Funny to think that back home, the shelves are stocked high with “self-tanning lotions” and bronzers.
Monday, May 12, 2008
The Desire to Be Exactly What You Are Not
It never even occurred to me that it might be difficult to find normal moisturizer in Thailand. Everything on the shelves comes with some sort of “skin lightening” substance in it. Having lighter coloured skin is highly desirable here. All advertisements etc, contain images of Thai girls with digitally enhanced ghostly white skin. I had to look in two separate shops before finding a lotion that didn’t have any “whitening power”.
Funny to think that back home, the shelves are stocked high with “self-tanning lotions” and bronzers.
Funny to think that back home, the shelves are stocked high with “self-tanning lotions” and bronzers.
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2 comments:
Hey V,
They had this crap in Korea too, where people hide from the sun to stay as white as possible. The irony was that all us foreigners were loving the sun and getting brown. I had one student tell me I was too tanned and too dark (not that I ever sat out to tan but the sun is strong there). It wasn't "beautiful". Sure gives you a new perspective on the beauty industry, set up to make us feel insecure.
Hope you're having fun.
Ciara
WOW! This is absolutely crazy, but I am not shocked. My friend Janine taught in Taiwan & had lots of the "I want to be white" stories. Guess I'm beautiful in their eyes then, as I am pasty white right now. With your olive skin you must be looking fabulous to north american standards - Garrett will benefit when you get back. Hahaha.
Paula
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