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Santanfara
3460 Posts |
 Posted - 02 Apr 2009 : 13:39:24
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Tuesday, 24 March 2009
SANDY FACE
I want to conduct a public-step by step piecing together of an article on 'bleaching'. I will refer to the act as sand papering. This is because, skin bleaching is nothing but removing the outer skin to expose the inner one.
Sand paper is use to smoothen a wooden material or rough things. The act is meant for non-living things. But when a living human with eyes, brain, five common sense, passion engages in self-humiliation and public ridicule, no one should sympathise with such person.
The thinking behind 'sandy face':
Do you as a man have a sister or spouse who bleach?
What is your reaction to the act of bleaching?
The same question can be related to women. How would you react when your sister starts bleaching?
What is bleaching? A layman explanation will be, an act of applying creams to whiten one's body.
But then there can be more complicated definitions.
I for one is too young to know when the act of sand papering human body commences. But through personal observation, the act has been around for years now.
Why did it start? well, the sure answer would be low self-esteem and lack confidence in the skin one is in. The emphasis on beauty being in the colour 'white' or 'light' complexion, black or dark skin people find ways to look white or lighter.
Like any thing that is demanded by the people, a market will arise for it sooner or later. The existence of demand for bleaching products trigger some entrepreneurs to produce creams that can medically remove the black skin and expose the lighter one.
This process is not as straight forward as I just state. Oh no, it involves a combinations of creams. some very dangerous and harmful to the human body. That is why, it burns the practitioners. This can be considered unnatural.
Why the 'sand papering'?
As stated earlier, beauty definition being in white or light, creates a natural tendency of non-white people doing their utmost to look like the character depicted beautiful.
The practice is done by mostly women from non-white background. This is more than a mere urge for women to look white at a very high cost but the male gender fuel the desire too.
Men are the engine behind the industry of skin bleaching.
A bold claim some will say. Ask yourself a simple question? Why do you look good? Who do you make the effort to look good for?
When you answer this simple questions, then you will find out that, women go at extreme length in beautifying themselves for the male gender. This can be for a specific man or as a way of attracting attention. I will rush to say, some women look good only to be comfortable in themselves.
I will tackle the social side of the discussion later.
Social
religious
Personal reputation
The overall effect on Black people
etc.
comments are most welcome
God-Bless.
Posted by SUNTOU TOURAY at 11:43
2 comments:
Anonymous said...
Suntou, your definition of skin bleaching is not nearly accurate. Skin bleaching is not the same as "sand papering". It is not the removal of the top layer of the skin to expose the layer beneath. That is almost a myth. Skin bleaching agents (creams) contain a chemical that removes and or supresses the production of melanin (a natural chemical in the skin that gives its dark color and protects against uv rays of the sun). This is what makes the skin appear lighter colored.
The closest analogy to bleaching is tanning by white or light-skinned people. While I do not support or condone skin bleaching, I thought I would suggest this correction. Thanks again for your thought-provoking topics.
Always,
Kayjatta.
31 March 2009 10:31
SUNTOU TOURAY said...
Thanks Kay for the comments. I am equating the two practices to show the reasoning behind both actions.
Thanks for the comments
how those men whose wife's bleach manage to engage in, you know with them? I am always wondering, the scent of this creams.
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Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
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Lily
United Kingdom
422 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2009 : 15:13:03
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This is an interesting topic and one that surprised me when I encountered a friend of mine doing it. Her face has now become all blistered and very sore (I don't know about the rest of her body). I was sympathetic but I didn't understand totally because from my perspective I thought she was already beautiful. She is also a highly regarded teacher whose public face is now very scarred. So I would be interested to know what pressures people are under to do this.
I have to add too that I have never talked to her about it because I felt that would draw attention to her obvious pain and discomfort. Perhaps I should? |
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Santanfara
3460 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2009 : 16:30:06
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Interesting Lily. I will urge you to ask her why she did it. It is very sad and expensive to maintian the practice. It also draws a lot of social stigmas although it get priases by sick men. The word they use for it in Gambian/Senegalise language is heesal. so ask her, why did she do heesal. I hope she find a more philosophical answer, since there is hardly any. I also adhore her for the fact that, she is a teacher looking nonsensical and confusing the young.
