Dear Friend and Reader:
We have a guest blogger today, photo editor Danielle Voirin. She recently wrote to Eric with a piece on women’s standards of beauty and the lengths they will go to achieve it. A topic she covers, skin lightening, is one I haven’t thought about in a long time, since I read an editorial written by a newspaper columnist in London.
She wrote that she was an intelligent, educated and successful young Indian woman, but that she is obsessed with making her skin lighter. No matter what the known risks, and how much she aligns herself with female independence and equality, she stated firmly that she will not stop using these skin lightening creams.
The whole story flooded back to me after reading this short essay, and I went on a quest to find you an example of a website that sells these creams. If you do not find the premise of skin lightening creepy enough, then click here, and pay special attention to the videos.
I realize that, as a light-skinned person, I may not be in the right position to criticize skin-lightening. I benefit from white privilege every day of my life, and am not subject to racial profiling by police and security guards, discrimination by employers or by media representations of beauty and power. We all can relate, though, to the unreal standards of beauty presented to us in media and advertising that tells us we are always too poor, to short or too fat.
Last year, I took a short class on beauty myths, based loosely on Naomi Wolf’s book. Our discussion turned to the roots of gender programming and self-esteem; one idea that came up was the gendering of children’s toys (there’s a common saying that one’s gender is constructed from the time you’re born and the doctor announces: “It’s a girl!”)
Discussing possible solutions to gender programming, I brought up the Barbie Liberation Organization. The project began in 1989 when Barbie came out with a voice box and started saying things like, “Math is hard!” and “Will we ever have enough clothes?” As a response, a group of concerned folks stole a bunch of barbies, switched their voice boxes with G.I. Joes’, and soon the pink-clad ladies were shouting “Vengeance is mine!” to some very confused little girls.
This story always makes me laugh and encourages me, and I hope it does the same for you. We may not be able to stop it now, but we can always find a way to fight back.
See below for the daily aspects, courtesy of Serennu, and today’s Oracle.
All the best,
A Short Rant on Beauty
The other night my friend Elena Rossini had some friends over to get feedback on the research she’s been doing for a documentary on the beauty industry. It’s incredible the stuff she’s finding.
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Cover of Vogue, April 1968. Circled is |
First, Vogue introduced the idea of “cellulite” in April of 1968, as “the new word for fat you couldn’t lose before.” It was just an accepted fact, not a diagnosable problem before. AND, the only reason people think the creams work is because it’s the act of massaging the leg that makes a slight improvement. It’s hereditary, no fancy magic creams will do a damn thing.
Designer Christian Lacroix has had to re-organize his women’s line of clothing for the U.S. market. Because of breast implants, the clothes are not fitting Americans like they are supposed to.
Implants have to be re-done every five years because of scar tissue, something doctors do not tell patients. They make too much money on this fact.
One of the scariest things is marketing beauty products to toddlers and children. In the U.S. there are kid-beauty-salon places in malls where little girls can have birthday parties and get manicures, pedicures, hair extensions, makeup and beauty tips. This is so disgusting. Elena showed a clip of a mother interviewed saying she got her first pedicure at 22 and, “yeah, it’s kind of strange to see her getting one at 5.” Um, but you’re taking her there!
The Dove “real-beauty” campaign (using real women, with curves and wrinkles) was retouched by probably the most famous retoucher, a French guy names Pascal Dangin.
The same companies that make tanning lotions in the west also make skin-whitening creams in the east. 50-70% of women in India use skin whitening creams. Whiter skin is associated with the West, women that have jobs, money and power. Tan skin in the west is considered a luxury, obviously you have time and money to go on vacation, or at least have leisure.
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Vogue article titled “Cellulite: The new word for fat you couldn’t lose before.” |
So, not only do we want to control the earth and exploit its resources, we have to control our bodies as well: hair color, skin color, makeup, nail-painting, hair removal, piercing, altering physical structures with liposuction, implants, Botox, face lifts, anti-wrinkle creams, anti-cellulite creams. Insecurity, anxiety, insecurity, insecurity…spending more money, money, money on these products and procedures that will not make us happy but only snowball into more extreme control. There must always be a higher standard of beauty to attain, otherwise the whole system doesn’t work. It would collapse with no goal, with everyone having reached beauty “standard.” And what could we do with all this time and money, as women, if it were spent elsewhere???!!! Not to mention buying into this beauty system takes you farther and farther away from nature, the Earth, health.
Ah, and here’s a good one. The visible effects of Botox last six months, yet in lab rats it’s still found in the body several months after that. The long-term effects aren’t really known. A small vial of the stuff costs $40 to manufacture, then is sold to doctors for about $400. With that, they can make $4,000. The procedure only takes a few minutes.
I’m angry.
— Danielle Voirin, Paris
Danielle contributes many of our covers to Planet Waves.
Aspects for Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Apollo (9+ Leo) square Pandora (9+ Scorpio Rx)
Juno (21+ Sagittarius Rx) quincunx Sedna (21+ Taurus)
Mercury (13+ Gemini Rx) septile Eris (21+ Aries)
Mars (21+ Leo) trine Eris (21+ Aries)
Venus (29+ Gemini) sesquiquadrate Nessus (14+ Aquarius Rx)
Eros (5+ Cancer) quintile 1992 QB1 (23+ Aries)
Sun (26+ Gemini) opposite Galactic Center (26+ Sagittarius)
Eros (5+ Cancer) trine Chariklo (5+ Scorpio Rx)
Juno (20+ Sagittarius Rx) sextile Chiron (20+ Aquarius Rx)
Sun (27+ Gemini) conjunct Hades (27+ Gemini)
Today’s Oracle takes us to Dec. 04, 2006 – GEMINI – Monthly
There can be no doubt: if you don’t feel right, you’re not where you belong. This may pertain to a relationship or to a physical space; it may refer to the work you do or the city or town you call home. Once feelings enter the picture, however, it becomes more difficult to deny them, which is why it’s so darned popular to get rid of them. For you, there is no turning back. This is a lifetime like no other, a moment in your personal history that has no valid comparison, and you are discovering yourself (mainly by feeling) someone you never expected to become.