow a fair-skinned lady looks more attractive - it's hard to change society's perspectives.

Answer 11

well. . . in asia. . . .they usually think your prettier when you're skin's lighter. . . . .that's just how they are over there. . . . .some people there may make fun or think that darked skinned people are ugly or somethin. . . but i dont think they get discriminated over jobs and services. . . . . .