With time, i will be writing more on the topic. I hope Kay can chep in. |
Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
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Lily
United Kingdom
422 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2009 : 17:53:40
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| I'm off tomorrow - so, if I get the opportunity - and it's appropriate, I will ask .... |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 02 Apr 2009 : 19:13:34
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| I find in Gambia most people will talk quietly one to one about most things, but if you approach the subject in a group you will have no joy. I look forward to hearing about your trip. I wish I could be going too! |
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Formby
United Kingdom
246 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2009 : 04:21:32
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| Media manipulation. If they can make you hate yourself for not achieving impossible goals then they can make you buy 'products'. The media does it to everyone around the world to screw money out of them. Although the idea of wanting to look 'pale' has unpleasant colonial connotations. I don't know why people would want to, as I see dark African skin as very lovely, but I am not privvy to the politics of it. I just know that the advertising industry works very hard to fill the gaps it creates. |
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kayjatta
2978 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2009 : 08:45:10
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It has been said that during the 1981 "Taxi Driver" coup of Kukoi (I think Jawara stll calls him Kufing Samba Sanyang) there was a certain man who was going round gunning down women who were bleaching their skin at the time. Following the failure of the coup, he was incarcerated and later pardoned by Sir Dawda Jawara.
After the 1994 military coup by Yahya Jammeh, this same guy became one of the closest "aides" (may be just a fanatical-loud and noisy- follower) of Jammeh until his death. I think his name was Alieu Sallah.
Jammeh himself attempted to ban-by an executive decree- skin bleaching in the Gambia. Thank goodness he failed.
Skin bleaching is one of the many ways mankind has used to enhance their looks and appearances for various reasons including sexual, cultural and aesthetic reasons.
Now one might be tempted to ask what is skin bleaching? It is the application of chemical substances called skin lightening agents on the skin to suppress the production of melanin which is the natural chemical in the body that gives the dark coloration of the skin. Because these skin lightening agents suppress melanin (the cause of the dark pigmentation in black skinned people is similar to chlorophyll which is the cause of the green pigmentation in photosynthesizing plants), skin bleaching can increase an individual's risk of skin cancer due to extreme exposure to ultra violet light from the sun. Since Black people are essentially tropical organisms, the purpose of melanin is to protect them from the harmful rays (mostly U.V. light) of the sun. So skin bleaching is dangerous, and irrational; I totally agree. But Freud has taught us that human beings are not essentially rational beings. If we were that rational as we like to think, perhaps much of the field of psychology would not be alive today. Perhaps we would not smoke, perhaps we would not sleep around, perhaps we would not drink even socially, perhaps we would not over eat, perhaps we would not shop till we drop, perhaps and perhaps ...
When jammeh attempted to ban skin bleaching in the Gambia (around 1995 and 1996 I believe) I was one of the critics of that idea because I thought the Leviathan had no moral standing or credibility to do so. Jammeh spent the entire period of his adult life aspiring even fantasizing light skinned women. Remember Tuti Faal? Remeber the Ms. Gambia, I mean the lady from Bakau who turned him down? And after all that what do we have ? Of course Zainab! To be honest Jammeh is not alone in this. I have declared my own flare for light skin here before, and I know many Gambian men secretly do. That does not in any way mean that black is not beautiful (look at Michele Obama in London), if you think so then you do not still understand how the human being operates.
Skin bleaching is no different from tanning that many light skinned women (especially) do for the same reasons-sexual, cultural, and aesthetic. Tanning which results from prolonged exposure to the sun-and of course the application of chemicals- is equally dangerous to the skin and eqaully increase the risk of skin cancer. There is a multi-million dollar industry of tanning products just like there is for skin bleaching. How about botox and breast implants (I love Cher and Dolly and Janet), a whole culture of syringes and knives? How about the dieting industry? Which rational human being really needs help with what and how much to eat?
Here is what I think. All these practices we are talking about: skin bleaching, tanning, face lifting (botox), implants, "Slim for Life", and many more, have registered mixed results. They have improved the quality of life for some (like Janet's wardrobe malfunction) while they have turned dissastrous for some (like Cher and Michael's faces). But people have a right to do what they wanna do with their bodies. That is why I am essentially pro-choice, even if the Octo-mom's conduct is so outrageous-remember the Octo-mom, that California woman with fourteen kids, without a job and living in her parents' house?
These issues are hard to separate from the issues of human rights. I know the picture looks bleak, but we can take consolation in the hope that people wish the best for themselves ...
Here is a poem:
PRINCES AND PRINCESSES :
By Kayjatta.
A tumor well attached not to be removed
Dazzling riches , celebrated , miserable
A make-belief glamor
Of face-lifts , boobs , skeletons not admired
By humbler beings , vice and versa unleashed
Upon a mind
For lives haunted by knives and syringes
How 'd this world be like without Hollywood?
The princes and princesses
I don't know , a little duller , maybe ?
