The Marketing Bestie Podcast with zoeunlimited - Sorry, I’m not “white” enough

Episode Date: October 31, 2024

Let's talk about the dark secret of colorism. Learn & Grow with me. 💖 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeunlimited/ 💜 TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@zoeunlimited 👩🏻‍💻 LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/zoeunlimited 🛒 Essentials https://www.amazon.com/shop/zoeunlimited 📧 Business inquiries: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I've never seen anything like it. And a new chapter begins. We're going to Hollywood. Carrie Underwood joins Lionel Ritchie, Luke Bryant, and Ryan Seacrest on American Idol. Season premiere Sunday 8-7 Central on ABC and stream on Hulu. No one was born ugly. No one was born to be less than, or not enough. Yet somewhere along our journey of growing up, we start to dislike parts of herself.

parts that we think are not acceptable due to the cruelty of others' judgment, disapproval, lack of understanding. We weren't born to dislike ourselves. We learned to. I just don't like the way brown looks because the way brown looks really nasty for some reason, but I don't know what reason. My mom would always reassure me that when I grew older, my skin would get lighter. And seven-year-old me would think, thank goodness, there's still a little. Shand. Skin lightning market in Asia Pacific alone is valued at over 13 billion US dollars. Today's topic is more heavy and serious than usual and I know there are so many

different sides to the story that I don't have the right capacity or knowledge to address. And keep in mind that we all have blank spots due to our unique individual experiences. But that's the beauty of this community. We are all here to learn and expand. I'm coming into the topic of colorism with an open mind and I'm ready as ever to learn from you guys. What gave me the urge to make a video about this topic is when I came across one of my friend Cass's TikToks talking about how her entire family expects her to bleach her skin and making comments about her skin throughout her experience of growing up with a darker skin tone than most of her family members. I was constantly reminded by my family that out of all of my cousins, I was born the darkest.

As someone who is also super passionate about beauty, I just can't even imagine the pain coming from these comments from your family, from the people who you thought would be loving you for who you are. Growing up, I was rarely called beautiful, and every time I left the house to do anything, I was slathered in sunscreen and the frustration that I would feel looking in the mirror and feeling like I was so much less than the rest of my family. That would have honestly crushed myself forth and make me think that I am ugly. Different, but similar to the times that my family called me out for having acne or gaining weight. But that's for another time. If this is who you want to be on your wedding day, your birthday, your everyday life, that's up to you.

But at the end of the day, this is you. I have so much respect and love for Cass for staying true to who she is, and shining beautifully inside and out by embracing her true colors. This is one of those moments that I truly appreciate the internet and the beauty of having a genuine community where you feel less alone. Growing up in Asia, I've gone through my fair share of standing in the shadow of colorism, but more so on the fearful, paralyzed bystander side of watching some of my even closest friends getting bullied, because they have a darker skin tone,

which I know in America, tanning is a hot thing, but I will address this later. It's only a hot thing, mainly for people with their skin. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Upgrade your business with Shopify, home of the number one checkout on the planet.

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you're more prettier, you're more beautiful, and you have a lot of advantages. Like many Filipinas, Charlene's beauty routine includes a daily whitening regimen. Not going to lie, I grew up fearing the sun, fearing that my skin will tan darker, fearing that I will be the next subject to be made fun of, that I will quote unquote become ugly according to the colorist beauty standard.

And so today, let us please address the not so light topic of colorism and skin bleaching. And no, unfortunately, it doesn't just exist in Asia, but all around the world. What do you say to that? I will say that as an adult, you decide to do things? It's like, do you guys condemn people who tan their skin? What is colorism? According to the Oxford language, colorism is prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group.

Like Time magazine said, skin color matters because we are a visual species and we respond to one another based on the way we physically present ourselves. In a society that is more and more leaning toward the like belongs with like mentality, the race-based prejudices human beings have attached to certain skin colors are still very much ingrained in so much of our daily interaction. It is the 21st century. But skin color is still a loaded signifier of identity and value. The crazy mind-boggling thing about colorism is that the term colorism did not even exist in a dictionary in 2016 when the Time magazine was published. It wasn't until recent years that major dictionaries like Cambridge, Merriam-Webster, even recognized this long existing issue as something worth naming. As if if we ignored it, it doesn't exist.

The interesting thing about colorism is that it exists, often among people of the same ethnic or racial group. First, when it's a really white and very, like, so, um, that really, I'm really that,

some, the skin's a tone of a person who do you say? My parents growing up told us to wear sunscreen not to protect us from skin cancer, not to protect us from premature wrinkling, not to protect us from you, viewers, but to protect us from not getting darker.

