The Ed.
Well-Known Member
On Wednesday, The Guardian published an article by Hannah Betts and boy, does she lay into the beauty industry. When the beauty industry comes under criticism, I'm the first to take a step back, get some perspective and, if necessary, hold my hands up and say, "Yep. You're right. We need to take responsibility for that." However, in this case, I'm a little bemused. I've really tried to follow her logic but I'm struggling.
In a nutshell, it appears that she's berating the capitalist West and all the white people in it for imposing an unnatural, and unrealistic version of beauty that punishes, destroys and puts at risk those that try to emulate it.
"In India," Betts says, "an estimated 40% of the nation uses face whiteners, since pallor like straightened black hair in America is considered both professionally and sexually desirable. This year, its citizens are expected to spend half a billion dollars on such products, up 15% from 2011...Yet, where 700 million Indians are living on less than $2 a day, perilous, unbranded chemical options are rife." In one easy step, she makes the beauty industry not just a racial bully, but also the big fat cat preying on the poor and vulnerable.
Unsurprisingly, bigwigs like L'Oreal, Unilever and Garnier warrant special mention and criticism from her for their manipulative methods but really, when all said and done, she's not very impressed with us all.
This is all very well and good, but if she knew her history beans she'd understand that the caste system in India has been in place for over two thousand years (well before any unified beauty imperialism) and the lighter the skin, the higher the caste. Now, I'd be willing to listen if she wanted to blame colonialism and white imperialism for this issue, but blaming the beauty industry? Really?
Betts also conveniently forgets to mention that literally millions of Europeans and Americans spend literally millions on sunbeds, tanning and holidays in an attempt to get their skin darker. She declines to delve into the possible influences or the psychological issues behind this.
Even if I could, for a second, get fully on board with her belief that the beauty industry must accept responsibility for this I would only do it if we could share the blame with the movie industry. And magazines. And TV. And fashion designers. And newspapers. And models. And while we're at it, let's throw in reality TV. I'm not sure why, but reality TV is generally considered to be at the root of all evil.
The simple fact is, that her article is at best a starting point for discussion, and probably quite an interesting one. At worst, it's yet another attempt to blame the evil west, the booming beauty industry and to paint a very colourful argument black and white.
To read the full article, click HERE.
Until then...geek on!
The Ed.
In a nutshell, it appears that she's berating the capitalist West and all the white people in it for imposing an unnatural, and unrealistic version of beauty that punishes, destroys and puts at risk those that try to emulate it.
"In India," Betts says, "an estimated 40% of the nation uses face whiteners, since pallor like straightened black hair in America is considered both professionally and sexually desirable. This year, its citizens are expected to spend half a billion dollars on such products, up 15% from 2011...Yet, where 700 million Indians are living on less than $2 a day, perilous, unbranded chemical options are rife." In one easy step, she makes the beauty industry not just a racial bully, but also the big fat cat preying on the poor and vulnerable.
Unsurprisingly, bigwigs like L'Oreal, Unilever and Garnier warrant special mention and criticism from her for their manipulative methods but really, when all said and done, she's not very impressed with us all.
This is all very well and good, but if she knew her history beans she'd understand that the caste system in India has been in place for over two thousand years (well before any unified beauty imperialism) and the lighter the skin, the higher the caste. Now, I'd be willing to listen if she wanted to blame colonialism and white imperialism for this issue, but blaming the beauty industry? Really?
Betts also conveniently forgets to mention that literally millions of Europeans and Americans spend literally millions on sunbeds, tanning and holidays in an attempt to get their skin darker. She declines to delve into the possible influences or the psychological issues behind this.
Even if I could, for a second, get fully on board with her belief that the beauty industry must accept responsibility for this I would only do it if we could share the blame with the movie industry. And magazines. And TV. And fashion designers. And newspapers. And models. And while we're at it, let's throw in reality TV. I'm not sure why, but reality TV is generally considered to be at the root of all evil.
The simple fact is, that her article is at best a starting point for discussion, and probably quite an interesting one. At worst, it's yet another attempt to blame the evil west, the booming beauty industry and to paint a very colourful argument black and white.
To read the full article, click HERE.
Until then...geek on!
The Ed.