I 'm convinced man's is an artificial world
Independent of purpose
A vacuum of the instances of synapses
Not admired by humbler beings
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Edited by - kayjatta on 03 Apr 2009 09:16:32 |
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serenata
Germany
1400 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2009 : 13:26:40
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quote:
Originally posted by Formby
Media manipulation. If they can make you hate yourself for not achieving impossible goals then they can make you buy 'products'. The media does it to everyone around the world to screw money out of them. Although the idea of wanting to look 'pale' has unpleasant colonial connotations. I don't know why people would want to, as I see dark African skin as very lovely, but I am not privvy to the politics of it. I just know that the advertising industry works very hard to fill the gaps it creates.
Absolutely right, Formby. And they do it with ALL women, no matter which colour. Think of the millions and millions of women who fall for the ad crap/the women's magazines' rubbish and think they are too fat, too old, too pale, too dark, etc. etc. etc. Do you have pimples? Wrinkles? Cellulite? Wobbly flesh? Oily/dry/dull hair/skin? They have 1001 ways to make you feel deficient. To trust ads and women's magazines (one should call them women haters magazines) means learning to hate yourself.
But bleaching is a specially malignant form of autoaggression, not only because the substances they use are highly dangerous.
Many Ghanaians are living in my city. They like bleaching, some of them look like zombies. And what is worst: They even do it to their babies. I would like to talk to these mothers and ask if they know what they are doing to their kids. I tried it once, but though it was obvious, the lady denied that she bleached her two years old daughter. And I had the bad feeling of being patronising.
But what about the laws? Is it legal to produce/import such toxic 'cosmetics'?
kayjatta, it is the men's folly, right. Men are very much after status symbols, that makes them love big ugly cars, big ugly houses, etc. And a light skinned woman is a symbol of status: Her white skin signalises that this woman is not forced to work and expose her delicate skin to the harsh sun out in the rice/wheat/corn field because her husband or lover is a rich, powerful man. So, when you dream of a 'white' woman, you don't mean her, you mean all the men you can impress and surpass with your 'possession'.
You say you are 'pro-choice'. Okay, then I think you wouldn't mind if people were allowed to buy arsenic or another strong poison and give it to their children. Bleaching creams are not much better. And what Mr. Jammeh personally likes or dislikes is absolutety irrelevant in terms of health. I can't imagine that you are 'pro-choice' simply because a political opponent is against it. 
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Edited by - serenata on 03 Apr 2009 13:30:34 |
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turk
USA
3356 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2009 : 13:54:29
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sere
What do you always have to be so right! |
diaspora! Too many Chiefs and Very Few Indians.
Halifa Salah: PDOIS is however realistic. It is fully aware that the Gambian voters are yet to reach a level of political consciousness that they rely on to vote on the basis of Principles, policies and programmes and practices. |
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black orchid
United Kingdom
74 Posts |
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Santanfara
3460 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2009 : 16:36:47
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Kay, i disagree with some of your assertion concerning the issue of skin bleaching being a matter of choice. It is much more than that.
Remember, some of the women who do it, if they cannot afford the proper creams use a mixture of real cleaning bleach and some other soda products. this causes instant skin roasting and stinking smells. in Vans and transports across Serrekunda, you can smell this horrible oudours all over the place.
Yes, man is not rational all the time, but the ugly effect of social pressure pushes weak members to indulge in self-harm and other improper activities. The act of skin bleaching was first attributed to prostitutes in the early days. In fact, they only bleach their hands and faces, becus that is what they could afford. I remember as young teenager in Basse in the early 1990's when a Laowbe drummer was playing one the traditional dance, the ladies where dancing thus, lifting the outer garmen to expose the inner beche or see through dress. You can see the legs proper black and the hands and faces light.
Amean, how sick!
Skin bleaching is worst than skin tanning to a black person. Black orchad the links are fabulous. Sere, very interesting points. in fact some Congolese women also use it on their kids. This is a whole mentality problem. |
Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2009 : 19:51:22
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It is all a matter of the mind.
People need to learn to be happy in their own skin, body and life.
To me, black skin is beautiful. But I also love my daughters pale, freckled english skin. Variety is beautiful.
Cosmetic surgery used to be an american thing, but now more and more women in Uk are doing it. All the magazines carry adverts for it.
WHY? It appeals to peoples insecurities. People think if they change something about their appearance then their lives will be perfect. Thinner, whiter, tanned, bigger boobs etc....
To me this is a very superficial way of looking at life. We need to work on accepting ourselves as we are.
