Dear Editor,
Whenever I hear people telling us authoritatively that those among us who indulge in the practice of lightening the tone of their skin via bleaching do so because of low self-esteem it never ceases to amaze me. My amazement stems not from the fact that large numbers of Jamaicans are "rubbing", but that so flawed and comical a conclusion could be arrived at based on the evidence staring us in the face, bleached or unbleached. Sceptics would argue that such a position is to be expected from someone with a few degrees under their belt trying to justify having them, but I won't go there.
When a dog gets up from where it is lying and moves to another spot it doesn't do so simply for the heck of it. Every time that dog moves it has a valid reason. The sun may have got too hot so it sought some shade, it may be dinner time so it moved closer to the kitchen, or it may have spied a boy coming that it knows from past experience will kick it, and so it makes itself scarce. Not to equate our people to dogs, but we Jamaicans do exhibit similar behaviour at times.
Believe it or not, there actually is method in the madness where the bleaching phenomenon is concerned. Am I the only one who notices that the overwhelming majority of front line staff at our prominent financial institutions are still of a lighter hue? What percentage of commercials in the electronic media feature personalities who are considered dark? If people of dark colour look around them their peers who are essentially the same, except for being lighter in colour, having better experiences in relationships and finances, why wouldn't they take steps to have similar experiences?
A female acquaintance related a story to me of two female high school leavers from the same community were very close friends. They were of limited means and both quite dark in colour. One of the girls decided to bleach her skin and began getting increased attention. She was now going to job interviews and seemed to have quite a bit more disposable income than in her pre-bleach days. Needless to say, the other girl started bleaching as well. How can one be faulted for taking the plunge? How does that amount to low self-esteem, or not knowing one's identity?
I ask: Are Caucasians who tan to acquire a darker colour deemed to have low self-esteem issues as well? And secondly, how does bleaching, health risks and all, rank against homosexuality, where the watchwords are tolerance and acceptance?
Robert Mitchell
Christiana PO, Manchester
mitcib@yahoo.ca
Bleaching not a self-esteem issue
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Whenever I hear people telling us authoritatively that those among us who indulge in the practice of lightening the tone of their skin via bleaching do so because of low self-esteem it never ceases to amaze me. My amazement stems not from the fact that large numbers of Jamaicans are "rubbing", but that so flawed and comical a conclusion could be arrived at based on the evidence staring us in the face, bleached or unbleached. Sceptics would argue that such a position is to be expected from someone with a few degrees under their belt trying to justify having them, but I won't go there.
When a dog gets up from where it is lying and moves to another spot it doesn't do so simply for the heck of it. Every time that dog moves it has a valid reason. The sun may have got too hot so it sought some shade, it may be dinner time so it moved closer to the kitchen, or it may have spied a boy coming that it knows from past experience will kick it, and so it makes itself scarce. Not to equate our people to dogs, but we Jamaicans do exhibit similar behaviour at times.
Believe it or not, there actually is method in the madness where the bleaching phenomenon is concerned. Am I the only one who notices that the overwhelming majority of front line staff at our prominent financial institutions are still of a lighter hue? What percentage of commercials in the electronic media feature personalities who are considered dark? If people of dark colour look around them their peers who are essentially the same, except for being lighter in colour, having better experiences in relationships and finances, why wouldn't they take steps to have similar experiences?
A female acquaintance related a story to me of two female high school leavers from the same community were very close friends. They were of limited means and both quite dark in colour. One of the girls decided to bleach her skin and began getting increased attention. She was now going to job interviews and seemed to have quite a bit more disposable income than in her pre-bleach days. Needless to say, the other girl started bleaching as well. How can one be faulted for taking the plunge? How does that amount to low self-esteem, or not knowing one's identity?
I ask: Are Caucasians who tan to acquire a darker colour deemed to have low self-esteem issues as well? And secondly, how does bleaching, health risks and all, rank against homosexuality, where the watchwords are tolerance and acceptance?
Robert Mitchell
Christiana PO, Manchester
mitcib@yahoo.ca
Bleaching not a self-esteem issue
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