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Alla on pari kauneusaiheista tutkimusta koskien osaltaan Jamaikaa ja varsinkin ihonväriä. Näissä tutkimuksissa tuodaan esille historiaa kuinka osaltaan valkoisten takia nykyään monissa enimmäkseen mustien asuttamissa maissa suositaan vaaleamman ihonvärin omaavia samaan tapaan kuin valkoisillakin oli tapana suosia mulatteja esim. kotipalvelijoina. Onhan tämä tietysti valitettavaa, jos todellakin länsimailla on paljonkin vaikutusta tänä päivänä myös mustien hallitsemiin maihin, mutta eikö sitä pitäisi enemmän yrittää hillitä vaikka ihonvärin vaalentamista. Toisaalta tutkimusten perusteella myös mustat miehet tykkäävät vaaleammasta ihonväristä vaikkei yhtä vaaleasta kuin vaaleammat miehet, niin eipä tälle taida paljoakaan voida, jos nainen vaalentamalla ihonväriään saa esim. miehiltä enemmän huomiota.
Gabriel (2007) states, “In recent years there has been a preoccupation within the mainstream Jamaican media regarding color issues, particularly skin bleaching, but on the whole, the treatment has been more sensational than constructive and informative.” He also states, “There has never been any attempt at explaining what drives non-white people to burn their skin with chemicals other than subtle attempts to suggest it is borne of a desire to be white, thereby reinforcing the concept of the white beauty ideal” (Gabriel, 2007). “Media images reinforce racial hierarchies by presenting lighter skin as beautiful and preferable over darker skin,” (Lewis, et al., 2011). Farlane (2006) states, “The images of lighter-skinned people seen on music videos and on advertisement boards promote the message that lighter-skin is more beautiful and desirable to the opposite sex, and a prerequisite for access to the ‘good life’” (as cited in Gabriel, 2007, p. 44-45). O’Brien and Berry (2008) convey “It was not until the 1960s that dark-skinned [African] Jamaicans were allowed to work in banks, government offices, or in the front offices of private businesses” (p. 147). Gabriel (2007) states, “In spite of the gains of the Black Power era, how did the BLACK POWER ERA affect Jamaicans? The mantra of I am Black and I am Proud has receded into the background only to be replaced, once again, by bleaching creams” (p.44-45).Lähde
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Cicchetti and Cohen (2006) states, in practical terms, “in all societies, lighter-skinned African women are valued over darker-skinned African women.” Charles (2009) states, “Since the influx of colonization, the ideology that light skin is better than dark skin persists in Jamaican culture. In all forms of Jamaican ‘societal institutions’ we find the promotion and preservation of this ideology.”
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Regarding social class and the practice of skin-bleaching, the more economically privileged groups are able to mask their practices and shield themselves from public criticism. This secret ambiguous behavior describes other ways in which Jamaicans of varying social classes bleach. Brown-Glaude (2007) asserts, “[p]eople refuse to have children with someone whose complexion is as dark as or darker than theirs. They are, in fact, lightening their lineage, bleaching generation next, if you will” (p. 45).
In colonial Jamaica, Black customers preferred to be served by fair skinned girls (although these girls treated Blacks disrespectfully) so businesses in Kingston readily employed these girls (Henriques, 1951). Colorism continued after Britain granted political independence to Jamaica in 1962. A young black woman in the early post-independence years destroyed her photograph because she looked too dark in it (Brown, 1979). One study found that adolescents’ judged each other using the benchmark of White physicality so the preferred complexion was clear or fair (Miller, 1962). White adolescents saw themselves as higher and more worthy than Brown adolescents who saw themselves as higher and more worthy than Chinese and Black adolescents (Miller, 1973). Jamaica is a plural society with three unique cultural sections based on race and cultural ancestry, Whites, Brown and Black. The Brown cultural section reveals that colorism also influences social stratification (Smith, 1990). A review of 1000 newspaper ads for household workers from 1920-1970 revealed that employers had a preference for light skin workers and these workers revealed their skin tone in the ads they placed (Johnson, 1996). Some Black Jamaican men prefer to have a browning partner which is the contemporary manifestation of the desired Mulatto woman of the colonial period (Mohammed, 2000).Lähde
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Skin bleaching is an old practice because it existed in ancient Egypt, medieval Europe, colonial North America, the colonial Caribbean and colonial Africa. Skin bleaching is not only popular and controversial in the contemporary era, it is also global. The practice occurs in the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific region, Europe, Africa, North America, Central America and South America. People of all races, ethnicities, levels of education and income engage in the practice (Charles, 2003; Blay, 2007; de Souza, 2008; Dorman, 2011; Gooden, 2011; Saraswati, 2010; Winders, Jones III & Higgins, 2005).
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A Man Whitney Test was performed to determine if the difference in the mean selfesteem score of the skin bleaching group (164.24) and the mean self-esteem score of the nonbleaching comparison group (162.24) was statistically significant. The results reveal that there is no statistical difference in the level of self-esteem based on whether or not an individual practices skin bleaching (U = 27022.000, p=.888). The study participants who bleach their skin do not have low self-esteem so they do not suffer from self-hate.
The participants in the study reported six categories of reason for bleaching their skin. They stated that they bleached their skin to “remove skin blemishes,” “light skin is pretty,” “to attract a partner,” “to get light complexion,” the altered complexion is “style and fashion,” and the practice “is popular because our friends and other people are doing it.”
The majority of the documentary shows Jackson Miller in the “downtown” urban area of Kingston interviewing various women and one man, who bleach. Responding to the question of why they bleach, similar to the responses I garnered, some women indicated that they either “liked” the lighter, browner skin color as it made them “more prettier,” or that they thought their skin was too dark as is, and bleaching “bring [them] up likkle more” (Brings them up a little more). Still, some responded that because of their professions as beauticians, a lighter skin tone made them more visible to potential customers- visible in the sense that a lighter complexion was deemed more attractive as it implied some degree of sophistication and modernity, and moreover because “when yuh black nuh baddy nuh si yuh” (When you are black nobody sees you). Some interviewees also identified skin bleaching as “fashion ova style” - a fashion statement that gives one a more “glammy look”- a glamorous look. These responses all reflect sentiments no doubt at least underwritten by ubiquitous mass media representations of female black popular culture icons like Beyonce, Rihanna and Halle Berry, but arguably also by the fact that in Jamaican society oftentimes skin color is a referent for social class and mobility. While she discusses broader social issues and causes, albeit quite briefly with Dr. Hope’s intervention, Jackson Miller noticeably does not engage her subjects on matters of social mobility, accessibility, or how and why they feel these constructions of beauty and glamour have ascended.Lähde
Some of them are monkeys (monkey noises accompanied by imitations of monkey behavior) when you see them. Anything that ugly (is a monkey). When you see them, and they have not made it (not successful or attractive from bleaching). Because some of them are very ugly; I will not lie, some of them are very ugly. It is not that all the bleachers are ugly, but some of them are monkeys. They are very ugly. Some of them can’t be worked with (have nothing to work with) and would be ugly regardless of bleaching.Lähde
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Anybody who bleaches looks good but, I would not be attracted to a man that is bleaching. What is the reason for men to bleach? Bleaching is for women. Yeah! Bleaching is a woman thing! Why would a man bleach? He is competing against women, because I am supposed to be the one who looks good (as a woman).
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The girls love it man! See, your face looks brown and looks good. Ha! The girls like it. My mother curses me everyday saying I am bleaching and look like a woman, but the girls pray for it man (support and adore)! Lots of girls (like it)!
