Discussions on Skin Bleaching in the African American Community

Skin bleaching, the process of lightening one's skin with the help of creams and by other means is a very popular, yet taboo subject in the black community of the United States of America.

While in other parts of the world, such as India, bleaching products are highly advertised on television and on street billboards in ways similar to those shampoo or hand creams are advertised, in the USA, there is an aura of secretiveness around this topic.

It is pretty obvious what the reasons for skin bleaching are. White skin has been seen as a sign of power for so much time. Therefore, people, in their climb to power, pull out all the stops to be similar to those in power - and that includes skin color. Interestingly enough, this has generated a phenomenon called "colorism" within the black community of the US. Colorism refers to a "hierarchy" of darkness. For some people, lighter black people are "better", while darker people are not as good. Of course, this is a thing that doesn't make any sense: the obvious question that is being raised is "what are lighter black people better at?" The answer to this question obviously can't be given.

There have been numerous studies that have shown that skin bleaching products can cause real damage to one's body. For example, some creams contain substances such as hydroquinone or mercury, which can actually cause cancer. Such products have been the cause of many burns, blemishes and severe skin damage in the past.

Given the secret nature of the subject, this topic is neither highly researched nor publicly commented, which is why there is not a strong awareness about skin bleaching products.

And then, there is a subject that needs to be touched that is even more taboo than skin bleaching itself: mental issues.

While it is understandable why some people would want to have a lighter skin color, obsessing over it is definitely an issue that goes beyond the personal and social image level of a person. There have been reported several cases of people obsessed with skin bleaching, in which case, this should, in our opinion be seen as a slight mental problem and treated as such.

The moral and ethical issues behind skin bleaching are more complex than they might seem. While it is easy to take an extreme position, by either saying "let people do what they want" or "nobody should ever bleach", things in real life are not so black and white.

First of all, while it is best to like yourself the way you are and to understand that all skin colors are equal and just as beautiful (in our opinion), one can't control someone's idea of beauty. Just as white people tan in more ways than you can imagine (tissues, spray, tanning beds, etc.), so might some people enjoy being lighter. In this case, we need to address the medical perspective of the discussion and point out the question "are you willing to sacrifice your health for your look, especially when you know the results might not even be what you wanted?" If we are to put it this way, it's the manufacturing and creation of these products that needs to be highly controlled.

One the other hand, there is the strong cultural issue we have discussed earlier: in American culture, skin tone is not associated as much with an ethnic background, but with culture. Black people are "expected" to be a certain way, they are seen as stereotypes, so for many black people, escaping the stereotype can only be done by escaping the shell, the body.

One of the biggest issues we face today in the whole world is that people overlay nature and culture. While it is obvious that some things are genetically predetermined, we need to constantly remind ourselves that skin color does not imply behavior, thoughts and, most of all, value.

Your self-worth, regardless if you're a man or a woman, is not easy to obtain when you are taking a beating from every corner. Our bodies are the means through which we experience life, so feeling or being told that you are ugly alters your relationship with your environment and with other people very strongly. Skin color is something that needs to owned, as, just as we said earlier, there is not a "better" one.

Once we get this, we will be able to say we are on the right path.

Fraquoh and Franchomme