Editing Human skin color (section)

== Social status, colorism and racism ==
{{Main|Discrimination based on skin color}}
[[File:Felix von Luschan Skin Color chart.svg|thumb|right|200px|Skin colors according to [[von Luschan's chromatic scale]]]]
According to classical scholar Frank Snowden, skin color did not determine [[social status]] in ancient Egypt, Greece or Rome. These ancient civilizations viewed relations between the major power and the subordinate state as more significant in a person's status than their skin colors.<ref name="Snowden1970">{{cite book|last=Snowden|first=Frank M. |author-link=Frank M. Snowden Jr.|title=Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=37MTRCr9oAUC|year=1970|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-07626-6}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=February 2021}}

Some social groups favor specific skin coloring. The preferred skin tone varies by culture and has varied over time. A number of indigenous African groups, such as the [[Maasai people|Maasai]], associated pale skin with being cursed or caused by evil spirits associated with witchcraft. They would abandon their children born with conditions such as albinism and showed a sexual preference for darker skin.<ref>[http://allafrica.com/stories/200909101054.html Africa: Dispelling Myths about Albinism] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110622125145/http://allafrica.com/stories/200909101054.html |date=2011-06-22 }}, Pambazuka News, 10 September 2009</ref>

Many cultures have historically favored lighter skin for women. Before the [[Industrial Revolution]], inhabitants of the continent of Europe preferred pale skin, which they interpreted as a sign of high social status. The poorer classes worked outdoors and got darker skin from exposure to the sun, while the upper class stayed indoors and had light skin. Hence light skin became associated with wealth and high position.<ref name=DrKarl>{{cite web|first= Karl|last= Kruszelnicki|title= News in Science: Skin Colour 1|date= March 1, 2001|publisher= abc.net.au|access-date= May 25, 2014|url= http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2001/03/01/249992.htm?site=science/greatmomentsinscience |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131228122132/http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2001/03/01/249992.htm?site=science%2Fgreatmomentsinscience|archive-date= December 28, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> Women would put lead-based cosmetics on their skin to whiten their skin tone artificially.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite journal |last1=Agredano |title=Accessibility to air travel correlates strongly with increasing melanoma incidence |journal= Melanoma Research |date=February 2006 |volume=16 |issue=1 |pmid=16432460 |pages=77–81 |doi= 10.1097/01.cmr.0000195696.50390.23 |s2cid=6462810}}</ref> However, when not strictly monitored, these cosmetics caused [[lead poisoning]].

Colonization and enslavement was a cause of [[Discrimination based on skin color|discrimination due to skin color]] and [[racism]].<ref>{{cite web|first= Ron |last= Hall |title= The Psychogenesis of Color Based Racism: Implications of Projection for Dark-Skinned Puertorriqueños|access-date= 2012-09-25 |url= http://www.jsri.msu.edu/RandS/research/irr/rr21.pdf|archive-date= January 6, 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110106160600/http://www.jsri.msu.edu/RandS/research/irr/rr21.pdf |work=Julian Samora Research Institute, Michigan State University |year=1997}}</ref>  [[Slavery]] in the Americas led to the perception that lighter-skinned African-Americans were more intelligent and cooperative.  Such lighter-skinned individuals had a greater likelihood of receiving preferential treatment from overseers and for opportunities for higher education.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.sptimes.com/2003/08/31/Columns/The_paper_bag_test.shtml |title=The Paper Bag Test |newspaper=St. Petersburg Times |date=2003-08-31 |access-date=2014-03-23 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130806113724/http://www.sptimes.com/2003/08/31/Columns/The_paper_bag_test.shtml |archive-date=2013-08-06}}</ref> The preference for fair skin remained prominent until the end of the [[Gilded Age]], but [[Stereotypes of African Americans|racial stereotypes]] about worth and beauty persisted throughout the 20th century.<ref name=tws6nov14>{{cite news|first1=Jill |last1=Nelson |title=Straight, No Chaser—How I Became a Grown-Up Black Woman— WHO'S THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL? |work=[[The New York Times]] |year=1997 |url= http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/professional-development/childlit/books/Straight.PDF |access-date=2009-11-06 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110510212534/http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/professional-development/childlit/books/Straight.PDF |archive-date=2011-05-10}}</ref>

