SKIN BLEACHING AND ITS CULTURE IMPACT ON JAMAICAN

CULTURE
The history of skin bleaching

In Europe women were painting their faces to look whiter. Women heavily invest in being white because

it was a sign of purity. Women began becoming sick from using lead and arsenic products and the

practice was moved to the Americas. In history soap was on black bodies to demonstrate potency of the

product. Black were used as the before you use the soap and the whites were used for after you used

the soap. In Europe they used whiteness to sell many products.

In Slavery slave masters promoted the idea of white superiority and black inferiority. This included the

Caribbean. Williams, Lavizzo-Mourey and Warren believe that race and race ideology stemmed from

slavery and colonialism.

Dark skinned blacks would labor outside while the lighter skin blacks worked inside the plantation

master homes. Many blacks believed the lighter black salves received more favorable treatment over

the darker skinned black slaves. This belief created contention among slaves. Resentment flourished

between each group heightened as slave masters forced sexual intercourse with female house slaves.

The lighter children born expanded the divide between the lighter and darker and colour slaves. Lighter

blacks became aware of their privilege and used it to their advantages.

This shows that now the desire to be lighter skinned has become widespread among Africans and

Caribbean nations. We were programmed into thinking that blacks were not of any worth.

An example of this is a 23-year-old Sharon who resides in Kingston works hard to transform her dark skin

complexion to light brown skin colour. This common colour is among Jamaica’s upper class and a lot of

lower-class women strive to have that colour skin. This skin tone is favored by many men in Kingston.
Sharon believes a like skin will be her ticket out of the inner city and to a posh life uptown. She spends

her little savings buying cheap black-market concoctions that promise great results in removing skin

pigments. Sharon ignores the health risks to come with bleaching because the result is browner skin.

This trend is becoming an epidemic that some mothers are even bleaching their own babies. Most

people use over the counter creams, many of them are knock of brands from west Africa. Many creams

have chemicals that do long term damage to the skin. Many of these chemicals are banned in china and

Europe. The United States products with these ingredients still on the shelf. FDA has deemed them safe

at certain percentages but has not fully banned these chemicals. Abusers of the cream use products

smuggled in from other Caribbean countries that have more toxins in them. Some bleachers who cannot

afford store bought creams opt for the cheaper version of toothpaste and curry powder which can stain

the skin to a yellowish tint. Bleachers want to be accepted within their circle in Jamaican society, so they

accept the risks of bleaching. The most public figure in bleaching is Vybz Kartel (Adija Palmer aka Addie

the teacher). Bleaching is a choice it is like getting a tattoo. Even men are getting in the bleaching craze.

Most women believe that is the fashionable thing to, it makes them feel special like they are walking

around in a spotlight.