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Africa: Where black is not really beautiful
BBC News ^ | Monday 31 December 2012 | Pumza Fihlani

Posted on 01/01/2013 4:59:34 PM PST by MinorityRepublican

Nomasonto Mnisi says her skin colour is "a self-esteem issue"

South Africa is marketed to the world as Mandela's rainbow nation, where everyone is proud of their race and heritage. But for some black South Africans there is such a thing as being too black.

A recent study by the University of Cape Town suggests that one woman in three in South Africa bleaches her skin. The reasons for this are as varied as the cultures in this country but most people say they use skin-lighteners because they want "white skin".

Local musician Nomasonto "Mshoza" Mnisi, now several shades lighter, says her new skin makes her feel more beautiful and confident.

She has been widely criticised in the local media and social networking sites for her appearance but the 30-year-old says skin-bleaching is a personal choice, no different from breast implants or a having nose job.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
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To: MinorityRepublican

Well, beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, but this is really quite sad.


21 posted on 01/01/2013 5:50:41 PM PST by definitelynotaliberal
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To: MinorityRepublican

OH.. and, mine would NOT be ANYWHERE that obvious.....


22 posted on 01/01/2013 5:50:56 PM PST by Bikkuri (Hope for Conservative push in the next 2-4 years..........)
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To: MinorityRepublican

In the grand dichotomy, dark skins want to lighten their skin, pale skins want to get a sun tan, straight hairs want to curl their hair, curly hairs want to straighten their hair, short people wear shoes which make them look taller, tall people wear flat soled shoes and hunch over, not so rich want to show off their expensive Mercedes cars, the really rich seldom care what they drive.....it is the way of human minds.


23 posted on 01/01/2013 5:51:38 PM PST by entropy12 (The republic is doomed when people figure out they can get free stuff by voting democrats)
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To: MinorityRepublican

All human societies have a bias toward lighter skin, not so much a racial bias, but a skin tone bias. The ruling class in all societies of dark skinned people is lighter than the subject/citizen class. If a very dark usurper manages to upset the order and become the main dictator or chief or king or whatever he marries his children to the lighter members of the group.Conquest by a darker invader ends with the same phenomenon. The ruling class, the invader overlords select mates for themselves and their children from the lighter members of the conquered people or their own people and the ruling class lightens over generations. Only in very rich economically advanced societies is this less true. But somewhere in Zaire parents are asking their son, “Isn’t she a little dark?” No amount of laws and societal regimentation will eliminate this phenomenon. It is innate. In a wealthy society there is much more mixing of color but the ruling class will still be lighter skinned than the ruled. There are some genetic ramifications of this phenomenon but they are unmentionable in modern society.


24 posted on 01/01/2013 5:59:37 PM PST by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINE www.fee.org/library/books/economics-in-one-lesson)
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To: MinorityRepublican
When I was young I use to swim in the local lake.

There was a patch of shore there that was well shaded by large trees...this is where the black folk would swim.

Dark skin evolved in tropical people to protect them from the harmful effects of the sun's radiation...

...thought it odd that I, with pale skin, frolicked and burned in the sunshine while the shielded shunned ol Sol.

25 posted on 01/01/2013 6:05:21 PM PST by Happy Rain ("Outlawing guns because of Adam Lanza would be like outlawing free speech because of Bill Maher.")
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To: expat1000
I am always amazed when I am in Việt Nam. It is 96 degrees F and 100% humidity and all the non laboring women out of doors are covered up head to toe in cloth with wide brim hats pulled down and only their eyes barely visible, gloves up to theirbiceps. They are heliophobic. When my daughter was with me she heard many times from well meaning older ladies,"cover up or you'll turn black and never find a husband!" The Viets do seem to tan darker from whatever is their normal skin tone than Europeans do. In the old French era photos the people mostly look very dark. In modern times the Viets are a relatively light skinned people among SE Asians, at least the ones who cover up are.
26 posted on 01/01/2013 6:09:49 PM PST by ThanhPhero (Khach hanh huong den La Vang)
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To: vladimir998
“I like white people. Black people are seen as dangerous; that’s why I don’t like being black. People treat me better now because I look like I’m white,” he adds.

Actually she is dealing with reality - and here is a black who actually says she likes whites! Since blacks commit a disproportionate portion of the crime - and probably even worse where she lives - I can understand her thinking.

Having said that, I have co-workers of all sorts, American Indian, an actual African, American blacks, Brazilian, Indian, Asian, along with garden variety Americans and under these circumstances color truly does not matter - we are separated only by our achievements.

