Erasing Ethnicity - Has the craze for a more Westernized look sparked a global ident

[Ernie]

I wish everybody would be happy in their own skin.

 

[crystalclear]

The main thing I don't get about people drastically changing their looks (i.e. more than changing hair and eye colours etc) is why they would risk their health and ultimately the looks they have for something that must be damaging to their health (skin bleaching/extreme tanning) or could go very badly wrong (plastic surgery)- noone suits botched surgery or major skin complaints regardless of ethnicity or age. Although I have to say I'm intrigued by the idea of calf reduction, but will give it a miss my chunky calfs do just fine they arent pretty but they work...

 

[Shadowy Lady]

this was a very interesting article, thank you for sharing. I didn't know about the calve surgery, wow!

 

[reesesilverstar]

I thought I knew about the lengths ppl would go through to achieve "beauty" but the calve reductions now? What? Wow...

It is just so unfortunate that on the one hand we say that we accept everybody's natural beauty, but on the other, marketing tells us that it's not good enough and should be improved...

 

[BEA2LS]

i agree that i do not think people want to look more white..
i have blonde hair, blue eyes, pale pale skin and i get made fun of for being so pale (the whole casper thing), and i get told i look too cookie cutter and not edgy enough for the beauty ideal.

 

[Ernie]

I hate to tell you gals this, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. I just watched a program on BBC America about young women going through Labiaplasty and other horrifying procedures to look "good" down there.

 

[gigiopolis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mizz.Coppertone I don't understand the obession with lightening ur skin to look more ''Western'' when all the ''Western'' women who are considered beautiful (aka Hollywood Celebs) have spray tans and tanning beds right in their homes! I'm not saying either is more beautiful, I just don't get where the lighter skin thing is coming from in this day of age when tons & tons of natural lighter skinned girls darken their skin, and we all call them the most beautiful.

Honestly, I think the lightening of the skin, especially in Asian cultures, has more to do with signs of status than really looking more Western (the Chinese are the ones who called Caucasians "white devils" the first time they saw them, so looking Western certainly wasn't the ideal, at least not back then).

Those who had to work in the fields were of the poorest, lowest class, and they were subject to hundreds of hours of working out in the sun. Naturally they became very tanned and dark. The rich upper class never had to do labour-intensive work, and it showed through their pale skin. So, pale skin is preferred because it shows that you're of a higher class.

The preference for light skin, I think, has always been around even before Asians were exposed to Western culture. Of course that's not to say that nowadays, Asian cultures are not influenced by Western beauty. This can be evidenced by double eyelid surgery, calve reduction, rhinoplasty, face slimming, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chocodcocoa Zeta Jones had UPGRADES? I think it's unfair to say that Asian women are seeking white features... they want universally flattering features... and it just so happens that more white women have them. This pisses me off sometimes because although I'm a full Asian (Taiwanese + 1/4 Korean), I'm a brunette, I have lighter colored eyes with tanned looking skin, double eyelids and cheekbones and everything... other Asian girls would look at me and immediately consider me one of those girls who are trying to look more white. Not all Asians are born looking like they've been dropped on their face when they were little, and some of those who have very Asian features are strikingful beautiful as well.

Uh. Wow. Just...wow. I'm going to just pretend like you didn't say that.