A preference for fair or lighter skin continues in some countries, including Latin American countries where whites form a minority.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.post-gazette.com/lifestyle/2006/12/26/Documentary-studies-renew-debate-about-skin-color-s-impact/stories/200612260092|title= Documentary, Studies Renew Debate About Skin Color's Impact|work= Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date= 2006-12-26|access-date= 2014-03-23|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140130034050/http://www.post-gazette.com/lifestyle/2006/12/26/Documentary-studies-renew-debate-about-skin-color-s-impact/stories/200612260092|archive-date= 2014-01-30}}</ref> In Brazil, a dark-skinned person is more likely to experience discrimination.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/afrolatin/part5/index.html|title= Racism Takes Many Hues|work= Miami Herald|date= 2007-08-24|access-date= 2014-03-23|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130223175545/http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/afrolatin/part5/index.html|archive-date= 2013-02-23}}</ref> 

Significant exceptions to a preference for lighter skin started to appear in Western culture in the mid-20th century.<ref name="Singer">{{cite book|last1= Singer |first1= Merrill |first2= Hans |last2= Beyer |author-link= Merrill Singer|title= Killer Commodities: Public Health and the Corporate Production of Harm|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=64xpa-rhHLgC&q=sun+tan+lower+class&pg=PA151|access-date= 2009-09-11 |date= 28 July 2008|publisher= [[AltaMira Press]]|isbn= 978-0-7591-0979-7|page= 151|quote= Harris investigated the history of the parasol... everywhere ordinary people were forbidden to protect themselves with such devices "pallid skin became a marker of upper-class status". At the beginning of the 20th Century, in the United States, lighter-skinned people avoided the sun... Tanned skin was considered lower class.}}</ref>  Though sun-tanned skin was once associated with the sun-exposed manual labor of the lower class, the associations became dramatically reversed during this time—a change usually credited to the trendsetting Frenchwoman [[Coco Chanel]] (1883–1971) presenting tanned skin as fashionable, healthy, and luxurious.<ref name="Koskoff2007">{{cite book|last= Koskoff|first= Sharon |title= Art Deco of the Palm Beaches|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RHdeo6uvlfYC&q=%22Coco%20Chanel%22%20%22Josephine%20Baker%22%20tan&pg=PA2|access-date= 2009-09-11 |date= 28 May 2007|publisher= [[Arcadia Publishing]]|isbn= 978-0-7385-4415-1|page= 2|quote= In 1920s France, the caramel-skinned entertainer Josephine Baker became a Parisian idol. Concurrently, fashion designer Coco Chanel was "bronzed" while cruising on a yacht. A winter tan became a symbol of the leisure class and showed you could afford to travel to exotic climates.}}</ref> 

Many people within the United States regard tanned skin as both more attractive and healthier than pale or very dark skin.<ref name="pediatrics.aappublications.org">{{cite journal|last1= Geller|first1= A. C.|last2= Colditz|first2= G.|last3= Oliveria|first3= S.|last4= Emmons|first4= K.|last5= Jorgensen|first5= C.|last6= Aweh|first6= G. N.|last7= Frazier|first7= A. L.|title= Use of Sunscreen, Sunburning Rates, and Tanning Bed Use Among More Than 10 000 US Children and Adolescents|journal= Pediatrics|date= 1 June 2002|volume= 109|issue= 6|pages= 1009–1014|doi= 10.1542/peds.109.6.1009|pmid= 12042536}}</ref><ref name="interscience.wiley">{{cite journal|url= http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119318887/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130105060850/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119318887/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 |url-status= dead |archive-date= 2013-01-05 |title= Effects of Suntan on Judgements of Healthiness and Attractiveness by Adolescents |journal= Journal of Applied Social Psychology |volume= 22 |issue= 2 |pages= 157–172 |date= 2006-07-31 |doi= 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1992.tb01527.x|last1= Broadstock |first1= Marita |last2= Borland |first2= Ron |last3= Gason |first3= Robyn }}</ref><ref name="interscience.wiley.com">{{cite journal|doi= 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1993.tb01039.x|url= http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119292742/abstract |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130105084812/http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119292742/abstract |url-status= dead |archive-date= 2013-01-05 |title= The Social Psychology of Tanning and Sunscreen Use: Self-Presentational Motives as a Predictor of Health Risk |journal= Journal of Applied Social Psychology |volume= 23 |issue= 17 |pages= 1390–1406 |date= 2006-07-31|last1= Leary |first1= Mark R. |last2= Jones |first2= Jody L.}}</ref>  Pale skin has become associated with indoor office-work while tanned skin has become associated with increased leisure time, sportiness and good health that comes with wealth and higher social status.<ref name=DrKarl /> Studies have also emerged indicating that the degree of tanning is directly related to how attractive a young woman is.<ref name="Pp">{{cite journal |last1= Leary |first1= Mark R. |last2= Jones |first2= Jody L. |title= The Social Psychology of Tanning and Sunscreen Use: Self-Presentational Motives as a Predictor of Health Risk |journal= Journal of Applied Social Psychology |volume= 23 |pages= 1390–406 |year= 1993 |doi= 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1993.tb01039.x |issue= 17}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite journal
 |title           = Fact or wishful thinking? Biased expectations in "I think I look better when I'm tanned"
 |journal         = American Journal of Health Behavior
 |volume          = 32
 |issue           = 3
 |year            = 2008
 |pages           = 243–52
 |url             = https://www.ethicshare.org/node/425236
 |pmid            = 18067464
 |last1           = Banerjee
 |first1          = S. C.
 |last2           = Campo
 |first2          = S
 |last3           = Greene
 |first3          = K
 |url-status      = live
 |archive-url     = https://web.archive.org/web/20140324020512/https://www.ethicshare.org/node/425236
 |archive-date    = 2014-03-24
|doi = 10.5993/AJHB.32.3.2
 }}
</ref>

