Although I am a New Zealander with Maori ancestry (kayumanggi), my Scots-Irish genes predominate and I am thus cursed with white skin. I say cursed, because in New Zealand being white is not an advantage. White means sickly, unattractive, and a possibly genetically problematic mate.
Thus, whenever the sun shyly and coquettishly re-emerged after winter, we university students would find a good place to lie naked under its heathen embrace and encourage its life affirming touch to rekindle our chances of getting laid with our new healthy tan. Brown was beautiful. White was…well, the pallor of death.
It was not till I arrived in the Philippines and started work in the English Department at UP Diliman that I discovered how misguided I had been.
The sun was the enemy to be avoided at all costs. Whenever it came out, up went protective umbrellas. People routinely insulted one another by observing that the other had gotten darker (“Umitim ka.”).
What had been the ultimate compliment in my previous life was now the ultimate curse.
Everywhere I looked, there were skin whitening products for sale. The harmony of ebony and ivory was now the promise of ebony to ivory. Before and after billboard posters showed what appeared to me to be a gorgeous morena girl frowning on the left who miraculously transformed into a grinning mestiza version on the right.
I felt perverse. I preferred the left.
Yet, remorselessly, every second ad showed miserable brown girls touched by the fairy god mother of whitening products to become happy, fulfilled white versions. Even their noses grew and their hair straightened, it seemed.
This white thing was no joke. It was serious business. A simple equation was evident: brown equals misery = white equals happiness.
I began to feel better about myself. Hell, I was white. My nose was long. Those very things that had caused me great angst were now an asset. Shit. Why didn’t I come here earlier!
Then I saw Jesus on the side of a jeepney. I saw Jesus on billboards. I even saw little baby Jesus in a million cradles at Christmas. And he was white too!
It was getting even better! Even God was white! Now you couldn’t get a better endorsement than that for a complexion! Staggering! A man born and bred in the Middle East was somehow a Brad Pitt lookalike!
I grant you it makes no sense. He should have looked more like Osama Bin Laden, but maybe he was an albino or maybe Mary had this Filipino obsession with umbrellas. In any event, here I was in a country where white was automatically beautiful. Why fight it?
I therefore, secretly of course, cast off my foolish liberal sentimentality and embraced my new status. I silently thanked the Spanish invaders and the Yanks for managing to so brilliantly infect the minds of 100 million people.
Thank you, Magellan. Thank you, President McKinley.
Although I continue to publicly rail against the obvious insanity and obscenity of all this, deep down, in some Neanderthalian recess of my brain, I thank the invaders and I never forget to give a begrudging nod to the white saints that front Quiapo church as I pass it.
It’s almost enough to turn this atheistic Buddhist, Catholic.
Almost.
They are tricking nutty a guy I had dated & was friends with had hooked up with one on his travels & omg she started harassing me on his fb, making draft comments & deleting them, she had copied all my photos tried to look like me copied my nickname my personal about me, I blockedher & she got a friends profile to use to find me told so many lies, but she got caught out & my friend unfriended her but even now a year later she is still obsessed by me.. These people need to find there own identity or get psychiatric help
Reading this? It hurts. I'm British but so very very white, pale. In this country without sun there is a huge obsession with tanning your skin. Darker is more desirable. I look at a filipino and don't think 'Wow… look how brown they are…' I think of them as a REGULAR HUMAN BEING, and no, westerners like me don't care if your skin is dark or light. Please stop this insanity.
From Jury Room: “Lighter Skin, More Like Me”
Looking at the social reality in an interpretive sense, then we can say that almost everything is socially constructed. What is beautiful and what is not, what is fragrant and what is smelly, which is moral and which is sinful, who is good and who is bad- our society has taught us several things. Mass media has been injecting us that white is beautiful, religion has taught us same sex marriage is sinful, the family has shaped us even the concept of love, and that it is just made between man and woman- all is learned through socialization.
Essentially, beauty is relative. For us, it is white which is better but I have read over the internet that darker is healthier because of the melanin and other biological whatchamacallits.
The problem is that Filipinos are so obsessed with white, that they are in their false consciousness. They are blinded by what they think is right. Many are not educated that they cannot see the beauty in everything. Another problem lies in the mass media for over-injecting us with the thinking that white is better. F*ck society for creating what is beautiful and not and for setting such standards.
The human eye is naturally "attracted" to light-colored objects. First of all the main function of the human eye is to detect light, mostly reflected light. A white-colored car is easier to see than a black-colored car at night. This is because the white surface of the white car reflects more light than the black car. This is true as well with light-colored skin and dark-colored skin. We tend to be more readily "attracted" to light-colored skin because more light bounces off its surface whereas light is absorbed in dark-colored skin. This is the scientific explanation of why humans are more "attracted" to white skin. It is not cultural. It is natural or biological in nature and it has absolutely nothing to do with white European people. This means that the Filipino flirtations with lighter skin in order to be more "attractive" is excusable.
