It’s summer, I’m sure. The first sign is the heat. The second is the women on motorbikes covered from head to toe.
Not even one feature of their face is exposed. They are better concealed than women in most Islamic countries. Except it’s for a different reason.
They want to keep their skin white. Why?
The explanation that I hear the most - or maybe it’s just the one that makes the most sense to me - is the same one that I here sometimes about the one extra-long fingernail some Vietnamese men like to grow. That is, it is to show that you don’t work outside.
In other words, it’s a way to show your class: if you’re dark, it means that maybe you work in the fields. If you’re very white, it shows that you have the luxury to spend a lot of time indoors, out of the hot Vietnamese sun.
________
Of course, these ideas about beauty are not made on a conscious level, and women probably do not ask themselves, “Why am I doing this?” when they buy a product to make their skin whiter. But really considering it, I have to wonder if ideas about beauty are not tied up in the human mind with ideas about class.
On the flip side, people in the west, and especially the women there, love to be tan. If you don’t have enough evidence around you to believe this, just take a quick look at the most popular TV programs in the U.S.
One of the latest sensations is a small elf-like creature from a program called Jersey Shore. Her name is “Snooki”, and her skin is literally orange from spray-on tanning products. In fact, the whole group of these reality television “stars” has a routine, which they like to call GTL. It stands for gym, tan, laundry.
And why do Americans it’s beautiful to be tan? Who can say?
Well I can!
My explanation: it’s because of our different, old ideas about class. Imagine an office in New York 50 years ago. The secretary doesn’t make much money. She sits inside all day and types. Her skin is very white.
Her boss, on the other hand, is quite rich. Every winter he goes on vacation with his wife to a warm island to relax on a sunny Mexican beach. When they come back, both the boss and his wife are tan from their time sipping drinks in the sun.
Now the secretary, who spends most of her time in the office or in her small apartment, sees the couple come back. She’s jealous, she wants to go on vacation too. She wants to be like the boss’ wife. She wants to be tan.
Maybe she can’t afford a Mexican vacation. But she can afford to sit on her apartment roof in the sun, or perhaps a few tubes of some product that will make her skin darker.
________
Well, I won’t bore you with some lecture on what real beauty is. You can probably already tell that i do not think it is changing yourself to look like somebody else.
I will say this, though. That image of a woman driving down the street in the hot sun, covered from head to face to toe, in cloth and plastic, scares me.
Either way, I’m brown. I like it.
Not even one feature of their face is exposed. They are better concealed than women in most Islamic countries. Except it’s for a different reason.They want to keep their skin white. Why?
The explanation that I hear the most - or maybe it’s just the one that makes the most sense to me - is the same one that I here sometimes about the one extra-long fingernail some Vietnamese men like to grow. That is, it is to show that you don’t work outside.
In other words, it’s a way to show your class: if you’re dark, it means that maybe you work in the fields. If you’re very white, it shows that you have the luxury to spend a lot of time indoors, out of the hot Vietnamese sun.
________
Of course, these ideas about beauty are not made on a conscious level, and women probably do not ask themselves, “Why am I doing this?” when they buy a product to make their skin whiter. But really considering it, I have to wonder if ideas about beauty are not tied up in the human mind with ideas about class.
On the flip side, people in the west, and especially the women there, love to be tan. If you don’t have enough evidence around you to believe this, just take a quick look at the most popular TV programs in the U.S.
One of the latest sensations is a small elf-like creature from a program called Jersey Shore. Her name is “Snooki”, and her skin is literally orange from spray-on tanning products. In fact, the whole group of these reality television “stars” has a routine, which they like to call GTL. It stands for gym, tan, laundry.
And why do Americans it’s beautiful to be tan? Who can say?Well I can!
My explanation: it’s because of our different, old ideas about class. Imagine an office in New York 50 years ago. The secretary doesn’t make much money. She sits inside all day and types. Her skin is very white.
Her boss, on the other hand, is quite rich. Every winter he goes on vacation with his wife to a warm island to relax on a sunny Mexican beach. When they come back, both the boss and his wife are tan from their time sipping drinks in the sun.
Now the secretary, who spends most of her time in the office or in her small apartment, sees the couple come back. She’s jealous, she wants to go on vacation too. She wants to be like the boss’ wife. She wants to be tan.
Maybe she can’t afford a Mexican vacation. But she can afford to sit on her apartment roof in the sun, or perhaps a few tubes of some product that will make her skin darker.
________
Well, I won’t bore you with some lecture on what real beauty is. You can probably already tell that i do not think it is changing yourself to look like somebody else.
I will say this, though. That image of a woman driving down the street in the hot sun, covered from head to face to toe, in cloth and plastic, scares me.
Either way, I’m brown. I like it.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét