Stigma of dark complexion fading

Stigma of dark complexion fading

By Mehru Jaffer

JAKARTA (JP): In the much acclaimed English film Bhaji on the
Beach, an elderly character of Asian origin blames the breakup of
her son's marriage to the very dark complexion of her
daughter-in-law. She moans something like, "I knew that girl was
no good when I saw how dark she was!" It does not even occur to
the elderly lady to ponder that maybe her son had hurt his wife
so much that she had little choice but to leave him or that the
color of his skin was not much lighter than his wife's!

A desire for white skin, especially in women, has been the
weakness of most Asian societies since the dawn of civilization.
In Japan a white complexion is considered more feminine, in
Indonesia it is associated with the exclusive class of
aristocrats. It has not helped that most parts of Asia were once
under the colonial rule of fair skinned Europeans who invariably
made the dark skinned natives feel like dirt.

Royalty succeeded in guarding its complexion from ruin only
because it could stay indoors and by resting and eating well and
for centuries dark skin was associated with boorish members of
the working class who are looked down on as being crude and
repulsive.

In legends throughout the region, night is dark and to be
feared, a time when unseen creatures take over the world while
human beings rest their eyes in fear and dread. The evil forces
are always dark and to be defeated by brave warriors with
complexions as light as day. In Indonesia the color white enjoys
an image of being clean, chaste, neutral and light.

Despite the catchy slogan, Black is Beautiful, coined in the
1970s to boost the morale of black American women and the desire
of thousands of European women to tan themselves chocolate brown,
cosmetic shelves at drug stores and super markets all over Asia
are lined with various brands of creams and lotions that promise
to lighten the skin of dark women.

Both royalty and the colonialists have long departed from the
region and some of the unfair legends are also fading, but the
stigma of being dark skinned continues to live within Asian
societies. Or does it?

According to a recent study by Professor Miho Saito, a
psychologist at Waseda University, Japanese women in Indonesia do
not desire milk white complexions like Europeans any more. What
they seek is a healthy looking skin with a natural glow. Based on
her study women here have used positive words like happy, soft
and healthy for a wheatish complexion.

Spotted at the launch of an ultra violet natural lightening
cream by Oil of Olay that targets women between the ages of 15
years and 29 years, Ecky, 22, swears that she is content with her
coffee colored complexion. But she has been using the lightening
lotion to clear blemishes and above all to protect her skin from
the sun and pollution. She does not desire a white complexion for
herself.

The other change in the attitude of the modern Asian woman is
that she wants to look and feel good for herself for a change and
unlike her more insecure elders she dresses up not just to please
men or to hook a husband. Educated working women are aware that
long hours under the harsh sun and pollution can tan and damage
the skin.

"What lightening lotions do is to reverse the process of
tanning. It is that damage control that makes the face look
younger, cleaner and not necessarily whiter," explained Dr. Lily
Soepardiman, dermatologist, School of Medicine of University of
Indonesia and consultant to Procter and Gamble, the cosmetic
company that markets more than 300 products to millions of
consumers in over 140 countries.

What Dr. Lily wants women to beware of is the mercury content
in skin lightening creams. The titanium dioxide based creams are
good for the skin as they reflect sunlight, helping to prevent
ultra violet rays from penetrating into the skin.

It was never true that medium to dark skinned people are
immune to the strains of the sun. In fact some darker skins are
found to be even more sensitive than their lighter counterparts.
That dark skin can get burned and bullied as easily by the rays
of the sun is fast becoming common knowledge. The break through
concept is not to lighten the skin but to protect it from getting
unnecessarily tanned.

As for the rich and the mighty who live in palaces, they are
just an illusion. They seem to look better than the majority of
people working for a living only because they are able to protect
themselves from the burning sun and not because they were born
superior.