“Why People Risk Their Lives To Bleach Their Skin” – Refinery29, 2019, 14:45 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYTIh2cXfvM

It’s estimated that half of Filipinos have tried skin whitening products, and this video investigates the phenomenon with attention to oppressive Western beauty standards. These products are not seen as a way to become white or look like a white person, but rather as a way of lightening skin while preserving ethnic identity. Colonialism and Anglo-centric standards of beauty have caused people in the Philippines and many other countries to prize white skin, and these cultures also associate white skin with beauty and power. It is made clear in the video that people make a rational decision to use such products in hopes of receiving social and economic benefits. Sociologist Margaret Hunter says light skin is a form of racial capital: “These interventions highlight the fact that our bodies possess capital that can increase access to jobs, a spouse, or generalized social status… Racial capital is a resource drawn from the body that may include skin tone, facial features, body shape, or hair texture” (p.53). Unfortunately, there are harmful side effects to many of these products. Cheaper versions of skin whitening creams contain toxic substances like mercury, and buying into this light skin privilege serves to further devalue darker skin tones. Yet we should not criticize the individuals who use skin whitening products as they did not create this beauty standard and are merely trying to mitigate disadvantage in a world where white skin is the default. Instead, we should focus on how Western beauty standards operate in our global society and perhaps attempt to decouple skin tone and social status.

SOURCE: Hunter, Margaret. 2019. “Technologies of Racial Capital”. Contexts 18(4): 53-55. https://doi.org/10.1177/1536504219884073

From the video’s description: On this episode of Shady, our host, Lexy Lebsack travels to the Philippines to uncover the toxic reality of skin bleaching. This cultural trend is practicing world wide even with deadly side effects. Watch this week's Shady to understand the truth about skin bleaching.