Jezebel: skin lightening

Beyoncé's Skin Tone Is Never Good Enough

Dodai — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:20:00 EDT

Last year, Beyoncé's skin looked mighty light in ads for L'Oreal Feria haircolor. Now, she seems darker on the cover of Russian Glamour. Is it not better to be lighter? [Photoshop Disasters]

Welcome To Hollywood! Now Lighten Up.

Dodai — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:40:00 EST

Did Vanity Fair whitewash Slumdog Millionaire's Freida Pinto in the March issue? If only India didn't have a history of skin bleaching. [Extrawhoredinary]

Earlier: 'White Beauty' Has An Ugly Message
In India, Fair Is Handsome & Dark Is Doomed
Skin Deep
Indian Women Whiten Their Skin, Fight The Patriarchy
Is It True That "The Whiter You Are The More Successful You Will Be"?

Skin-Lightening Creams Popular In Arab World • 14-Year-Old FLDS Leader "Wife" Taken To Foster Care

Maria — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Skin-lightening creams — already popular in East and South Asia — are finding a market in the Arab world, where the commercials claim that darker skin is a hindrance any every aspect of a woman's life. • A new study from UC Davis claims that biracial Asian-Americans are twice as likely to be diagnosed with psychological disorders as "monoracial individuals." • A new police plan in Scotland may require men who are accused of abusing their wives to be banned from alcohol consumption and undergo regular alcohol testing. • Golshifteh Farahani, a top Iranian actress who recently appeared in Body of Lies was banned from leaving Iran for Hollywood. •

• The "celebrity stock indices" for famous females like Gisele Bundchen and Angelina Jolie outperform the Dow. • According to one Russian woman's English-language wholly unscientific Google search, post-Communist women from Russia and Ukraine all want foreign husbands. • The science behind common food-related aphrodisiacs reveals there is some truth behind the myths. • A baby whale who lost its mother off the coast of Sydney, Australia faces judgment today to asses if it should be put down by the National Parks authorities. • Don't read this account of tortures inflicted on Tennessee walking horses if you have a weak stomach. • The alleged 14-year-old wife of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs has been sent to foster care after a Judge order on Tuesday. • Today in history: Soviet pups made a safe landing after going on a journey in Space in 1960! • No, Olympic gold medalist Nastia Liukin did not get to meet Michael Phelps. But she will get a parade!

L'Oreal Denies Beyonce Whitewashing • Grandma Takes Kid On Death Proof-Style Joy Ride

Maria — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Re: The Beyonce L'Oreal skin-lightening accusations, L'Oreal denies lightening Beyonce. This isn't the first time that Beyonce's possible whitewashing has been attributed to her naturally light skin, what do you think? • Speaking of beautiful women: Researchers have found that beauty salons are an effective place to spread awareness about strokes. Using beauty salons as a place to raise awareness is so hot right now. • Cross-species friendships sure are a popular theme for children movies.

Some doctors in England are prescribing antidepressants for women who suffer from PMS (and show no depressed traits). • A play titled This Wide Night deals with the pain that some women go through when they are released from prison because of a lack of prison aftercare. • JC Penny launches an online RPG, Dork Dodge, to appeal to "fashion-conscious women" entering their first year of college by using real-life awkward moments of college life as a basis of the game. • Women athletes will make up 45% of the Olympic competitors in Beijing. • Disney rebrands Toon Disney into Disney XD, a channel that will appeal more to boys ages 6 to 14 by including more masculine gender stereotypes! • Robert Hazard, the musician who wrote Cyndi Lauper's 1983 hit, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", died today at the age of 59. • A small, unscientific survey has found that most women lie to avoid hurting someone's feeling, not necessarily to avoid getting out of trouble. * Young children (and women) in Afghanistan are being raped as the security situation of the country continues to deteriorate. • A female high school football player on a male-dominated team is suing her former coach who she claims made her practice without safety equipment (which her male peers had) resulting in getting her clavicle broken. • A 54-year-old grandma was arrested for child abuse after she took her 3-year-old granddaughter out for a joy ride (and "some air") by letting her sit on the roof of her car as she drove around.

Photoshop Of Horrors

Maria — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:20:00 EDT

Hm, is it just us or does Beyonce look different in the newest ad for L'Oreal Feria haircolor? Something about that photo of her just pales in comparison to her actual flawless visage. Seriously though, Beyonce is so whitewashed in this photo that we had to check to see if this was an ad for skin coloring, not hair coloring, cream. Ugh, the full ad after the jump. [ONTD]

Thanks to reader Lindsay for the ad scan!

'White Beauty' Has An Ugly Message

Dodai — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:30:00 EDT

We've discussed skin-lightening in India before, but, according to The Independent, new skin-whitening commercials are igniting a "race row" in that country. The commercials feature three of Bollywood's biggest stars in a soap opera-style love triangle. The dark chick is dissed for a lighter-skinned woman, so she turns to a product called White Beauty. The cream promises a "pinkish white glow," and the not-so-subtle subtext is that you need fair skin to snag a man. (Let's not forget the woman who killed herself when her husband called her "black.") And who manufactures this cream called White Beauty? Why, Unilever, the same folks who urge you to "love your body" in Dove ads. How is it they they can make "Love Your Body" Dove ads and "hate your skin" bleaching creams?

Eh, we've previously discussed Unilever's hypocrisy. Meanwhile, it is important to reiterate that this ad is incensing for the same reason that the lack of black models in magazines and on catwalks ought to fill you with rage. As long as human beings believe that "fair" means "beautiful" — that dark is ugly and unfashionable — magazines and beauty companies are going to appeal to us with images of white skin. The more we see white skin in magazines and on catwalks, the more we'll believe that it is the ideal. I've posted about this before, but please: Watch this video by Kiri Davis, (fast forward to 3:40 if you have to) in which young children point to identical black and white dolls and proclaim the white doll "good" and the black doll "bad." It's a 2006 recreation of a 1950s test, with similar results.

Skin-Whitening Adverts Ignite Race Row In India [Independent]

Here's the White Beauty commercial being aired in India:

Oldies But (Not So) Goodies

Dodai — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:30:00 EDT

Speaking of skin bleaching: this vintage product packaging confidently states, "The lighter you look, the lovelier you look." We haven't come very far. (Click to see the full box.) [Vintage Ads]

Benetton Gets Sucker Punched

Anna — Wed, 30 May 2007 15:00:21 EDT

That domestic-violence/Benetton campaign we blogged about yesterday? Looks to be a fake. [Salon]
Skin-lightening creams may get Indian women better jobs, but they don't protect them from rape and murder. [OurBodiesOurBlog]
Daily Telegraph style columnist and Vogue contributor Sarah Mower blames fashion designers for the rise of super-skinny model; fails to call out fashion magazines. [DailyTelegraph]
It's official: Valerie Plame was covert. [TheLede]
Don't let the terrorists — or your fat cells — win: Go to the mall! [USAToday]
Two women in the NY Times' obituaries section today: Gretchen Wyler, 75, Broadway actress and animal activist; and Barbara Cox, 84, philanthropist and Cox Media heiress. [NYTimes]