Acclaimed skin-whitening studies from Ottawa raise racism concerns

ThePrude · #1 10-30-2007, 05:38 PM

Funny, I've heard of East Asian (Chinese, Korean and Japanese, etc) women using skin whiteners before, but I thought it was more anecdotal than anything else

I have a Chinese friend at work, and once we were talking about sun safety for some reason and I told her that she should make sure to put on sun screen because she's really fair (whiter than most white people). She was all "wow...thank you!!!" like I gave her the biggest compliment in the world....huh!

Acclaimed skin-whitening studies from Ottawa raise racism concerns

Quote:

Acclaimed skin-whitening studies from Ottawa raise racism concerns

Award-winning research by Ottawa biochemists into technology that makes dark skin fairer is renewing controversy about a type of cosmetic product worth billions in Asian markets.

Two graduate students at Carleton University, Pratik Lodha and Eman Ahmed-Muhsin, have been developing Gloriel, a skin-lightening cream based on Nobel Prize-winning gene-silencing technology.

The product won $5,000 as a finalist in the 2007 Student Technology Venture Challenge, an annual business competition for post-secondary students in eastern Ontario and western Quebec.

The research has also been awarded additional funding from Carleton University and the inventors hope to patent it in two years so they can sell the rights to a cosmetic giant such as L'Oreal.

Lodha's inspiration for the idea came from India, where he is from and where skin-lightening creams are a billion-dollar industry.

Critics have accused the industry of racism and imperialism. Ranni Moorthy, a U.K.-based actress from India, told CBC News the products are touted as cures, as if dark skin is "some kind of disease, to be put right."

"This idea of kind of positioning oneself on … Western beauty standards is quite insidious," Moorthy said.

Ahmed-Muhsin defended the technology, which she says could also be used by pale people to darken their skin.

"We're not racist," she said, pointing out that tanning products are popular in North American in the way whitening products are in places such as India, Japan and China.

"The market exists and we're not going to increase or decrease that market. We're just offering a safer and more effective method."

She said many skin-whitening products contain harmful chemicals that can damage skin.

In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed a ban on over-the-counter sales of skin-lightening products, citing potential health risks of the common ingredient hydroquinone.

Hydroquinone is a possible carcinogen and has been linked with disfiguring condition called ochronosis that causes darkening and thickening of the skin, along with raised bumps and greyish-brown spots.

Unlike those products, Gloriel uses a reversible gene-silencing method called RNA interference to reduce the production of skin pigments called melanin.

The technology, invented by U.S. researchers Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello, won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2006.

kesh · #2 10-30-2007, 05:49 PM

ganguro was better

boonboxboi · #3 10-30-2007, 06:03 PM

i never got the tan thing - whyyy do ppl do it, man?!

kesh · #4 10-30-2007, 06:05 PM

in japan? a tan was the most anti fashion you could be

i_eat_ether · #5 10-30-2007, 06:38 PM

but does it work on genitals?

Amity · #6 10-30-2007, 10:49 PM

I love how this thread makes all the ads on the LH side advertise skin bleaching products...

desdemona · #7 10-31-2007, 06:01 AM

Such bs. No one ever cited fake tan and other skin-darkening products as racist against whites. So different people have different ideals of beauty, big deal.

I think alot of the controversy has been spawned from the fact that people would be willing to endanger their health for the sake of looking whiter. Insecure dark people don't want to believe this. Might I point out that tanning beds are also hazardous to health in that they penetrate the skin with up to three times as much UV radiation as the sun. Yet people are still so crazy about having darker skin that they're willing to risk long-term damage, and even skin cancer. Unless, of course, they're ignorant to the hazards of tanning beds, but that's irrelevant. People can be similarly ignorant to the hazards of skin-whitening.

BleedingHeart · #8 10-31-2007, 06:17 AM

yes, lets all picket outside tanning salons about how caucasians should be proud to be white.Geishas who painted their face white centuries ago just reflects an idea of beauty that has always been there. There wasn't a racist outcry when Micheal Jackson decided it did matter whether he was black or white.

Champers · #9 11-10-2007, 08:46 PM

The weird thing is, many people who use skin lightening creams aren't doing so to obliterate their ethnicity as such, they use these products to acheive a more balanced skin tone. What a lot of people aren't aware of is that if you go down the route of using skin lightening products, especially if they contain hydraquinone, it's imperative that you use a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30. If you don't, you're prone to hyperpigmentation, which defeats the purpose of using these products in the first place!

East Asian people in general eschew products with hydraquinone and go for kojic acid. Kojic acid has been used for centuries by geishas and is still omnipresent in Japan. I've been using it for the best part of two years and it's done wonders for my skin tone and is infinitely more safe than a lot of over the counter skin lightening products. Anyone who attempts to lighten their skin tone with chemicals without the advice of a dermatologist is just asking for trouble.

As it happens kesh, up until recently, tanned skin in Japan was an aesthetic nobody aspired to until the past few years. Apparently, there's this yoof cult, there's a Japanese name for it actually, where girls aspire to Paris Hilton orange fake tan. Bizarre, but true.

Ruth Price · #10 11-10-2007, 08:59 PM

Champers, PLEASE god tell me you're a snappily dressed little gaysian man, it would make my year.

Champers · #11 11-10-2007, 09:10 PM

Sorry to deflate your fantasy, I'm not gaysian, but for you and you alone Ruthie, I will provocatively whisper "suckee- ten dollars" in your ear at the most appropriate moment

iamaposeur · #12 11-10-2007, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Champers

As it happens kesh, up until recently, tanned skin in Japan was an aesthetic nobody aspired to until the past few years. Apparently, there's this yoof cult, there's a Japanese name for it actually, where girls aspire to Paris Hilton orange fake tan. Bizarre, but true.

Ganguro girls.

historygravity · #13 11-10-2007, 09:27 PM

If anyone has used one and has very sensitive skin pm me. I am fair but like creamy white. I find extremes attractive - very dark or very light. Otherwise, in general, I tend to think mixed races are the most beautiful people.

Hot Carl · #14 11-12-2007, 03:36 PM

I don't think there is anything wrong with these products. My cousin has vitiligo and even though her skin is already very light, nobody has pure white skin, and she has spots of white on her face and various other parts of her body. I am sure she would love if there was something to even out the skin tone so she wouldn't look so weird.

sssh · #15 11-12-2007, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BleedingHeart

There wasn't a racist outcry when Micheal Jackson decided it did matter whether he was black or white.

Er...really?

I'm not sure whether this is simply a different cultural idea of beauty, or a insidious trickling-down from our culture into others, saying that white is most beautiful and you should damn well do whatever you can to be it. In one sense it sounds like it is imposing white as the ideal of beauty, but then, I think this was present in at least Indian culture before there were loads of white people over there. The white skin ideal is more to do with the caste structure - in other words, it's class, not race.

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