I have been doing some research into how the media effects what we believe to be attractive. This is not a new subject, but some of the research i found has really shocked me.
One of the biggest things being black women bleaching their skin to appear more “attractive” to men. I’ve read an article in the Guardian from 2008 (i will link it at the end) about women bleaching their skin, mainly focusing on mega star Beyonce and her L’Oreal advert which caused an uproar in the American black community as they believed that L’Oreal has airbrushed her to look whiter than her usual appearance. Beyonce denies these claims however, if you look at her over the years, the more famous she gets, her appearance does change.
This however is not the worst, many women in Africa and India actually bleach their skin to become whiter in a hope to be more attractive and to fit into Western culture, because of this many women have became ill or even burned from using illegal home bleaching kits. Many do not realise the impact that bleaching can have on them;
* increased appetite and weight gain
* deposits of fat in chest, face, upper back, and stomach
* swelling
* slowed healing of wounds
* osteoporosis
* cataracts
* acne
* muscle weakness
* thinning of the skin
In 2003, Dr S. Allen Counter of Harvard Medical School reported that the high levels of mercury found in people, but particularly women, from Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, West Africa, and in Tanzania in East Africa related to the use of skin lightening creams.
He states that 96% of over 300 patients in the Southwestern United States that have higher than normal mercury levels were female and all had used skin lightening products; likewise 90% of women tested in clinics in Arizona who were Mexican-American had been using the same products.
What is it that makes these women be so reckless about their safety just to look “more attractive”? We fill follow onto this topic in my next post.
mhairi'shead 