=== Skin whitening ===
{{Main|Skin whitening}}

[[File:Skin Bleaching is everywhere.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Skin whitening|Skin lightening]] soaps]]
In South Asia, society regards fair skin as more attractive and associates dark skin with lower class status. This results in a massive market for [[skin-whitening]] creams.<ref>{{cite news |last= Sidner |first= Sara |title= Skin whitener advertisements labeled racist |publisher= CNN |date= 9 September 2009 |url= http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/09/india.skin/index.html |quote= 'We always have a complex towards a white skin, towards foreign skin or foreign hair,' Jawed Habib says. Habib should know. He owns a chain of 140 salons located in India and across the world. 'We Indian people, we Asian people are more darker, so we want to look more fair.' … A marketing study found sales for skin whitening creams have jumped more than 100 percent in rural India and sales for male grooming products are increasing 20 percent annually. |access-date= 2009-09-11 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090912195424/http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/09/india.skin/index.html |archive-date= 12 September 2009 }}</ref> Fairer skin-tones also correlate to higher [[Caste system in India|caste-status]] in the Hindu social order—although the system is not based on skin tone.<ref>{{cite news |title= Caste: Racism in all but name? |url= http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-04-26/special-report/28005708_1_caste-based-discrimination-caste-discrimination-dalit-human-rights |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130522205451/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-04-26/special-report/28005708_1_caste-based-discrimination-caste-discrimination-dalit-human-rights |url-status= dead |archive-date= 22 May 2013 |location= New Delhi |first= Shobhan |last= Saxena |date= 26 April 2009 |work= [[The Times of India]] |access-date= 2012-09-20}}</ref> Actors and actresses in Indian cinema tend to have light skin tones, and Indian cinematographers have used graphics and intense lighting to achieve more "desirable" skin tones.<ref>{{cite news |title= Has skin whitening in India gone too far? |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18268914 |work= BBC News |location= London |first= Rajini |last= Vaidyanathan |date= 5 June 2012 |access-date= 2012-09-20 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120906041844/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18268914 |archive-date= 6 September 2012 }}</ref> Fair skin tones are advertised as an asset in Indian marketing.<ref>{{cite news |title= In India's Huge Marketplace, Advertisers Find Fair Skin Sells |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/26/AR2008012601057.html |newspaper= Washington Post |location= Washington DC |first= Rama |last= Lakshmi |date= 27 January 2008 |access-date= 2012-09-20 |url-status= live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131010072059/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/26/AR2008012601057.html |archive-date= 10 October 2013 }}</ref>

In 2013, 77% of Nigerian women, 52% of Senegalese women, and 25% of Malian women were using lightening products.<ref name=":20">{{Cite news |last1=Fihlani |first1=Pumza |date=January 2013 |title=Africa: Where black is not really beautiful |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-20444798}}</ref><ref name=":21">{{Cite journal |last1=Jacobs |first1=Meagan |last2=Levine |first2=Susan |last3=Abney |first3=Kate |last4=Davids |first4=Lester |year=2016 |title=Fifty shades of African lightness: A bio-psychosocial review of the global phenomenon of skin lightening practices |journal=Journal of Public Health in Africa |volume=7 |issue=2 |page=552 |doi=10.4081/jphia.2016.552 |pmc=5345401 |pmid=28299156}}</ref> In 2020, ''[[Der Spiegel (website)|Der Spiegel]]'' reported that in Ghana, "When You Are Light-Skinned, You Earn More", and that "[s]ome pregnant women take tablets in the hopes that it will lead their child to be born with fair skin. Some apply bleaching lotion [...] to their babies, in the hopes that it will improve their child's chances."<ref name="BackhausOkunmwendia">{{cite web |surname=Backhaus |given=Anne |date=2020-06-16 |title=Skin Bleaching in Ghana: "When You Are Light-Skinned, You Earn More" |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/skin-bleaching-in-ghana-when-you-are-light-skinned-you-earn-more-a-3a46c628-23b2-4d05-9d32-6cb6deeb4a5a |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001234949/https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/skin-bleaching-in-ghana-when-you-are-light-skinned-you-earn-more-a-3a46c628-23b2-4d05-9d32-6cb6deeb4a5a-amp |archive-date=2020-10-01 |website=[[Spiegel International]] |publisher=[[Der Spiegel (website)|Der Spiegel]] |surname2=Okunmwendia |given2=Ella |department=Global Societies}}</ref>

