Exploring Skin Whitening Cream Across the World Essay Sample

A Color Complex

Sharma is an avid user of Dermaline (a popular skin whitening cream) and she wanted to share her success story with others in order to inspire hope. “I used to look at fair skinned people, and used to dream to become like one, finally my dream has come true” (skin-whitening-product.com). Sharma and many other women in the Middle East are following a trend that has been one of the most popular products to buy in Asia for centuries. Skin whitening products such as B-White, Fair and Lovely, Dermaline and many others has been a constant subject of controversy for years, and yet the idea of skin whitening cream remains a fascinating subject. Many company’s will swear that the cream is 100% natural and that their products are used to restore the skin and remove blemishes, while others clearly promote an idealistic beauty standard for beauty’s sake alone. Many groups across the world have publicly condemned the cream for being “racism in a bottle”, and perpetuating the stereotype of white people being superior and more beautiful. Many people are less concerned with the social implications of skin whitening cream, and more concerned with the health risks. Skin whitening creams, pills, and gels has been known to contain chemicals that can produce serious damage to the skin and body. FDA proposed a ban in 2006 due to possible health problems related to a drug called hydroquinone.

Skin whitening cream has been banned in South Africa since 1992 due to possible health risks, but the product continues to be a prevalent part of society. With the year 2008 almost done, and with arguably the most powerful country in the world electing an African American man to be it’s leader as the first black president of the United States, and with a thunderous rejoice heard around the world, one would easily assume that the preference for white skin must be a fixture of the world’s past. Nevertheless, skin whitening cream products are not going anywhere fast. Men and Women in the Middle East avidly cover up when in the sun to avoid darker skin, and many Arab men, especially within a certain class would never consider marrying a woman with a dark complexion. Although it is nearly impossible to examine the root of racial preference both in the Middle East and in the United States, it is possible to explore when the preference turned into desperation to become light-skinned. Since Barack Obama’s 2008 win was received so well across the world, is racial preference today just an issue of beauty? Do people hope for light skin only to be considered beautiful, or do they think that lighter skin will not only get them a husband but a job too? Although skin whitening creams are more prominent outside the United States, they do exist and the preference for white skin is certainly easy to find. Nevertheless, driving down a busy intersection with a large billboard for B-white cream in the U.S, like in the Middle East, Africa and Asia would never occur. Is America more progressive with their racial equality, or is the blatant use of skin preference that is used outside the U.S simply a more honest tactic?

Skin whitening products come in many forms but most seem to contain the chemical Hydroquinone. Hydroquinone decreases the formation of melanin in the skin, and in some cases can bring about a lighter pigmentation. In 1996 The U.S food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a ban for skin whitening cream that contained the chemical Hydroquinone because there had been substantial evidence that the drug caused cancer in rodents. According to FDA, in 1996 there were over 200 different types of skin whitening products containing Hydroquinone in the United States alone. Under the FDA ban, the products would only be given to patients through prescription. Most skin whitening products can still be bought in any pharmacy, no questions asked.

Most people think that skin whitening products are only an issue in outside the U.S, where the cream is a social norm. Allison Leblanc, an American study abroad student at AUC admitted not even knowing the product existed until she came to Egypt. “I think it’s silly, I don’t think people in the U.S use it, but I see advertisements here for it all the time”. Although the market is far more disguised in the U.S, it is a health concern for FDA who says the number of U.S users would shock, and that the product has gained much success on the internet. (Medicine Net.com). It only takes a simple click of the mouse and a quick search on Google to have the product boxed and shipped to your house in 4-6 business days. Google returned over 70,000 websites that sold some form of the product on-line. Magic-Potions.com only distributes there product, The Beauoxi White pill online internationally. MagicPotions.com sold soaps, lotions, gels and even an injectable Glutathione product all for skin whitening. The site has an area for video testimonials and a 24-hour customer service hotline. In short, Magic-Potions is clearly not running a “fly by night” sort of operation. Although, FDA and many Doctors find Hydroquinone to be extremely harmful, some professionals think that evidence of skin-lightening products causing harm is not substantial enough. A Boston Newspaper reported after speaking to Dr Lerner, a Boston University Dermatologists who said that he prescribes Hydroquinone to patients every day, and that in his opinion “the pigmentation problem is of more concern than the possible cancer one (TheBostonChannel.com)”.

Health is only one issue concerning the controversy that surrounds skin-lightening products. Many people are in debate over the issue proposing the question of whether selling skin-lightening products is moral. During my investigation I learned that most products advertise a product that can get rid of blemishes, or lighten birth marks and scars. Nevertheless, I find it rather interesting that nearly all of the products contain the word usage of skin-whitening. Those words do not advertise women of darker skin tone to restore their dark complexion from blemishes and scars, yet they are still encouraging people of dark complexion to buy the product.

On the website Magic-Potions.com they have a large advertisement of a black woman of very dark complexion with the phrases; do you want to be whiter? do you have Acne Problems? And start looking younger now, next to her. The two following sentences do not coincide with the first. Looking younger and removing acne has nothing to do with being whiter. The first sentence is printed in larger font, and clearly the only sentence that the company wants the reader to notice, since the latter don’t even make sense. Removing blemishes and leveling out the skin tone seem to be advertisement facades that are there to quiet down the moral oppositions of the product. However, the moral issue remains intriguing because fighters against the product claim hatred and racism, while the conglomerate big businesses that produce the product say they are only putting out a product that has a demand.

Moral fiber has never been something that could be easily found in large manufacture companies, so how can blame be put on the company that is simply in it to turn out a profit. The real question is who are the people that are buying the product? Heather Hunt an American transfer student at AUC from Texas reflects on things that her Egyptian boyfriend says concerning race. “He always makes comments about sitting in the sun too long, or how dark his skin is compared to mine and he isn’t even dark skinned”. Oprah did a show recently revealing that all across the world, the idea of beauty varies. In parts of Africa obese woman are considered to be the most beautiful, where in Thailand woman wear brass bands around there neck in order to elongate the neck because women with long necks are considered to be the most beautiful (oprah.com). Most people would not find anything morally wrong with this behavior and would consider it to fall under cultural practices. Therefore, shouldn’t skin bleaching fall into that category as well. “I know my boyfriend finds my fair skin beautiful and probably wouldn’t ever date someone with a dark complexion, but I just think it’s his cultural background, I don’t think he’s racist,” Hunt said.

Despite a willingness to accept a cultural preference for white skin, most people still feel uneasy about the idea of using products in order to achieve a lighter complexion. “I think using that stuff is taking it one step too far,” Hunt said. Although it appears that most of the world tends to find more beauty in a lighter complexion, it seems that Americans tend to hide any usage of it and find the products horrifying when confronted about it. Therefore, maybe the idea of openly using skin-whitening products is cultural. In Japan skin whitening cream is so common and not only acceptable but a beacon of pride. Every year there is even a “Fair and Lovely” Pageant hosted by “Fair and Lovely” the world’s most popular skin-whitening cream. In Egypt, the willingness to brag about their new skin-whitening cream is not as prevalent as in Japan but it doesn’t seem to be as shameful as in the states. “I personally have never used the stuff, but I know people who have. I think most people here could probably say the same thing” said Amina Darwish an AUC student..............