[citation needed]
I don't see your reply, Garrick Bercero. I would like to see it please. Thank you.
okeechobeeman, i think Garrick means to cite your source of your comment.
There is validity in your claim. Gold wouldn’t have value if it wasn’t . I believe it is also economically related. Light skin people don’t work outside they have access to indoor air conditioning and vehicles that protects them from the sun and heat. Darker people are often poor and work outside. Even the richest black celebrities tend to be lighter.
Believe me this article was not written as a compliment to Filipinos' obsession with white skin. This article is a sarcasm to this disgraceful habit that we Filipinos display for all the world to see–our worship of the Caucasian face. It's already the 21st century and we Filipinos still believe that god, Jesus and the virgin Mary are white Caucasians. Look at their pictures that are hanging on your walls. We readily bow down to any Caucasian missionary that shows up on our doorstep and embrace whatever religion they sell us. We Filipinos believe that the Pope is holy just because he wears a robe and he is German or Polish! Our ancestors sacrificed dearly to wake us up from this nightmare of foreign domination of our lives and yet we still cannot survive without the meddling of the Italians at the Vatican. We are a gullible people and foreigners will continue to take advantage of this. Let us face and admit to this disgrace together and perhaps work together to build a new Filipino identity that is devoid of these foreign domination. Let us rebuild a 100% Filipino culture that we can be proud of for once in our history and so that our Asian brothers and sisters can finally respect us, and most importantly so that we can gain dignity for ourselves and our children.
I personally don't think brown skin is in any way demeaning – I find it very attractive
Yoruichi from Bleach, Korra from the new Avatar series, Urd from Ah My Goddess…well you get my drift XD
Haha. You’re right bro. That’s the effect of 333 years of spanish colonization — a crushed culture and a slave mentality. Disgusting.
I have a twelve-year old sister and a sixteen-year old brother who look like gorgeous carbon copies of each other and courted compliments wherever they went since we were all kids. The girl, Sophia, is chinita, naturally has thick, long, black hair (probably not the 'right' order of adjectives as taught in English classes, hehe, but you get my point), and has been supplying the family with chocolates gifted by her suitors since she hit puberty in Grade 5. Both have been asked countless times to model or to audition for TV roles. With their splotch-free fair complexions that naturally blush when it's scorching hot outside, especially now with the current fascination of the masses with Korean/Japanese artists, that's predictable.
I'm the eldest, being eighteen, and the youngest boy is ten. We are described by relatives and family friends as to having an endless stream of crazy questions and theories about the universe, the same penchant for rebellious, defiant behavior and the same wanderlust. While we are asked about books we are currently reading and opinions on social and political issues, the other two are asked if they have crushes, if the girl has suitors, how many girlfriends does the boy have. I've always seen this as an advantage in my case, by the way.
When we're with the other pair, eyebrows are raised when we admit we actually came from the same womb, as if being directly related to them yet having a skin tone that's almost on the opposite end of the spectrum is a felony. I don't know if I missed the memo stating I should hate the golden-brown skin I am born with, but I've never felt the need urging me to run to Belo and have it bleached.
I was listening to a radio show one morning on my way to class and the topic being discussed is just this. Filipinos apparently prefer white skin and would at all costs change theirs into a glowing, mestiza complexion because it is associated with being financially able, into being 'mukhang mayaman'. Social climbing tendencies, it appears.
I strongly doubt that the Filipino preference for white skin has anything to do with Americans or Catholicism being introduced by the Spanish. Throughout east and south east Asia, there is a preference for white skin and sales of skin whitening products in these countries are worth billions. It is not just the Philippines. In fact, historically, there has been a preference for white/lighter-than-the-average person skin in most cultures around the world. Of course there are exceptions to the general rule.
"Many cultures have historically favored lighter skin for women. In Europe, before the Industrial Revolution, pale skin was preferred and was a sign of high social status. The poorer classes worked outdoors and got darker skin from exposure to the sun, while the upper class stayed indoors and had light skin. Light skin became associated with wealth and high position.[73] Women even went as far as to put lead-based cosmetics on their skin to artificially whiten their skin tone.[74] However, when not strictly monitored these cosmetics caused lead poisoning. Achieving a light-skinned appearance was brought about in many other ways, including the use of arsenic to whiten skin, and powders. Other methods included wearing full-length clothes when outdoors, including gloves and parasols."
