Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Complexion Obsessions

Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White

Hello again, today’s topic is about skin whiteners! Many Asians think that having pale skin is beautiful; many speculate that this is because they want to appear “whiter” as snow white was extremely pale and was an American tale. But, it is also a cultural fact that those who were tanned or had dark skin were the ones who worked outside in the fields. The field workers were the ones of lower class status because they had to do manual labor, so having dark skin was a sign of poor wealth. To have pale skin, it meant you came from money and that you were of higher class. To achieve this pale look today, many Asians avoid the sun as well as use products such as skin whiteners and lighteners to avoid the tanned look.

SNSD (Girls’ Gneration) members Yuri, Sooyoung and Tiffany have advertisements with Biotherm Whitening cream. Many youths in America are obsessed with figuring out how these celebrities lose their tans so quickly. Many whitening creams have nicer names such as “skin lighteners” or “pearl skin”. This is to detach the negative stigma that the creams are actually bleaching products for the skin.

It’s funny because many American girls I know spend their off days outside poolside hoping to get a tan because it looks more healthy in our culture. In Korean culture, having pale skin is a sign of health, once again, because of their economic status. There is a lot of pressure to have flawless skin in Korea and this is reflected back onto the cultures of Asian American youth where some girls are hiding from the sun, wearing long gloves while driving or using hats to shield their faces. Granted, this is probably the healthier choice with the increasingly rampant skin cancer rates.

Sources:

http://hubmania.hubpages.com/hub/Korean-Whitening-Products

http://www.allkpop.com/2010/04/tiffany-sooyoung-and-yuri-have-flawless-skin

http://fashionsastranger.wordpress.com/category/beauty-in-korea/