Thailand’s latest skin-whitening fad might be the most disturbing one yet

[Jazzy]

Thailand — Asia’s skin-whitening industrial complex never stops innovating.

The latest product? A chemical goop for women (and men) unhappy with the color of their limbs. Simply slather it all over your arms and legs. Wait a week. Then peel back your skin to reveal the milky white you are hiding beneath all that pigment.

Asia’s supermarket shelves are filled with a dizzying variety of skin-whitening agents. Many in Asia are as obsessed with lightening their skin as westerners are about tanning it.

The product lines go far beyond lotions and pills. There are skin-whitening injections. Armpit-whitening deodorants sold at 7-Eleven outlets. A heavily advertised “whitening feminine wash” for female genitals.

This isn’t a fringe market. One research firm predicts that the “global skin lightener” industry — powered by transnational conglomerates such as Unilever and Procter & Gamble — will be worth $23 billion by 2020.

Your thoughts about this fad?

 

[Lizzy]

Its just crazy, I don't understand it. I don't go out of my way to tan, in fact I stay out of the sun as much as possible. Why are so many people uncomfortable with their skin?

 

[seasidemike]

What the fuck is wrong with people?????

 

[Dee]

It's because of this idea of darker skin being less attractive than whiter, lighter skin, which is supposed to be pristine and beautiful. Any reasonable person knows this is ridiculous as all natural skin colors are beautiful, but when human beings use aesthetics to judge a person's worth, skills, intelligence, and beauty in this world then you're going to get a very skewed idea of what is considered beautiful and what is not.