Comments on: White Skin: Why Racism In Asia Isn’t Quite What You Think

By: Debbie

Debbie — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:24:34 +0000

I don’t know what to think. Im latin american and I have always liked asian cultures… Japanses, korean and Chinese. But For example, right now I like a Chinese Boy, who doesn’t like me because Im not white (Im not black either… lets just say Im Cinamon color.. Like tropical)… and also Latin girls have diferent bodies than asian girls… Most asian girls are so soo sooo skiny and they look ´pretty… But us latins we have curves… and Sometimes it make me mad because they are so close minded… I mean… they only like asians… Can somebody explain that to me?

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By: Oliver

Oliver — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 05:40:23 +0000

Joe, agree completelty. The portrayal of a “white-skinned” Thailand via the TV, advertising, music videos and movies is ridiculous. The people in these media represent maybe 1% of the real population and as you say, the suggestions that these looks are desirable/advantageous when the overwhelming majority of people here do not look like that is indeed harmful.

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By: Suksan

Suksan — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:00:03 +0000

The whitening fact about Asia is fascinating. It is everywhere. I first witnessed this obsession back in 2000 when I visited Singapore and thought it was very funny, since the whites wants to have a darker complexion from tanning and the Asians (although not dark at all) applied lotions and creams to keep them as white as white can be.

Another article about how they advertise and promote whiteness can also be read href=”http://guides.suksanvillas.com/general/white-skin”>Here

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By: joe

joe — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:36:28 +0000

The thought that the color of a person’s skin is somehow similar to height, intelligence, or other racially independent traits is missing the point entirely.

Skin color is important enough in Thailand, where I live, to affect a person’s job prospects, perceived social status, and certainly how attractive they are considered.

I can’t help but consider the consistent efforts in movies, commercials, books, and culture to portray white as beautiful and dark as dirty to be deeply harmful in a country where most of the people naturally have a darker complexion.

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By: Joi

Joi — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 11:04:47 +0000

Last few months ago, I noticed all of a sudden that my skin seemed darker and a bit yellow. Since I don’t normally obsess about trying to be pale, I never paid much attention to my skin, so I wasn’t sure if I had always looked like that or maybe I was getting yellow with age,. I went and got some blood work done to make sure it wasn’t some disease. Blood work came out fine, but after finding I’d started on vitamin B and was taking them everyday for a few weeks, the doctor told me to stop for a while and then only take about two a week in the future. Lo and behold it’s been a two months since taking any and my skin coloring has gone back to its original very pale, blue/green veins prominent and all that. Yellow or darker coloring was not the norm afterall. ^_^
I don’t know if my experience applies to anyone else, but it’s just a suggestion.

Btw, I was actually very self-conscious about my pale skin growing up because while all my western friends would tan themselves to a crisp in the summers, my mom wouldn’t allow me to do the same. I used to envy the darker skinned Asians too because they’d get compliments on their natural “tans” while I always felt a bit like a plucked chicken in the summers. But now I’ve grown into my self and am happy with what I have. So I guess it’s all relative?

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By: bella

bella — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:41:57 +0000

totally right.. I´ve never lived in Asia, but I´m an asian in Europe. And my parents have friends and such with asians, so I kinda know how they work. One typical asian thing that I hate is that, asian strangers talk about you very openly, no matter the situation. And they just say what´s on their mind without even thinking, I don´t have any major problems with my skin-color, but I´ve acne and I´m not the thin asian girl that many asian are, you know it´s very rare to see a fat or medium-sized asian since they´re in general so small built. Well I knock off all those stereotypes by being mediumsized and have acne. When ppl see me they just openly comment on my acne and my size… “wow, so big your daughter is!”

and my relatives, they´re even worse, they just scrutinize you ffrom top to toe.. it´s really uncomfortable, but what can I do besides smiling and laughin off their rude comments about me?!

As an asian that has lived all her life in a western country, I really long for that asian culture that I watch on asian-tv-series and such. But deep inside I know that I´ll never be able to live a happy life anywhere except for here, people would simply not accept me in the country my parents come from and I´d feel like an alien together with those natives!

