Of Skin-Deep "Beauty" And Shallow Values

As I mentioned in a previous post one of the most irksome aspects of Filipino culture is the fixation on light (read white) skin, especially among women. So it was refreshing that no less than the Mayor of Makati City, Jejomar Binay, recently made a statement criticizing this sign of colonial mentality.

As Mayor Binay pointed out, cosmetics companies profit from this obsession by exploiting the popular notion that brown skin is something to be ashamed of. So they (very successfully) push skin whiteners as the path to beauty, no matter that poor quality brands of these products are often toxic.

I recall a television commercial for a whitener that told viewers that by using the advertised product, they would "look white and stay white." That is just pathetic. Think how much consumers could save instead of throwing away money on these useless products that do nothing more than appeal to a misplaced vanity and consider what these millions of pesos could do instead to improve Philippine society if properly redirected.

The main reason for Filipinos' self-identity issue is that for generations they have allowed themselves to be brainwashed into thinking that Caucasians, especially Americans who ruled this country for 50 years, are superior to their "little brown brothers" as U.S. President William McKinley referred to the people here. As a result of this now internalized racism, rarely if ever for example will you see a Filipino celebrity or even sales people in the country's leading department store chain who are not light-skin.

But skin color should be neither a source of shame or pride. Whatever one's race or ethnicity might be is an accident of birth and is something over which we have no control. So it behooves each of us to accept himself or herself as a unique individual and to not delude ourselves with pointless envy or magical thinking in trying to be who and what we are not.