The Snow White myth: The Eastern Perception of skintone
The temperature must have been at least 25 degrees and I lathered on the lotion to prevent my pale skin from blistering under the strong Thai sun. Gulping down water I prepared to get back on my bicycle, as my Thai guide started pulling out a sweater. Sweltering I stared bemused as she proceeded to layer herself up in extra clothes, covering her arms neck, and the bottom half of her face.
'Are you cold?' I ventured, a little confused. 'No,' she replied, 'I want to be white and pretty like you'. Just to reiterate, my skin at that moment was the unattractive English blotchiness meets high temperatures, a nice mix of reddened sweat and shiny perspiration. We continued our bike ride for another two hours, and our guide never removed her excess clothing.
This was my first direct introduction to the 'white princess' style of beauty that infiltrates the East, as despite their natural complexions being the kind of creamy caramel fake tan users aspire to, their own appreciation is very much turned towards our pasty complexions.
Initially I thought this mentality was just unusually high in our guide, but then I realized this was carried through into every aspect of Thailand daily life. When searching through a local Boots (Yes, Thailand has plentiful amounts of Boots stores- and Tesco as well) I came across a large selection of whitening creams and lotions, all designed to give you 'fair and fine' skin with minimum applications. There were even foundations which had shade selectors, which let you choose a shade that would give your skin optimum lightness. When I searched for fake tan there was zilch and requests were met with bemused looks and shoulder shrugs.
It was all rather uncomfortable and disconcerting, as though I'm used to the Western idealization of the Barbie figurine and the 'de-blacking' of prominent figures, the idea that this Western ideal should carry over into the East was worrying. I'd hoped they'd embrace their own beauty and seek reference within their culture for beautification ideals, but it seems the West had laid its grubby dream all over their fantasies.
Hopefully 2010 will see the growth of ethnic beaut icons and symbols, and perhaps the Thailand populace will come to realize they are all beautiful in their own right and stop wishing they could emulate a Western fairytale.
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