user ballots
Login
Register
Add One
FAQ/Contact
Popular Ballots
Recent Popular
Recent Votes
Best
Worst
Yes or No
Choices
What If
Prediction
Advice
Would You
Crime
Recommend
Quiz
TV & Movie
Music & Radio
Political
Science
Sports
Relationship
Techonology
Culture
Philosophy
Religion
Ethics
History
Food & Health
Fashion & Beauty
Crime
FanBase
Discussion
Bug Report
|
COMMENTS:
Voted : Pre-colonial cultural beliefs
I would argue that influences from their own culture prior to European colonisation is the primary cause of this continuing attitude.
In Asia, the idea that lighter skin is supposedly better, is something that existed long before Europe colonised it.
"In eastern Asian countries, pale skin represented royalty or sophistication. Most royals were believed to have their pale skin from staying indoors all day as opposed to the farmers who spent their lives working in rice paddy fields under the sun." (Source: Wikipedia)
And the idea that lighter skin is supposedly better would have differing causes for the differing countries as well.
In Japan, geishas were always infamous for their painted white faces, which was long perceived by Japanese society as being attractive, beautiful, graceful and elegant.
In India, the lighter skinned Indo-Aryans dominated Indian society, wealth and were perceived as being more prestigious- as opposed to the Dravidians (the darker skinned Indians). This Indo-Aryan political domination and prestigious identity also preceded European colonisation of India.
In China, the lighter skin of the Han ethnic group was often used to juxtapose with the ethnic groups to the West- such as Tibetans and Uighurs, whom were widely perceived back then as being less developed and much less prestigious- and thus the lighter skinned Han perceived themselves as being superior. As China dominated the region in pre-colonial times, their cultural beliefs spread throughout East Asia, and perhaps this attitude was one of them.
Furthermore, in pre-colonial East Asia, China was politically the dominant power in the region. The darker skinned South East Asians were forced into the tianxia system in which they had to pay tribute and explicitly accept an inferior status to that of the Chinese (of whom were of lighter skin- and were perceived as being more powerful, prestigious, and wealthy).
Besides which, Asian societies that were not colonised by Europeans also express desire for lighter skin- these include Japan, China, Korea, and Thailand.
And other regions of the world were also colonised by Europe, and are also swamped by the Western media, and they do not seem to place the same amount of preference on skin colour as South and East Asians do (except perhaps Latin America to a much more moderate extent- but in this separate case, I would say for Latin America it is directly European influence, as I do not know of any cultural preferences for lighter skin that existed before European contact).
So, for the most part, I think a lot of it stems from the Asians own cultural beliefs that existed before European colonisation even occured.
Voted : Modern Western media
Well you know more historical facts than i do. Asian girls seem to fancy white men a lot but i always thought it was due to the influence of the western
media.
Anyway, if they think they need whiter skin to look more attractive they're just being silly.
Voted : A fasion caused by many factors
The same reason that pale skin was more desirable in the UK in the old days. Queen Vic wouldn't need to work under the sun and hence would be pale as pale could be. Those plebs who had to work for a living would bear the scar of the sun... dark skin... shownig that they weren't rich enough or classy enough to not have to work outdoors to survive.
So, the fashion amongst rich wannabies would be to keep yourself as pale as possible... using powders to make you look even more white and untarnished
People have now begun to to associate a tanned complexion, with having money and being able to go on holiday somewhere hot. So it's swins and roundabouts
Voted : European colonial influence
Must be Euro influence. It happens in other cultures too.
On second thought Modern Western media sounds more viable.
Voted : Modern Western media
Hollywood
read Pearl S. Buck's "The Good Earth".
in the ancient times, the lighter skins were those who didn't have to work out in the field. They were the rich and the elite, so they were considererd more desirable.
Nowadays, at least in our country, the logic is reversed.
by LCD on Tue Dec 19, 06 9:13am
[+]
or if you don't have the time for a novel, watch Monty Python's "the Holy Grail".
as King author rides though the town on a pretend horse, this conversation happens between the two side characters:
MORTICIAN: Who's that then?
CUSTOMER: I don't know.
MORTICIAN: Must be a king.
CUSTOMER: Why?
MORTICIAN: He hasn't got shit all over him.
by LCD on Tue Dec 19, 06 9:18am
[+]
Firstly this topic is much deeper than a paragraph or two...but here goes anyway.
The selection proccess for women tends to be skewed towards health and strength/IE higher testosterone levels,taller,square chin,broad shoulders,tan complexion,...this is generally true of all races and obviously exceptions exist but we're talking trends here.
Men on the other hand tend to select more towards intelligence and altruism(parenting FE),or at least certain kinds of intelligence and altruism.This is where it becomes sticky because like it or not,those of fairer skin of all given races tend to outscore those of the the darker varieties of a given race on IQ tests.This is true of whites(FE Scotts vs Bulgarians),asians(FE Korean vs Cambodian),Jews(FE Ashkenazi vs sephardic)blacks vs black/white hybrids,....
That women tend to "trade up" in testosterone helps explain the familiar patterns in interacial relationships of white men with east asian women and black men with white women.
As for light skin appealing to east asians it's or more significance to asian males than to there female counterparts to find a fair skin mate and has little if nothing to do with western influence.East asian men,on the whole,are more attracted to east asian women than fairer skinned Europeans,nor do they have a preference for blondes.(asian men cite white women as being to big)Now one *can* cite European influence for the trend among east asians(mostly women) for eye and nose surgery.I see alot of this and imho this is an absolute shame to see otherwise beautiful asian women opt for surgery that,9 out of 10 times,looks utterly fake and cheap to me.I can spot it instantly but to each his own....
Voted : A fasion caused by many factors
No idea. Why does the West, or at least America, tend to perceive tanned bodies as more attractive? Seems a tough question to answer, for me at least.
It goes back centuries. Those who were wealthy enough didn't have to work outside. So it was percieved that those who had light skin were wealthy. Tanning in the US became popular with CoCo Channel(I think that's her name). People got the perception that if you had money you could afford nice vacations, like lying on the beach on some tropical island. While everybody else slaved away indoors. People are funny like that I guess.
I also believe lighter skin is preferred in Africa and South America.
The reason why it's preferred in Northeast Asia is because light skin in Northeast Asia was the norm before intermarriage with Southeast Asians changed the phenotype of Asians. Likewise, there is culture, and the fact that light skin simply contrasts better with jet black hair and extremely dark eyes. It pairs well with the fine bone structure of northeast asians as well.
Lastly, more feminine or sexually active women do select towards higher testosterone but intelligent and kind women also select for intelligence and kindess. All women, to some extent, select for intelligence (status).
This is why East Asian men are preferred by East Asian women.
|
|
