• A Saudi man has reportedly divorced his wife by text message. Under Saudi law, a man may divorce his wife if he says (or, I guess, texts) "I divorce you" three times. • A seven-year-old girl with with a Y chromosome but not other signs of "maleness" usually associated with the genetic abnormality (shriveled testes, ambiguous gonads) is providing scientists with new clues about the "master switch" of gender. • A couple from Seattle have discovered the newest trend in the wedding industry: outsourcing vows. • Washington State passed a bill yesterday that protects transgender people under the current hate crime legislation. • A report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission reveals this "shocking" fact about the pay gap in London: women working in finance make 55% less a year than their male counterparts. • Actress Virginia Madsen is currently working on a documentary about women ski jumpers and their campaign to be allowed to compete in the 2010 Winter Olympics. • Sociological Images has posted a very interesting video on female sex tourism, followed by a discussion of the way we think about the role of the "victim" in sex. • Researchers at St Andrews have found that people do judge you by the color of your skin, and that certain (pale) skin tones are still associated with illness. • Despite certain high-profile celebrity adoptions, Americas are actually adopting fewer foreign children than we did five years ago. • This Easter, a new line of nonedible Peeps branded products (think china and stuffed animals) will appear in stores. No word yet on whether they will also explode in the microwave. •  Click here to watch a depressing video about the sale and use of skin-bleaching products in Jamaica. Skin-bleaching was once practiced only by women, but has now spread to men and children. • Oh dear: "Teen pregnancy boosts girls' risk of getting fat," reads a headline on Reuters. • After being groped by a stranger on the subway, a quick-thinking woman snapped a cellphone picture of her attacker, which eventually led to his arrest. • Another lawsuit against the "Hot Chicks with Douchebags" people has been dropped. • 

The FDA proposed a ban in 2006, but there are still lightening products being sold, many on the black market. (The European Union banned hydroquinone, known to cause leukemia in mice, from cosmetics in 2001. It is sold in the United States as an over-the-counter drug, but with a concentration not exceeding 2 percent.)

In Jamaica, blogger Francis Wade writes, "Some… firmly believe that bleached skin is also a sign of beauty." But the hydroquinone in bleaching products can be incredibly damaging. "It's not too hard to pick out someone who has applied these chemicals to their skin," Wade explains. "The color of the epidermis takes on a reddish, purplish tinge and often it has a different tone from skin on the neck, hands and chest." He links to a stomach-turning video in which a woman who has been using bleaching creams "for years" is shown to have very damaged, burned and disfigured skin. Users risk liver and kidney damage as well as skin cancer. Why do people do this to themselves?

Vanessa Walters notes: "This legacy of slavery or colonization, where lighter-skinned or white people were given visible privileges over hundreds of years has resulted in societies where the lighter you are, the higher your status socially and economically." She continues:

Advertisers may not be aware of how younger girls are influenced by images of women being airbrushed ever lighter, skinnier, blonder. L'Oreal have denied that their actions were deliberate, but nevertheless yet another message, that the whiter you are the more successful you will be, has been sent.

Mighty White [Guardian]
Beyoncé Knowles: L'Oreal Accused Of 'Whitening' Singer In Cosmetics Ad [Guardian]
Skin Bleaching [Moving Back To Jamaica]
Skin Bleaching [YouTube]

Skin-Lightening Cremes Sold On Black Market Have Serious Health Risks [Medical News Today]

Earlier: 'White Beauty' Has An Ugly Message