"Most actors and actresses have light skin,[80] and there continues to be a preference for fair or lighter skin in some countries, including Latin American countries where whites are a minority.[81] In Mexico, light skin is associated with power, as well as attractiveness.[82] A dark-skinned person is more likely to be discriminated against in Brazil.[83] Many actors and actresses in Latin America and Hispanic United States have European features—blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin.[84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91] A light-skinned person is considered to be more privileged and have a higher social status; a person with light skin is considered more beautiful and it means that the person has more wealth."
"Skin whitening products sales across the world grew from $40 to $43 billion in 2008.[92] In South and East Asian countries, light skin has traditionally been seen as more attractive and a preference for lighter skin remains prevalent. In ancient China and Japan, for example, pale skin can be traced back to ancient drawings depicting women and goddesses with fair skin tones. In ancient China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, pale skin was seen as a sign of wealth. Thus, skin whitening cosmetic products are popular in East Asia.[93] 4 out of 10 women surveyed in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Korea used a skin-whitening cream, and more than 60 companies globally compete for Asia's estimated $18 billion market.[94] Changes in regulations in the cosmetic industry led to skin care companies introducing harm free skin lighteners. This also occurs in South Asian countries, and in India, pale skin is considered more attractive. In India, dark skin is sometimes associated with a lower class status and some people resort to skin bleaching to achieve a skin color they consider more socially desirable.[95] In Japan, the geisha was well known for their white painted faces, and the appeal of the bihaku (美白?), or "beautiful white", ideal leads many Japanese women to avoid any form of tanning."
"It has been found that, on average, women of a given ancestry have a lighter skin tone than men of the same ancestry[3] and that there is a sexual preference for paleness in women and darkness in men in many cultures throughout the world. In his foreword to Peter Frost's 2005 Fair Women, Dark Men,[101] University of Washington sociologist Pierre L. van den Berghe stated, "Although virtually all cultures express a marked preference for fair female skin, even those with little or no exposure to European imperialism, and even those whose members are heavily pigmented, many are indifferent to male pigmentation or even prefer men to be darker."
Great to read a well-informed reply. I've seen the same articles and don't disagree with much of it except to say that research outcomes are often predicated by the nature of the inputs and the academic discipline selecting the data.
I'm an historian and this whole idea of color in relationship to power is fascinating.
How a reality could evolve that demonizes dark skin and eulogizes pale skin is macabre and rooted in history. To assume that it is more a matter of preference, indicating a more prestigious, sun-free status indoors manipulating the levers of power, ignores a great deal of history.
The Nubian Pharoahs and the great Kingdoms of Africa like Mali (1200 to 1500) are just two notable examples of black power in operation.
White emissaries treated these black kings with great deference. Color was not the issue. The powerful were black. Timbuktu had sewerage and a sophisticated urban infrastructure when London was a primitive hovel in comparison.
It would appear to be the slave trade into North and South America subsequently and the colonial rule of the Portuguese, Spanish, English, Dutch and later Americans (1898) that flipped the color switch. It was the US that forced open Japan and replaced the Spanish here.
Even the supposed anti-colonialist, Mark Twain, thought of the Muslim rebels as less than human. They were doubly guilty: brown and Muslim. Monkey like. Social Darwinism rooted in color.
Notwithstanding the arguments advanced about the sociological roots of color preference, the gross inequality of power that had whites as powerful and non-whites not, is as much historical in its base.
Thank God this nonsense began to evaporate in the post-colonial period and the reinterpretation of things together with the re-emergence of indigenous pride and the rejection of color as a legitimate measure of anything except blind, dumb racism whose only place was a morality tale about injustice and intolerance consigned (we thought) to the dustbin of history.
Whatever one's interpretation of color, I think we can all agree that the desire to be white is insane, unhealthy and idiotic. With multinationals anxious to maximize profits by peddling this nonsense, I believe our rejoinder should be to express our repugnance at the whole notion and to see beauty as multifaceted .
In any event, miscegenation will have the last word no matter how much whitening crap is sold. Humanity eventually will all be coffee- colored and I say Hallelujah.
I think the preference for white skin (at least in women) is both cultural and biological and has nothing to do with "multinationals". Multinationals are just selling things that people already want. There is some evidence that men, in general, are biologically predisposed to select lighter skinned women. Again, there are many exemptions to this general rule.
"If this selective force is sexual selection, it may have lightened European skin by acting on an existing sexual dimorphism. Complexion differs between the sexes because of differing amounts of melanin and cutaneous blood flow; in short, women are fairer; men browner and ruddier (Edwards & Duntley, 1939; Frost, 1988; Frost, 2005; Hulse, 1967; Jablonski & Chaplin, 2000).
The size of this sex difference is still unsure. First, most studies are poorly controlled for age, yet girls lighten only after puberty and immediately before are actually darker than boys. Second, investigators try to limit tanning by measuring under the arm, yet subcutaneous fat is thinner there and skin pigmentation probably less dimorphic, given the correlation in women between lightness of skin color and thickness of subcutaneous fat (Mazess, 1967). Female skin is probably at its palest in women of childbearing age and on highly adipose parts of the body, i.e., the breasts, the hips, the buttocks, and the thighs.
In any event, this mark of feminity may have been targeted by sexual selection, as suggested by a cross-cultural male preference for lighter-complexioned women (Aoki, 2002; Feinman & Gill, 1978; Frost, 1988; Frost, 1994b; Frost 2005; van den Berghe & Frost, 1986). This selection is apparent in the tendency of upper classes throughout the world to appropriate the fairest-skinned women available. In India:
Wealthy landowning families often have a tradition of seeking light-skinned brides among poorer members of their subcaste. It is very common to find a high concentration of lighter-skinned people among established land-owning families (Béteille 1967).
This selection is also apparent in Japan. In a study of untanned skin, Hulse (1967) found less pigmentation in upper-class Japanese than in lower-class Japanese, even when the latter worked in factories and not on farms. The likeliest explanation is that upper class men have more latitude in choosing wives and tend to take the fairest-skinned ones, thus causing their social class to lighten in color with each passing generation. Hulse notes that "skin color has long been regarded, by the Japanese, as one of the criteria for evaluating physical attractiveness, especially in young females."
Even if this selection pressure had acted only on ancestral European women, both sexes would have lightened in color. This is because most skin-color genes are not sex-linked. Nonetheless, some are, so women should have lightened a bit more than men did, thus making skin color more dimorphic in Europeans than in other populations. Yet the reverse seems to be true (Frost, in press; Madrigal and Kelly, 2006). The reason may be a ceiling effect, i.e., as ancestral Europeans approached the limit of maximum skin depigmentation, this lightening would have become increasingly hard to achieve for women—already lighter-skinned—than for men. Even though sexual selection had operated primarily on women, men would have lightened more."
-from an article explaining a possible reason that Europeans turned white.
http://pages.globetrotter.net/peter_frost61z/Euro…
If this trend of sexual selection continues with a preference for lighter skinned women, and we no longer need much melanin to protect against cancer because we will all be staying indoors all the time, maybe we will all be white someday instead of coffee, haha. 😛
A group of academics in the USA did an experiment wherein a number of black, white and Asian babies where shown toys that were dark-colored and toys that were light-colored. All the babies seemed to prefer playing toys that were light-colored. The reason for this is because their eyes picked up more reflected light coming from the light-colored toys. Now these babies had no concept of beauty, race, history or culture. They simply chose the lighter-colored toys because their eyes were more attracted to it, or that they could see it better. If you put a dark-skinned person and a light-skinned person in a dark room and slowly turn up the dimmer switch, which person will you see first? Your eyes will be more attracted to the light that bounces off that person's skin. The same concept is true if you take a pair of pretty identical twin girls and color one hair black and the other blonde. Your eyes will surely be more "attracted" to the one who is blonde. She is actually no more prettier because they are both identical twins. Such is the nature of the human eye.
Filipino women surely have the right to make themselves beautiful in any way they want to be beautiful. For years they have been putting make up on to give themselves rosy cheeks, or elongating their eyelashes to highlight their eyes, or putting on red lipsticks on their brown lips. Some have even been sporting brown hair, just like white women coloring their hair blonde to be more attractive.
For sure white imperialism can be blamed for the Filipino fixation for white skin because for more
than 400 years Filipinos had associated the Caucasian face with authority and divinity. The Spanish, Americans and the Vatican had ruled our lives down to whether or not we can eat pork chops on Fridays. The Spanish and the Americans are gone but the Italians and Germans of the Vatican are still here telling us how to live our lives when they never even set foot on Philippine soil. This is the real issue of the gullibility and credulousness of Filipinos. We readily absorb anything that the white man says.
We Filipinos can color our skin white as much as we want but we have to expel the white master
from our psyche. Jesus is not Caucasian. The Virgin Mary is not caucasian. I doubt if God himself is one. The Pope is not a disciple of Christ and he is not holy just because he wears a robe and he is German or Polish. This is our national disgrace and we have to face it and reverse it by re-embracing our roots as an Asian nation and re-embracing our ancestors who sacrificed dearly to expel control of our lives by foreigners such as those at the Vatican.
The root of all this is an identity crisis that’s been grappling Philippine culture for the last several decades (or centuries)… An identity crisis stemming from an erroneous understanding of history which needs to be corrected – the “understanding” that our history started with Magellan. That needs to DIE once and for all!
Spain is just a chapter in our even longer historical experience, NOT the start! The information about our pre-1521 history is everywhere – you just have to go and find it! Just my two cents. Thanks.