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By: Widya

Widya — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 07:46:39 +0000

Asian people don’t discriminate dark skinned asians? TOTALLY WRONG!! I’m a dark skinned asian (not too dark, more like tan). and I’m from Indonesia (Southeast Asia). I’ve been living in the U.S. for 4 years now.

Some of what the Author said are true but apparently he didn’t stayed in Asia long enough to investigate further. It’s true that dark skinned one laughed when other people make jokes of their skin color, NOT because they’re okay with it but because there’s nothing they can do about it and by joking along with them makes it less painful. My mom and brother have light skin and they made fun of me all the time, I had to laugh it off but it hurts deep inside.

Over there, having a light skin is very important, especially for women. The darker you are the less beautiful you are. My mom (she has a light skin) used to worry about my skin color, she’d buy different kind of whitening products for me to try to improve my skin tone. I never felt pretty at all, don’t get me wrong…I have a pretty nice looking face & body but most of the guys didn’t look at me that way (because of my skin color). I used to be so stressed out about it, but now that I live in the U.S, everything is the oposite. People here are actually think that I look great, I got compliments everyday, guys are hitting on me all the time, some people have asked me why I never thought of going to modelling school or something like that. It makes me feel better, but honestly…I still think that I’m not pretty. Thats how bad the skin color discrimination over there have made me feel.

Of course asians don’t think about it as a racism, it can’t be, because we came from the same race to begin with. But it’s still a discrimination. There are many job oportunities that require you to have light skin (NO KIDDING). Trust me, when it comes to discrimination, asians are way worse than westerners. If a company is trying to sort out the resumes for interviews, most of the time they’d pick the good looking one. If they don’t like the good looking one (if they’re too stupid or something) after the interviews, then they’d interview the rest. But sometimes they don’t really care if they’re dumb or smart. Unless it is a high position like managers or higher, it’d be a different story.
Oh, if you are a handicap, there’s no way you’re gonna have a job, you’d end up living your live doing nothing and being useless. You think you can get a disability check from the government? NOPE, not one penny. Sorry for being harsh, but thats the awful truth.

Another example. In the U.S, most of the times you can argue with your manager/boss, stand up for yourself, defend yourself. Over there, higher up people are always right and you have to listen of what they have to say due to respect of their position.

I can share many other examples of “discriminations” in Asia. But they’re too many. Hope you can get better understanding of Asians.

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By: Oliver

Oliver — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:07:27 +0000

Interesting take, but if you really think “they don’t look at a dark skinned person and think “they are less of a person.” ” then I can only imagine you haven’t been here long enough. As you say, it’s perhps a class issue more than a race one, but the middle and upper classes ABSOLUTELY do look down on the working classes. Some condos don’t allow “the help” to ride the same elevators as the residents. The political troubles last year were all about class – and when the middle-class, educated “yellow shirts” can lay seige to an international airport for a week while the army does nothing, and the rural, dark-skinned “red shirts” get violently dispersed, the vested interests appear clear.

And for sure, people can joke about skin colour. Many people joke about physical appearance and it seems a lot of Thais would not be offended to be called ugly or fat, either. But, when a dark-skinned Thai ABSOLUTELY cannot get a date because of his/her colour, or cannot get certain jobs because of his/her colour, do you think that is acceptable?

And that’s without even touching on the subject of the black and south Asian people in Thailand. A great many Thai people will tell you without any shame that they point-blank would never date a black or Indian person, and that is entirely due to their skin colour. An educated, middle or upper class black or Indian person in Thailand is for the large part considered unattractive by Thais, and that’s without knowing anything of their background. So, where is the “class” argument there?

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By: Henry

Henry — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:42:15 +0000

no…that’s not racism in Asia…. that’s just a trend of beauty. Asian prefer whiteness like women prefer being beautiful. If you are black, you’ll still be treated as same as the others. Black can share all of public utilities such as restaurant, store, telephone, toilet, sink, seat….etc.

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By: svenai

svenai — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:55:25 +0000

Yes, you have summed up Asia’s situation perfectly. Thank you sir, for this insightful article.

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