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Janko
Gambia
1267 Posts |
Posted - 03 Apr 2009 : 22:27:11
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Kay, thanks
“…Since Black people are essentially tropical organisms; …”
Even whereas I understand your use of the word “organisms” it becomes objectifying when put together with “essentially” in the discourse of colour and inferiority complex emotionally attached to both colonialism and racism.
Bleaching = to remove, alleviate the colour, and not to suppress, repress the production of melanin. Suppressing or repressing the production of melanin entitles other methods than just rubbing on chemical compounds, supposedly.
You seem to forget the social context which produced the mindset of bleaching. The reasons you gave; sexual, cultural, and aesthetic values are all created by a social context. What values and ideals is this social context composed of, asking why and how these values are based on inferiority or other complexes are all implicit questions within the discourse of bleaching.
Bleaching is not just sexual, cultural or aesthetic it is an inferiority complex that affects self-esteem as some of the posters point out. It has to do with how you feel about yourself and how you want to be perceived and present yourself to society.
What you did when you said you and most Gambian men secretly fantasise about light skin, is that you made a universal notion into a particular, what all people do becomes something specific for Gambian men, hence all peoples fantasise about what they do not know or experience, whites fantasise about blacks as much as blacks fantasise about whites, male or female, so to speak.
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Clean your house before pointing a finger ... Never be moved by delirious Well-wishers in their ecstasy |
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Santanfara
3460 Posts |
Posted - 05 Apr 2009 : 11:13:16
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| Koto janko, you capture the main theme of the arguement here. Thanks. |
Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
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kayjatta
2978 Posts |
Posted - 06 Apr 2009 : 07:25:29
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I agree with all of you. What I tried to do in my post is to objectively examine or discuss the topic, skin bleaching from a broader perspective.
It might mean inferiority complex for some like Janko argued, but it might also mean class and superiority for others; just like some might drink to escape their daily sorrows, while others might drink not so much to escape their demons but more of exhibiting class. Do you know some criminals even use skin lightening agents to escape detection?
Santafara needs to note that not every person who lightens his/her skin is struggling with costs like some of those "fat market women" (oops) he mentioned. In some affluent quarters in the Gambia and perhaps elsewhere, skin lightening is more of conspicuous consumption (Angels, F.).
My central argument is that human beings are generally dissatisfied with what they have, including their bodies. The media and gender has magnified this problem I agree, but people have always used various coping devices to deal with their inadequacies, a lot of which are truly irrational behaviors and are unnecessary. Novelty is however a driving force in evolution and the survival of species, and any trait (phenotype) that stands out as an 'advantage' in a population (e.g. light skin in predominantly black population or tanned skin in a predominantly white population) could increase an individual's chances of mating and passing on his/her genes to the next generation. This is part of the evolutionary underpinning of much of human behavior. Mandinkas, including my friend Santanfara have even coined the term "musukoyo sasa boroo"  , thereby presurizing all other women to be like that.
But technology and development has given us the opportunity to overcome many of our real or perecived inadequacies, instead of living with them.
Skin color is too superficial to be a challenge to anyone's self esteem, afterall I am "Black and proud" myself, but I would not tolerate a situation where individuals who choose to alter their skin color, whether they are Black like Michael Jackson or White like Eminem, are out-lawed or ostracized. And I would not involve in any finger-pointing (Jammeh-style witch hunting) exercise of any partuclar group, be they Ghanians or otherwise (like Serenata would) based largely on perceptions rather than facts.
I trust that people wish the best for themselves, and they should have the absolute right to do whatever they want with their bodies as long as they are not harming others. Both government and society need to respect individual rights, no matter how irrational, shameful or degrading they may seem ...
Please meet Cameroon's First Lady (courtesy of the BBC): http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/2009/04/090403_biya_style2.shtml
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Edited by - kayjatta on 06 Apr 2009 10:00:00 |
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Santanfara
3460 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2009 : 14:09:49
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Kay, a very balance way to look at the topic. but what i was surpise about your postulations are that, if man should be free to do as he/she feels, do you think there should be legal experts, or any profession for that matter?
I accept your earlier comments which is that, people do things to feel good, but again how far should that feel good factor be allowed to go on?
As blacks, skin bleaching is much more than an individual choice, it is about a history associated with blacks and what how still feel about who they are as part of the human race.
Skin bleaching practice by first ladies and notable women doesn't make it accepatable and torelable. if people lack confidence in themselves, they cannot be trusted. it is self-hate pure and simple kay. i respect your assertion of it being an individual choice, but a sad choice and in my opinion a shameful choice. |
Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
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