Skin-whitening products have remained popular over time, often due to historical beliefs and perceptions about fair skin. Sales of skin-whitening products across the world grew from $40 billion to $43 billion in 2008.<ref name="Northwestern University">{{cite news|url= http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=161243 |title= Bleaching Creams: Fade to Beautiful? |publisher= Northwestern University |date= 2010-03-10 |url-status= dead |access-date= 2014-03-23 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110720014201/http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=161243 |archive-date= July 20, 2011 }}</ref> In South and East Asian countries, people have traditionally seen light skin as more attractive, and a preference for lighter skin remains prevalent. In ancient China and Japan, for example, pale skin can be traced back to ancient drawings depicting women and goddesses with fair skin tones.{{citation needed|date=November 2017}} In ancient China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, pale skin was seen as a sign of wealth. Thus skin-whitening cosmetic products are popular in East Asia.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/05/13/asia.whitening/|title= Skin Deep: Dying to be White|publisher= CNN|date= 2002-05-15|access-date= 2014-03-23|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100408132814/http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/05/13/asia.whitening/|archive-date= 2010-04-08}}</ref> 

In 2010, four out of ten women surveyed in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Korea used a skin-whitening cream, and more than 60 companies globally compete for Asia's estimated $18 billion market.<ref>[http://www.pri.org/world/asia/skin-whitening-big-business-asia.html Skin whitening big business in Asia] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100726034953/http://www.pri.org/world/asia/skin-whitening-big-business-asia.html |date=2010-07-26 }}. Pri.Org. Retrieved 2011-02-27.</ref> Changes in regulations in the cosmetic industry led to skin-care companies introducing harm-free skin lighteners. In [[Japan]], the [[geisha]] have a reputation for their white-painted faces, and the appeal of the {{Nihongo|''bihaku''|美白}}, or "beautiful white", ideal leads many Japanese women to avoid any form of tanning.<ref>{{cite news |title= Japanese girls choose whiter shade of pale |url= https://www.theguardian.com/japan/story/0,7369,1185335,00.html |work= Guardian Unlimited |location= London |first= Nicole |last= Mowbray |date= 4 April 2004 |access-date= 2010-05-24}}</ref> 

There are exceptions to this, with Japanese fashion trends such as [[ganguro]] emphasizing tanned skin. Skin whitening is also not uncommon in [[Africa]],<ref>{{cite news|url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/718359.stm|title= The Heavy Cost of Light Skin|work= BBC News|date= 2000-04-18|access-date= 2014-03-23|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140323231534/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/718359.stm|archive-date= 2014-03-23}}</ref><ref>[http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2004/march/skinlightening.htm "Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the FAIREST of them all?" Skin lightening] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100910013826/http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2004/march/skinlightening.htm |date=2010-09-10 }}. Scienceinafrica.co.za. Retrieved 2011-02-27.</ref> and several research projects have suggested a general preference for lighter skin in the African-American community.<ref>[https://www.questia.com/library/1G1-143164170/color-counts-it-is-evident-that-differing-color Color Counts: "... it is evident that differing color holds considerable importance within the black community and is measurably influencing self-esteem, prestige, and marital status." |USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education)] {{webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140330120654/http://www.questia.com/library/1G1-143164170/color-counts-it-is-evident-that-differing-color |date=2014-03-30 }}. Retrieved 2012-09-25.</ref> In contrast, one study on men of the Bikosso tribe in Cameroon found no preference for attractiveness of females based on lighter skin color, bringing into question the universality of earlier studies that had exclusively focused on skin-color preferences among non-African populations.<ref>{{Cite journal|doi= 10.1007/s10508-006-9093-8|pmid= 17136587|title= Human Physique and Sexual Attractiveness: Sexual Preferences of Men and Women in Bakossiland, Cameroon|journal= Archives of Sexual Behavior|volume= 36|issue= 3|pages= 369–75|year= 2006|last1= Dixson|first1= Barnaby J.|last2= Dixson|first2= Alan F.|last3= Morgan|first3= Bethan|last4= Anderson|first4= Matthew J.|s2cid= 40115821}}</ref>