Skin Bleaching: A Growing Trend in Southeast Asia

With the phenomenon of globalization bringing forth new ideas and information, even a continent as culturally unique as Asia is feeling its effects. In Southeast Asia for example, women are perusing through the pages of imported Western magazines and are captivated by their Western counterpart’s standards of beauty. These women have begun to develop the perception that light or pale skin represents beauty, believing that having a fair complexion will make them seem more attractive and confident. Thus, some Asian women are buying face bleaching products in order to achieve the white, milky complexion. A June 2004 survey conducted by Synovate asserts that thirty-eight percent of women in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan are using skin whitening products. Though this cultural issue has not been mentioned in recent news, it has become a trend that is rapidly gaining popularity.

Globalization may have accelerated the popularity of skin whitening, but the trend can be dated back to ancient China and Japan. In a CNN article, Professor Lam Wai-kei confirmed, “In their early bid to lighten up, Chinese ground pearl from seashells into powder and swallowed it to whiten their skin, […] while Geisha girls powdered their faces chalk white." In most Southeast Asian countries, there is a collective belief that a fair milky skin is associated with the higher social class, whereas dark skin pertains to the lower social class. Unfortunately, this belief has been passed down through generations, and has been seeded in the minds of most women today.

The media has been the chief contributor to the skin whitening trend’s popularity in Southeast Asia starting with the Asia-Pacific television promoting lighter skin. As the soap operas industry are taking Asia by storm, regardless of the language differences, most of the leading actors in these dramas are usually lighter skinned. To make matters worse, these actors are placed in advertisements promoting skin whitening products like the ad seen to left. In the New York Times, a dermatologist from Bangkok, Nithiwadi Phuchareuyot, commented, “Every Thai girl thinks that if she has white skin the money will come and the men will come. The movie stars are all white-skinned, and everyone wants to look like a superstar.” Given the fact that the media are constantly feeding the “lighter is better” image to its consumers, it is difficult for Asian women to set a frame of mind that lighter skinned does not always reflect beauty.

With constant media bombardment, Asian women pressured to keep up with the trends are running to their local pharmacies or beauty stores to buy these skin whitening products. However, most women from the poor regions of Southeast Asia cannot afford it. In order to get their hands on the creams at a lower price, they resort to buying uncertified skin bleaching creams from their local village or the black market. These uncertified creams usually contain chemicals such as mercury or hydroquinone in high amounts, which are very harmful to the skin. For instance, the International Herald Tribune reports an incident involving a Thai woman named Panya, who bought a skin bleaching cream for a dollar. After using the cream, Panya’s skin became itchy and became marred with pink patches. It was later discovered that she had developed leukoderma, as seen in the image to the right. From then on, her life plunged into a downward spiral when she lost her job as a singer due to her unbearable appearance. Panya is only one of the many unlucky women who have experienced the adverse effects of skin bleaching.

What makes the skin-whitening such an important matter is that it threatens the cultural identity of the people of Southeast Asia. These women are fixated on the glamour of the West and are blinded to seeing the natural beauty of their own skin color. Given the magnitude of the issue, I believe the governments of Southeast Asia should intervene in this matter because the skin-whitening trend has traveled to poorest region and have become unsafe to use. What is being sold to these women is harmful, and the consequences are devastating because it may leave them facially scarred. Addressing the matter means protecting these women from being preyed on by the black market, and hopefully setting an example that darker skin can still be considered beautiful.