27 posted on 01/01/2013 6:19:03 PM PST by Aria ( 2008 & 2012 weren't elections - they were coup d'etats.)
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To: Happy Rain

Years ago you’d also find me in the shady part of the lakeshore. During BC (before sunscreen) summers this freckle-faced, red-tinged blonde could turn lobster red at record speed. My husband provided even more ginger genes so neither of our kids tan.

It’s such a shame these dark-complected women bleach themselves. I do pen and ink portrait art, B&W on cold press using a stippling method, and attractive, young Caucasians are the WORST to draw. You get large areas of white where one tiny, misplaced ink dot can really mess up hours of work. The best faces, the most fun to render, are old, wrinkled or have prominent features.


28 posted on 01/01/2013 6:20:08 PM PST by Kieri (The Conservatrarian)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Billy Paul - Am I Black Enough For You [HQ Audio]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaaY3slVuus


29 posted on 01/01/2013 6:26:26 PM PST by TurboZamboni (Looting the future to bribe the present)
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To: MinorityRepublican

That looks photoshopped.


30 posted on 01/01/2013 6:28:15 PM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: Kieri
By the end of Summer I used to look like a mulatto and I could stay out in the sun all day with no harmful effects.
Dark skin on white folks back then and even now to some extent gave the image of good health even though it was just epidermal damage—which is hardly good health.
31 posted on 01/01/2013 6:32:18 PM PST by Happy Rain ("Outlawing guns because of Adam Lanza would be like outlawing free speech because of Bill Maher.")
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To: MinorityRepublican

I learned all about this behavior when Ma read me “The Sneeches and Other Stories” by Dr. Seuss.


32 posted on 01/01/2013 6:40:27 PM PST by eartrumpet
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To: MinorityRepublican

This is a cultural universal.


33 posted on 01/01/2013 6:41:06 PM PST by Southern Partisan
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To: ThanhPhero

Note that rich people in times gone by did not work outdoors. Poor people mostly toiled in the fields and menial labor jobs outdoors. Dark skin is nature’s defense against harmful exposure to sun’s ultra violet rays. Therefore rich people in the same country tend to be lighter complexioned.

It is just amazing how much darker people in southern US are compared to people in northern states, belonging to the same race. In only 200 or so years, nature is already making it’s presence felt.


34 posted on 01/01/2013 6:46:46 PM PST by entropy12 (The republic is doomed when people figure out they can get free stuff by voting democrats)
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To: rabidralph
Many political shysters are overly obsessed with looks and hue...

As are many oddballs among us...


35 posted on 01/01/2013 7:03:48 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

Don’t forget Mr Tan Man George Hamilton.


36 posted on 01/01/2013 7:12:52 PM PST by Happy Rain ("Outlawing guns because of Adam Lanza would be like outlawing free speech because of Bill Maher.")
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To: Kieri
You get large areas of white where one tiny, misplaced ink dot can really mess up hours of work.

Whiteout.

37 posted on 01/01/2013 7:23:38 PM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republicans Freed the Slaves" Month)
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

“Many Asian and Latin American women carry umbrellas, to keep their skin from tanning.”

Tanning is also the fear that explains why Asians wear long sleeves and won’t wear shorts. They fear they will be mistaken for a farmer, i.e., not an urban swell.


38 posted on 01/01/2013 7:39:54 PM PST by Rembrandt (Part of the 51% who pay Federal taxes)
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To: ThanhPhero
"I am always amazed when I am in Việt Nam. It is 96 degrees F and 100% humidity and all the non laboring women out of doors are covered up head to toe in cloth with wide brim hats pulled down and only their eyes barely visible, gloves up to theirbiceps." Simply put, they are fearful of being mistaken for a person who used to live in the hinterlands. They fear the sun(tan). My VN girlfriend clued me in.
39 posted on 01/01/2013 7:46:38 PM PST by Rembrandt (Part of the 51% who pay Federal taxes)
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To: entropy12

Could be the migration of genetics.

My Danish/Scots mom is pasty white and uber-freckled [when not in her perma-tan mode, courtesy of artificial UV] and my dad is the same weird golden color as I am, owing to a preponderance of Welsh blood.

Neither he nor I “tan”.

We just get a “darker gold”...and I get freckles.

[thanks Mom]

:-\


40 posted on 01/01/2013 8:07:24 PM PST by Salamander (I wear my sunglasses at night.)
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