Features  |Guild |Southeast Asia

Where Does the Asian Obsession With White Skin Come From?

There are no signs that this deep-rooted trend is subsiding, despite contempo media attention.

Where Does the Asian Obsession With White Skin Come From?

An unidentified Bangkok shopper looks on while seated near a big advertizement for lite skin in Bangkok, Thailand, July 20, 2007.

Credit: AP Photograph/Sakchai Lalit

The obsession with white skin in Asia has non stopped making headlines in recent years.

The pervasive idea that lighter skin is more bonny is often spotlighted through various beauty pageants. For instance, when the tan-skinned Nonthawan Thongleng was crowned Miss Thailand World 2014, it was hailed by some commentators as a chance to redefine beauty standards.

Nonthawan, also known equally Maeya, said it meant a peachy deal to her "to achieve after the hard work put in and to become a future role model for the younger generation of Asians, from all ethnic backgrounds, with darker pare, to prove them that they tin can achieve what they dream." Indeed, Maeya has become an inspiration for many Thais. Traditionally, dark-skinned women have been under-represented in Thailand, marginalized in favor of a lighter-skinned beauty standard.

In December last yr, Catriona Grayness became the 4th Filipino to be named Miss Universe, just her victory polarized Filipinos. Many criticized her victory online, challenge she looks similar a tanned Caucasian. Greyness was born and raised in Australia and is of mixed Scottish-Filipino descent. For some critics, she was "non Filipino enough." As one woman tweeted, "She'due south beautiful based on Western beauty standards. Bear witness me my wide-nosed girls with darker peel and coarse, frizzy hair."

At that place is a deeply rooted cultural norm involved with these debates over skin color and dazzler. In many societies, and especially in Asia, dark skin has long been associated with working in the fields and, therefore, rural poverty. On the other hand, pale skin is associated with living a more comfortable, cosmopolitan life indoors, out of the sun. Pare color is thus a sign of social class.

The stigma associated with darker skin can mean going to some lengths to stay pale. In the streets of Bangkok, it is non unusual to see Thais shading themselves with umbrellas or wearing long sleeves even during the hottest months of the yr, in an attempt to avert the sun's tanning rays.

This preference for white skin is reinforced via the media: television, magazines, and billboards. Pharmacies stock an array of skin-whitening creams; some even promise to lighten the color of the most intimate trunk areas, such equally nipples or armpits.

The pressure to exist white does non only affect women. "There is a range of products and services aimed at men who are interested in becoming paler," said Jaray Singhakowinta, an assistant professor of sexuality studies at the National Found of Evolution Assistants.

Jaray offered the instance of men having glutathione substances injected into their skin to accelerate the whitening process. Indeed, there are clinics in Thailand offering "penis-whitening" treatments through the use of lasers and chemicals.

According to Kosum Omphornuwat, a gender and sexuality studies lecturer at Thammasat University, "the market place economy, consumerism, social media and selfie syndrome reinforce the obsession."

In recent years, some advertising campaigns have attracted a backlash for their promotion of this dazzler ideal. In 2016, one Thai company advertised skin-lightening tablets with the slogan "white makes yous win."  The ad promoted "Snowz" supplement pills, distributed past the Seoul Secret company. It deployed Cris Horwang, a Thai actress and model, who attributed her success to her low-cal complexion.

White skin may have long been an essential characteristic of Thai beauty, Jaray said, but that concept of "whiteness" has shifted.

"In Thai classical literature, heroines who are described equally having a fair complexion, as if painted with gold, are considered every bit beautiful," he said. "So, information technology'southward the different shade of white that was a standard in the by. After the Western and Korean influences, the preferred shade is pinkish white."

Indeed, the soaring popularity of Korean amusement – especially popular music and television dramas – has exacerbated this obsession with white skin. Jaray said the trend began nearly 20 years agone when a Korean costume drama, "Dae Jang Guem," which told the story of a female person doc elevated from being a royal maid during the historical Joseon menstruation, became popular in Thailand, driving a new demand for Korean food and products.

"The images of Korean actors and dazzler products have become mutual features of Thai entertainment sectors," he said. "Korean-way dazzler has therefore become synonymous with universal beauty for many Thais." The proliferation of Korean beauty-related businesses in Thailand and their successful marketing take promoted Korean beauty standards; features include a Five-shaped face, pearl-white pare, and a pointed, slender olfactory organ.

"I've heard a number of Thai tour operators accept organized beauty surgery tours to Korea as their customers are very neat to have the same await every bit their favorite stars," Jaray said. Indeed, there are television programs, such as "Allow Me In Thailand" and a spin-off, "Let Me In Reborn," that recruit people with facial disfigurements to compete for the risk to have plastic surgery in Republic of korea.

Today, whitening is big business. A Globe Health Organization survey found that nearly xl percent of women polled in nations including China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South korea regularly utilize products for lightening their skin. Market place intelligence firm Global Industry Analysts shows that the need for whiteners is rising, projected to reach $31.2 billion by 2024

Kosum suggested the preference for pale peel is unlikely to subside in the immediate future, since "younger and younger children become more and more aware of the significant of pare color encoded by social institutions."

But Kosum was heartened, though, past the "Nighttime Is Beautiful" media entrada in India, which aims to face up discrimination. Perhaps i day a similar consumer-based campaign may be brought to acquit in Thailand, she said.

Turning the tables does non seem like an easy task. The proliferation of images favoring lighter-skinned people, and the deeply rooted norms behind those depictions, are then influential that many more winners like Maeya will be needed to make such a deviation.

Ana Salvá is a freelance journalist based in Southeast Asia.