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Asians In Search of Whiter Skin


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Posted

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-whitening26jul26,0,2826201.story?coll=la-home-headlines

July 26, 2005

Beauty and the Bleach

By Jia-Rui Chong, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Take a daylight drive through Asian immigrant enclaves like Monterey Park and Irvine, and you'll see women trying to shield themselves with umbrellas — even for the short dash from a parking lot into a supermarket. While driving, many wear special "UV gloves" — which look like the long gloves worn with ball gowns — to protect their forearms, and don wraparound visors that resemble welder's masks.

At beauty salons, women huddle around cosmetics counters asking about the latest cleansers and lotions that claim to control melanin production in skin cells, often dropping more than $100 for a set. Beauticians do a brisk business with $65 whitening therapies.

But their popularity has sparked a debate in the Asian American community about the politics of whitening. Younger, American-born Asians — question whether the obsession with an ivory complexion has more to do with blending into white American culture, or even a subtle prejudice against those with darker skin.

The market research firm says cosmetics companies have taken note of the sensitivity, saying their Asian skin products in America are intended not for "whitening" but for "brightening."

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Posted

No no no, don't make it a political issue. Chinese liked white skin even before they knew there were some "white" people.

I personally don't think the word "white" really mean the color white, because their skins are really little white blended with red. The white that Chinese like is not really white neither, even though some Asian girls could even whiter than the whites. Okay, confusing enough.

I don't think many Chinese put this as a political issue. This is just a way that Americans make themselves feel good. I read a article in which the author questioned the people in Japanese animes don't look like Japanese at all, so that he/she concluded Japanese admire the whites. Though the conclusion seemed right to me, the reasoning made me laugh. Yes, anime characters don't look like Japanese. But do they look like Americans? No, they are anime. They don't look like real humen at all. I certainly know that many people want to be the white. (Maybe, M.J.?) But particular to this skin whitening among Chinese, no, this is not an evidence.

Posted

I agree. The article says that younger Asian Americans are the ones sensitive about the issue. Most of the one doing the whitening are older Asian immigrants. They are not going blend in no matter how white they become. The younger assimilated Asian Americans tend to get tans and hair coloring rather than whiten their skin.

I think the "welder visors" are hideous. I hope they are just a fad.

Posted

Just my opinion, tanned = sexy. Prefer Asian chicks who are like that.

During rush-hour traffic on LA freeways, you can see middle-aged women wearing those visors. yes they are hideous.

Posted

Chinese men do like Chinese women with “white” skin. Why? I think there is traditional Chinese culture hide in it.

I think the “white” isn’t equal to the usual meaning in the west world. Please look at the picture below, so that you can image the meaning by vision.

009.jpg

In fact, “white” skin in Chinese means the skin is pure, tender, soft, semitransparent with some milky color and even some light, natural, pleasing smell, adding some little, little pink on it, if possible. Xixi! It is just the perfect skin for those young ladies living in mansions all day long, without having a chance to step out of their boudoirs in old days. What’s more, numerous times this kind of skin appears on those beautiful actresses in classical Chinese fictions, dramas, poems and so on. No wonder Chinese men and women so fancy “white” skin, and they all take “white” skin as sexy. Hehe!

看过《红楼梦》的,恐怕都很难忘记第28回里的这一段吧?!

……此刻忽见宝玉笑问道:“宝姐姐,我瞧瞧你的红麝串子?”可巧宝钗左腕上笼着一串,见宝玉问他,少不得褪了下来。宝钗生的肌肤丰泽,容易褪不下来。宝玉在旁看着雪白一段酥臂,不觉动了羡慕之心,暗暗想道:“这个膀子要长在林妹妹身上,或者还得摸一摸,偏生长在他身上。”正是恨没福得摸,忽然想起“金玉”一事来,再看看宝钗形容,只见脸若银盆,眼似水杏,唇不点而红,眉不画而翠,比林黛玉另具一种妩媚风流,不觉就呆了,宝钗褪了串子来递与他也忘了接。……

哈哈哈哈哈! :lol:

Posted

100-200 years ago in Europe aristocratic woman would also protect their skin from the sun to be as white as possible. The reason was to do with class, women who worked in the fields would have tans. Hence if one was upper-class one could not have a tan.

Posted

I also think that the willing of Asian women to have their skin as pale as possible has nothing to do with politics but refers to ancient canons of beauty. When in China, I noticed in the cosmetics shops that a lot of brand did products to keep and make the skin white, and on TV, there where somr ad about skin whitening lotions or creams. Some chineses I met where surprised when I told them that in some western countries, the people like tanned skins and spend time and money to get darker......Just different tastes.

Posted

I'm in favor of closing this thread and keeping additional discussions in the thread Skylee referred to. It's silly to have two duplicate threads on the same exact topic.

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