Am I Pretty Yet?

Our discussion in class after the TED talk by a model got me thinking about what it means to be beautiful. In class, the discussion of course turned in to a race issue (how is it that everything seems to turn into a race issue?) and about skin tone. It is interesting to talk about the perfect skin tone in a diverse class room like ours because most white women (not all) want to be beautifully tanned with a sexy Brazilian glow while it seems all other ethnicities want the white skin we wish was darker. Where does this come from? Is it a part of the white supremacy "problem" or does it stem from something else entirely?

Dark skinned people wanting lighter skin is not something that came about with the slave trade that turned in to all the black rights issues we have now. Cross culturally, the desire for lighter skin goes back thousands of years. Being darker meant you spent time in the sun which usually meant you were working in the sun which therefor created a division between those with light and dark skin. Women of royalty in places like Egypt would spend almost all of their time indoors to keep their skin untouched by the sun and as light as possible. 

Even today, cultures around the world do what they can to stay away from the damaging rays of the sun to maintain their pristine light skin. This also stems from a history of their own culture and not white supremacy. This article (http://www.vagabondjourney.com/white-skin-a-chinese-obession/) discusses the ideal of lighter skin being more beautiful in China and East Asian countries in general. The journalist notes that the Chines are not trying to look American, they are trying to look like fair skinned Chines people. He also notes that:

"White skin is a very long-honed determinant of beauty in China, and spans back to a time long before the first white dude ever set foot in North America. To read through old Chines literature you'll find that skin tone is mentioned often and is usually used to reference class or character. In point, skin color is used to show where someone comes from and the type of life they live."

This shows that the beauty sought after in light skinned people is not simply a complex created by evil white people. As our discussion in class often turns to how awful privileged white people are I begin to wonder where these issues actually stem from. That is not to say that there is no discrimination in this country because that would be a blatant and ignorant lie but I feel as though a lot of people in my generation tend to construct issues that don't stem from where they think they do. 

For example, lets talk about Barbie. I was more of a Bratz fan growing up but I of course had a few Barbie dolls and played with them every so often. I have heard a lot of people criticize the company because of their long history of producing white dolls. While I understand that in this generation, that is not an accurate representation of our country, it reflects the history of our country. The dolls were made for Americans, which in originality where descendants of white people from Britain (if we ignore the actual "Native Americans" who were the real first Americans). Is it bad that the line produced dolls that looked like its target market? 

There is a line of dolls under the "Positively Perfect" brand name and none of them are white because they focus on the niche market of minority children who want dolls that look like them. Is that also discrimination? Yes, over the years the Barbie brand has been ignorant for not expanding their products lines more in to these niche markets but that is their own downfall in sales. So how does it become a commentary on our society?

One of my worst and best qualities is that I can argue both sides of any argument so here I must argue against myself and say that yes, it is bad because that is how we get the results we do from the Clark doll test. I feel like at the end of the day, the real problem we face is our own insecurities. I am a white woman and I wish I was tanner, taller, thinner, and had straighter hair. I suppose that is because society tells me beautiful women are tall, thin, and naturally pretty. But I also notice that when I think of beauty, "white" isn't a qualification I think of unless someone of "another color" says white is what is beautiful. Again, maybe that is me being unaware of my ignorance or me being programmed to think that way but how can we really know?