skin whiteners

I was just reading on salon.com about the Hindustani Leverage's company's success in marketing a skin whitener in India with some dismay. Yes, I agree with the blogger on there that it was in the advertising, the company realized their success. But, to me, it begs the larger question of identity. What exactly is it that people are hoping for when they use such a product? Are they wanting to negate their "blackness" or "Asianness" (Is there even such a word? I don't mean to offend anyone by using this term.)? To me, this harkens back to the days (or not-so-long-ago days) when black people bought pigmentation creams to lighten their skin in an effort to pass as white in our society. (Aspiring presidential contender Barack Obama relays his shock when he was a boy and saw a magazine picture of a black man who had tried to do this in his autobiography, Dreams from my Father.) Is this any different than a deaf person getting a cochlear implant to pass as a hearing person in our society, to cite another example?

Do people feel so marginalized when they're different in some way that they buy these skin lighteners in an effort to make themselves more mainstream? We have to ask ourselves why people feel the need to go to extremes such as the ones I've indicated here to make themselves "normal"?

I would argue that it is some people in society's prejudices that drive some people to these extremes. I also posit that the media, including the blogosphere to be fair here, is a driving force in defining what normal is. But is the white, Nordic, size 5, blonde beauty a realistic norm for most of the world's women? I would vouchsafe to say not.

It seems to me that the root issue is that one's looks have been so closely affiliated with one's identity that some people just have a hard time getting past those hang-ups and stereotypes. For example, who among us hasn't thought that fat people are lazy? They must be or else they wouldn't let their bodies go to such ruin. (I write this with the full disclosure that I am overweight by most standards although working on the problem.) I admit to having been guilty of thinking it myself despite the fact I am overweight and know better. I know many hardworking overweight people, myself included. I ask myself why I harbor this prejudice and the only realistic answer I can give is that I got this attitude from the larger culture's portrayal of fat people. Witness the new movie Norbit with Eddie Murphy playing a seemingly-psychotic fat woman.

Is it any wonder that some people are buying the skin lightners? Or getting cochlear implants? Or lightening their hair in streaks of blonde if they're Asian or black? Or having gastric bypass surgeries by the billions? If these negative prejudices and attitudes towards differences are so ingrained in our culture, the only surprise to me is that these extreme measures are not happening more often. I wonder what the overall cost to society in the end will be. I hate to say it, but I fear the worst

I am writing in reaction to the Wash. Post article of today, 2/21/07, that says Adrian Fenty seeks to place special ed students in classes with other children as a way to deal with the District's problems in this area. Certainly, some kids should be mainstreamed with others in their schools. But what about deaf kids? Mainstreaming deaf kids in with hearing kids isn't the answer because even if sign language or oral interpreters are in the classrooms, there is lag time between when someone says something and when the deaf kid gets the information, no matter how good an interpreter is. The interpreter has to first process the information and then sign it. This takes time, particularly if interpreters want to communicate the meaning behind what is said instead of rendering a literal transliteration.
As a hard of hearing person mainstreamed in public schools (not in Wash., DC, but elsewhere in the mid-Atlantic area), I know first-hand the frustration of missing information or only getting part of the information in class. Deaf and hard of hearing kids deserve every chance to reach their potential. Putting them in a mainstream situation just isn't going to cut it for them. I understand the need to stretch education dollars, but please don't do it at the expense of the children involved.

Brittany Spears' recent troubles seem silly to me. I mean, okay, yeah, she is distraught over the end of her relationship with Kevin Fearstone and she shaved her head off. (As my husband said, it reminded me of the freshmen at Gallaudet that shave their heads off for Bald Day, a school tradition every Spring). But, really, people, aren't there more important things for us to worry about--like the war in Iraq, global warming--and so on that affect more people than just the latest life traumas affecting Brittany Spears. I don't wish Brittany any ill, but anyone who thinks this is the most important thing since sliced bread needs to get a life...