The Global Phenomenon of Skin Bleaching: A crisis in public health (Part 1

The global issue of skin bleaching or lightening has become a public health crisis of epic proportions. Many people of color purchase and use skin bleaching products that later cause skin discoloration, skin cancer and other medical problems. Due to the depth of this phenomenon, I will devote a two part series to this issue in order to explore the ethical and public health challenges involved in skin bleaching, especially involving people of color. The issue of skin bleaching is more dangerous and deadly for people of color throughout the world because the practice also affects psychological and physical faculties. The psychological impact for many people of color to lighten one’s skin in order to fit within the larger society’s definition of beauty is now more widespread than ever. Skin bleaching also symbolizes more complex psychological issues such as self-perception and self-esteem that have plagued people of color since the advent of international slavery, especially in the Americas. For instance, African-Americans are often coerced through the mass media to believe that lightening one’s skin through bleaching or lightening products brings greater acceptance into the larger North American society. But I believe coercion can be most effective unconsciously through culturally assimilative brainwashing, which may have a deeper impact on one’s consciousness to choose collective acceptance by the general society rather than individuality based upon positive views of self and one’s own ethnic origins. One of the most recent examples of coercive means to brainwash Africans throughout the West African Diaspora is most visible in the phenomenon of bleaching one’s skin in order for it to be lighter. This phenomenon has been described as medically risky and psychologically dangerous. Recent news reports throughout West and South Africa’s media have reported about black women who buy skin whitening products in order bleach their skin tone to look whiter and, in their opinion, more beautiful. Although many African women may not view their actions as medically dangerous, numerous medical studies have already indicated that excessive usage of these skin whitening products can have an adverse effect that may cause skin cancer. Some African nations have even considered limiting the sale of skin whitening products due to the mass and, sometimes, excessive usage of these products by black women. When interviewed by news outlets, many African women have expressed that media images portraying white women as beautiful greatly influenced their decision to whiten their own skin. Furthermore, these women have