How widespread is this??

Question

Skin bleaching? . I'm of Asian descent and I was horrified by this article.

(Edited): "On sale in the high street: a face cream called Maxi White, a £4.79 gel with overnight results. [This is] the biological equivalent, of paint stripper. It removes the top layer of skin, increasing the risk of skin cancer. If the chemical - which is used in certain industrial processes - enters your bloodstream, it can cause fatal liver+kidney damage, headaches, nausea, convulsions and permanent scarring.
Elizabeth Arden's Indian 'whitening' range is represented by Catherine Zeta Jones. Another advert, by Unilever, which markets several whitening products in India, shows a young Indian woman dreaming of being famous, but her skin is too brown. One day her sister hands her a tube of Fair And Lovely skin cream. Then the advert flashes forward: her complexion has changed dramatically; she is pale and has landed her dream job."

VILE. What the hell is going on???

Jibba Jabba - I care, otherwise I wouldn't have posted this monologue, would I?!

rukidding: that's the whole point - a huge company has picked someone with a fair complexion to market their skin whitening products in an Asian country!! Surely you see my point? They are pushing the idea that pale skin = beauty and dark skin, and that to be considered ''beautiful'', Indian women need to use these products!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=428541&in_page_id=1879

I understand your perspective, Shalom, my parents are Indian, hence I am by descent too.

Answer 1

That is awful. So many people seems to be unhappy with their natural complexion. I am very pale and people who are like me are always wearing fake tan to make their skin "nicer". And Indian and black people are bleaching their skin. We should all just appreciate are differences, if we all were the same shade of brown the world would be a very boring place. Just enhance your natural type of beauty. I dress in a way that flatters my look, and I go with what I am, if I was black or Indian I would do the same. Embrace who you are don't fight it. Every race has its own kind of beauty.

Answer 2

Its shocking but absolutely true in India: "fairness" creams are big business, though not the MaxiWhite kind....most of the fairness creams sold there claim to be based on Ayurvedic herbal mixes. Fair & Lovely is one of the country's best known brands.

It all stems from a misguided belief that fair = beautiful. If you thought the advert was shocking, check out Indian matrimonial ads & sites: almost all bride descriptions will include the word 'fair', like it makes you special or something. Its a deeply ingrained thing in most Indian cultures....something that sensible, brown-skinned girls like me have had to fight against.

Though of course now, people are slowly starting to snap out of this delusion and look beyond skin colour, but its still a long way before Unilever will be forced to stop producing Fair & Lovely.

Answer 3

Its not just a recent thing i had a black friend(am i still allowed to say that?)years ago who used a similar product,its been around for a long time i just think people are just starting to use it more.I expect there will be people with darker skin out there who want to be alot lighter than they are,just like us white guys who go to any extreme to catch the sun so we dont look so pale and intere
sting!Its a fad at the moment even to the point that people are bleaching their genital areas so they dont look so dark!
if people are aware of the risks and are happy doing that to themselfs it is no different to going to any lengths to get a golden tan,which is also harmfull.

Answer 4

You are right, it is Vile and Scary.
These products should be banned, sadly they won't be. Pharmacological Companies are only second in Global dominance too Oil Companies.
No one Government can stand in their way, many Countries together such as the EU cannot stand in their way.
The only real effective pressure that can be brought against such products is domestic and Cultural.

Answer 5

The European standard of beauty (e.g., blonde hair, blue eyes, thin nose, and lips, etc.) pervades and invades every television in the "brown" world...it's a form of mind control and pernicious way to spread self-hatred. As a black American, our history was (is?) rife with the pressure to be lighter skinned, have straighter hair, etc. Don't hear too much about that on television because it's too "controversial" to discuss...but, yes, I've done my research and read about this issue in other "3rd" world countries.

Answer 6

EEWWW!! If it makes your teethe hurt, I can't imagine what it does to the skin! So, you're saying that Catherine Zeta Jones whitened her skin? How do you know that? She IS from Wales after all.

Answer 7

People have a tendancy to try to look like some unattainable beauty. I'm not suprised by this, but I do think it's silly and potentially dangerous.

Answer 8

Gross I wouldn't do that- Is that what Michael Jackson did?? I say be proud of who you are and if someone doesn't like it they're not worth your time. And if you don't get a job based on your skin color sue their pants off!!

Answer 9

People are living wrong.

How could anyone consider himself or others better due to their skin colour? What a deeply racist and bigoted world we live in.

Answer 10

There's also countries in Africa where the women do this. White women tan... darker women bleach ~ can't women just be happy with the way they are?

We are all beautiful ~ and it's our differences that make it that way!