GRSJ224/Medicalization of Whiteness

Biomedicalization of Whiteness

In many different commercials around the globe, beauty has come to be associated with whiteness. Considering that most of the world’s humans are not Caucasian, it seems odd that whiteness become associated with beauty. It seems that what pharmaceutical and beauty companies are selling is an impossible dream of becoming racially different; of metamorphosing in something that’s come to be desirable. It is important to note that whiteness has been dispersed across the globe through exploration and colonization, and one would expect people in non-Caucasian countries to reject the standards of beauty imposed by outsiders; yet they do not. Instead, men and women around the globe spend money in an attempt to become whiter; to lighten their skin, in order to become more like whatever standards the west has promoted when it comes to beauty.

Defining “Whiteness”

In his book, Garner (2007) explains “whiteness” as a sign of supremacy, an absence of race, a norm, a hierarchy, and a cultural/social construct.

If whiteness means “safe,” then the “other” is the threat; the terror. Yet, white people have been recently proven to be very dangerous and deadly. Garner (2007) argues that “being or not being white can be a matter of life and death” (p. 13). The truthfulness of this statement has been proven over and over again as the world watched innocent black males being killed by law enforcement in the United States, and the beginning of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

Whiteness however plays a cultural role in much more subtle ways than just getting some people killed while others are simply arrested. Colonization played an important role is assigning values to white and non-white skin, as well as associating darker skin tones with tropical climate, exoticism, racial degeneration and lack of health (Mire, 2014, p. 118-120). White was not only attractive; it was healthy: “European corporeal health and moral superiority came to be discursively produced, normalized, and transmitted” (Mire, 2014, p. 120).

Whiteness as a Medical Goal

Today, whiteness is promoted via the beauty industry. Mire (2014) argues that whiteness and whitening are built in the anti-aging industry and connects this trend of seeking white skin with other historical trends such as “tropical medicine, racial hygiene, their corollary colonial commodity culture;” all resulting from real and imagined fears and anxieties pertaining to so-called environmentally caused diseases, degeneration and decline (p. 123). In an ever-globalized world, it seems unreal that whiteness still matters, yet, whiteness is being exported constantly. Mire (2014) notes that when marketing to Asian women, advertising products often stress both traditional Asian aesthetic preferences for light skin alongside an investment in deracialized universal beauty; thus, saying that white skin is for everyone. Contemporary concern with pigmentation transcends colonial boundaries of race, class, and gender, since now, whites and non-whites can equally suffer from “pigmentation problems;” and this is overwhelmingly a women’s problem (Mire, 2014, p. 124)

Japanese Ads Messages

When translated, Japanese ads for beauty products carry some powerful messages about the importance of whiteness: “The sensation of whiteness (shiro) on your skin” (Helena Rubinstein) “The best shortcut to whiteness” (Givenchy) “Let’s cultivate whiteness, every day” (Clinique) “What I have touched is a drop of white science” (Yves Saint-Laurent) “Double action, for the skin of the future which goes beyond whiteness” (Dior) “Clarins has discovered the white skin” (Clarins) “A new experience of whiteness” (Carita)

Even though beauty is beauty – we can recognize it in individuals no matter what race, black models could not be used in Japan, because it is impossible for people to judge a model independently of her race (Ashikari, 2005, p. 83). Ashikari (2005) states that skin color has become so highly racialized that it has become “an important basis for racial or any other social categories in contemporary Japan” (Ashikari, 2005, p. 84). Ashikari (2005) discusses whiteness as a widely observed phenomenon in Japan, and explains how “whiteness” is a concept with many linguistic and social implications (p. 75-77). For example, whiteness is used as a compliment and calling someone “dark” is an insult (Ashikari, 2005, p. 77).

Whiteness in Egypt

Ghannam (2008) reveals an advertisement for “Ultra Fair” skin products in Al Shabab magazine, and explains that the western influence is so powerful that anything associated with whiteness is also associated with desirable. In order for women from Egypt to feel a connection with the global world, they have to buy into western ideas and western standards of beauty, which include staying or getting as light-skinned as possible.

Whiteness in India

India is home to the famous beauty line “Fair and Lovely,” a line of products which promise lighter skin in a country where sun is prevalent almost every day of the year. The Indian superstar Aishwarya Rai, who won the Miss World contest in 1994, seems to say that beauty is beauty, regardless of skin color or background. Yet, upon looking at Rai, it is obvious that she possesses very light skin, light-color, greenish eyes, and she was a model for Loreal’s “White Perfect” line of cosmetics. Rai is a beauty, but she is more than a beauty, as she, like many other women who fit the western standards of beauty are the products and evidence of “gendered regimes of beauty, aesthetics and skin colour” (Osuri, 2008, p. 112).

References

Ashikari, M. (2005). Cultivating Japanese whiteness: The ‘Whitening’ cosmetics boom and the Japanese identity. Journal of Material Culture, 10(1), 73-91.

Garner, S. (2007). Whiteness: An introduction (1sr ed.). GB: Routledge Ltd.

Ghannam, F. (2008). Beauty, whiteness, and desire: media, consumption, and embodiment in Egypt. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 40(4), 544-546.

Mire, A. (2014). ‘Skin Trade’: Genealogy of anti-ageing: ‘Whiteness therapy’ in colonial medicine. Medicine Studies, 4(1), 119-129).

Osuri, G. (2008). Ash-coloured whiteness: The transfiguration of Aishwarya Rai. South Asian Popular Culture, 6(2) 109-123.