Jenna Ligutom

Beauty Standards. Varying from country to country, region to region, and culture to culture. It's a set of characteristics seen as aesthetically pleasing, and what makes someone “beautiful.”

In America for example, no matter how diversified the modeling/ beauty industry makes itself out to be, there's no hiding that the standard is tall, light-skinned, blonde, and blue-eyed. Although more prominent in the women in the media, this standard can also apply to men. 

As previously mentioned, what is considered conventionally attractive can vary from country to country and even region to region. As a Southeast Asian woman, my family has always admired how my complexion was “milky” and how “fair” I was; relative to other family members, or even friends of the same ethnicity. For so long I've always wondered why being lighter, having a taller/ slimmer nose, or even more taboo things like fine arm hair-- was even relevant to how attractive someone was deemed. But after years and years of hearing comparisons to others, advertisements on TV, and even different beauty and lifestyle products.

One of the products that has constantly caught my eye when visiting my homeland [Philippines] were the shelves of different whitening soaps. Papaya, kojie, Belo etc. I was even more shocked when I heard about pills that were marketed to whiten your skin, and going as far as injecting the whitening properties into your bloodstream. Bleaching your skin is one thing, but having a substance you're not properly informed about crosses the line.

    I surmise that the reason why there's such a huge market in not only the Southeast, but much of South Asia, is the underlying theme of colorism. 

    Colorism is a ubiquitous problem, but what breaks my heart even more is that the colorism in my own country stems from the history of colonialism, classist ideologies, and overall prejudiced notions. If you're darker in complexion the implication is that you stay outside and work tirelessly as a farmer. And if you're on the paler side, you have the luxury of being able to stay inside and no intentions to do any laborious activities that require you to have hours upon hours of sunlight. All classist ideas.

  The struggle of wanting to be perceived as attractive and desirable in your own land, to the point of being bullied by your own blood is a true and painful one. But there is one thing to be truly said: if one has melanin in their skin, there is no need to hide it. Stop yourself from reaching, or even thinking about all the skin bleaching products and all the harmful ingredients. You are not less desirable just because of your natural complexion. Rescind the ideologies being pushed onto you that possess deep undertones of colorism, classism, and self-hatred. Break this useless and redundant cycle.