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For the average Canadian, wintertime means doing battle with Mother Nature. We arm ourselves with boots and shovels, bundle in layers of wool and polyurethane down, and take comfort in hot cocoa and central heating. While the change in seasons brings simple pleasures, such as the satisfying crunch of treading on packed snow, it has its challenges as well. Trapped indoors to prevent frostbite and runny noses, we restlessly long to transport to an exotic paradise where the sun can bronze our deprived bodies.
The thought of someone, anyone for that matter, envying my sickly pale skin puzzles me. In the age of the spray on tan, I desire nothing short of a golden crisp for my skin and dread how winter dulls its once luminous summer tint. While I salivate over the thought of a radiant warm glow, other people dream of making their skin lighter. In many parts of the world, especially East Asia, fair skin remains the beauty standard. Women, and more recently men, go to great lengths to whiten their skin, often relying on dangerous cosmetics to reach the ideal. Skin whitening is a controversial topic which draws attention to the interplay of ethnicity and beauty. 
In 1613, Sir Thomas Overbury accidentally coined the phrase “beauty is only skin deep” with the intention of expressing the superficiality of physical beauty. Judging by contemporary beauty standards, the original meaning has been replaced with a literal interpretation. For many people, skin colour is a fundamental determinant of beauty, success, and happiness. Our concern with skin colour has a long history, proving the issue is more complicated than black and white.
Before the industrial revolution, pale skin indicated higher status in Europe and North America. At the time, tanned skin was associated with manual labour like farm work, whereas lighter skin signified respectable employment, and consequently, wealth. The English monarchs in the 16th century exemplify the trend in its most extreme form. They powdered their skin with enough cosmetics to shame Mimi, Drew Carrey’s alter ego. Their excessive treatment is a good representative of the dangers of whitening products, considering Queen Elizabeth I died from lead poisoning due to these cosmetics.
The beauty ideal of white skin remained the same until the early 20th century when labour patterns shifted. With indoor work being the norm for most people, bronzed skin meant the ability to afford the luxury of leisure time. Backyard barbeques and vacations were synomonous with tan lines. Coco Chanel popularized the tan in the 1920s, making it her most famous social contribution since the little black dress. From then on, bronzed skin has been the favoured skin colour, uniting leather skinned Florida retirees, body building contestants, and bright orange faux tanned adolescent girls.
The preference of white skin over darker pigments appeared in other cultures as well; however, the tan remained overlooked. From the geisha of Japan to the Indian caste system, white proved to be right. The beauty ideal has not changed in many countries, and with the development of mass marketing, the social stigma associated dark skin continues to be advocated.
Some researchers suggest physiological reasons are responsible for the belief that lighter skin signifies beauty. In every ethnic group, women with the darkest skin have the lowest fertility, because pigmentation partially reflects the ration of estrogen to testosterone. As women age, their skin gradually darkens, perhaps representative of their decrease in fertility. Comparatively, women are the fairest after puberty and prior to their first pregnancy. Even if evolutionary principles are to blame, the billions of dollars spent on marketing could not hurt to further the obsession.
Skin whitening products are sold in the form of creams, pills, and soaps. The products contain deadly chemicals which are used to breakdown melanin and lighten the skin. The two most common ingredients at work are mercury and hydroquinone. Both are known to cause health problems. Mercury is a full package deal, leading to neurological, kidney, and psychological damage, while hydroquinone simply causes cancer. Consumers might as well swap their mouthwash for cleaning solution because the continual use of these products is the equivalent of swallowing poison.
Consumers are unaware, for the most part, of damage these products cause, because marketing execs gloss over the truth. After all, these products account for 60% of the skincare market in India and the loss of this business means no Christmas bonus. As comforting as it would be to believe the West’s impartiality, the blame does not rest solely on foreign soil. In fact, many Westerners are unknowingly supporting the trend- at least financially. Fair & Lovely, the dominating skin whitening company in India, happens to be owned by the Unilever conglomerate. Unilever owns hundreds of other companies, including Dove. Real Beauty Campaign my ass.
After viewing the Fair & Lovely advertisements, it’s understandable why so many people are suckered by the marketing ploy. The commercials follow a common theme: A woman enters a department store only to be rejected by the salesperson (who obviously does not work on commission). Devastated, she returns home and her parents brew a strange concoction which turns her skin shades lighter. As an act of revenge, the newly confident woman returns to the cosmetics counter to stun the ignorant salesperson and capture the attention of a handsome white male. Suddenly, the woman is adorned by a crowd of photographers as she descends from her private jet. If only I had known beauty, not intelligence or talent, brings success!
The obsession with skin colour pales in comparison (pun intended) to more pressing social issues. The desire to perfect our skin is a one way ticket to self-destruction both mentally and physically. If we continue to push cultural standards of beauty, either by getting darker or lighter, then we may lose sense of the important things in life. And if that argument is not compelling enough, maybe the reward of a healthy dose of vitamin D and one look at yourself in a wide brimmed hat will change your mind.
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