Being human with our own beautiful uniqueness, of course we all have different shades of skin color. And I know this is not just a thing in the Asian community, where you have quote unquote light versus dark Asians, but also in the black and Latino community as well. This is very evident in entertainment. For instance, the movie Crazy Rich Asians left some Asian Americans disappointed by a lack of brown or dark skin actors and when you look at a lot of the top-selling black artists, they are lighter skin like Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Ice Spice, all the K-drama, C-Drama have the palest actors and actresses playing as the main characters and love interests that the audiences want to relate to.

This is the part where it gets tricky because the extent to which skin color played a role in the success of not just entertainers, but everyone and anyone from working chefs at McDonald's, to being the CEO of a Fortune 500 company is very hard to pinpoint. I want to make it very clear that although colorism is a very serious issue that hinders so many people on both a conscious and subconscious level, it shouldn't be used as a weapon to discredit those who may be seen as more privilege on a colorism scale. For instance, Ice Spice has recently gained much popularity as her music career takes off, Yet much of the comments she's gotten is that she just rose to the top because her skin is much lighter.

When we all know that just your skin color alone cannot wrap or make music for you. Now, is there an advantage of having lighter skin or fit into a certain aesthetic? Absolutely, this is just an extension of pretty privilege. But more detrimental to the dark side of pretty privilege is that people who quote unquote have the privilege in colorism are very much still mind who face the discrimination and judgment that other people of color face yet are denied and invalidated of their struggles because their skin is lighter. Like if someone calls me a chink which has happened before, but because my skin is on the fair side, I am not allowed to feel sad or angry because I quote unquote have the easier life as a lighter Asian.

This is all to say, being subject to any part of colorism is truly damaging. Even though I didn't personally get bullied for growing up with a darker skin tone in Asia, it felt suffocating to hear the nastiest comments floating around ridiculing people for their natural, beautiful shade, and being too scared to say anything to be the next subject of judgment. Oh, M.G! I never noticed. Thank you for this brand new life-changing information. Much of colorism stems from entertainment and media, but also the beauty industry. So let us dive into colorism and the beauty industry. Never I see ads like this, it makes me feel really sad because it reminds you of the time when I used to live in Asia and it used to really affect my self-esteem.

How do brands go from medium to deep real quick? In what planet am I the darkest shade? This is a whole can of worms that could probably take me a whole video to address. But the beauty industry needs more than just a major improvement. The industry itself has not done enough to get rid of colorism. Adding a few darker shades of foundation here and there is not enough. Most skincare products are created with lighter skin people in mind, containing ingredients that could possibly cause hyperpigmentation and scarring on dark skin.

Many makeup and skincare products look ashy and chalky on dark skin, and procedures such as laser hair removal work better on the skin. on those with light skin. The representation of people with darker skin and beauty is still very lacking in beauty campaigns in America and needless to say in Asia. The harmful underlying narrative is that Eurocentric features are still what's most valued in the industry. Deviating from that, it's like deviating from beauty. Yo, I got heck of bands. That's the last thing. You heard you was going to dis me what hat?

Which is why the skin lightning industry is worth 80s. billion dollars and is estimated to grow to 14.6 billion dollars in 2031 meaning that dark-skinned people of color still feel the need to lighten their skin in order to conform to a norm that makes them feel abnormal some of my friends told me that skin bleaching is so effective they told me to to try those things because I'm not white. In the time because now, a much edge a one of a woman, the being more lighten my skin to use soap and lotion. Skin whitening products that I used were glutathione pills,

papaya soapia soaps, whitening soaps, and lotions. So where did all this begin? Skin bleaching actually started in the Victorian era with the age of powder and paint, the precursor to us wearing foundation. European women were literally painting their faces with lead paint. White women were so invested in whiteness, because it was their way of communicating purity.

Ironically, skin bleaching exploded around the time of independence, a result of colonial powers using commodity racism of using whiteness to sell products. People were attempting to gain some level of power and privilege that's associated with whiteness, and they started bleaching their skin in the 50s. The danger of skin bleaching still exists in modern days. The danger in skin bleaching products is that skin lightning is really used with the goal of treating dermatological disease or post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Most ingredients weren't meant to be used for aesthetic purposes and definitely not at some of the dosages

that could lead to potentially irreversible impacts. Ingredients like hydroconone, just to name one, as an example, can cause skin rashes, swelling, discoloration, and more. Whereas other ingredients like mercury, Mercury can lead to kidney, liver, or nerve damage, and abnormalities in newborn babies. More dangerous than the toxic ingredients in skin bleaching is the judgment and shame embedded in this issue, which put people in an even more vulnerable position that they have to pursue this risky action behind the curtains, where they feel isolated, ashamed, and afraid to seek

professional help if needed. It is heartbreaking to have that systemic pressure and judgment ingrain in something as beautiful and natural as our skin. And it's even more heartbreaking. To see people desperately searching for answers for something that wasn't even a problem to begin with with all the dangerous consequences and be burdened with so much shame in that process. I really wish I have a quick fix solution to this, but what we can all do right now is to be more kind to those who are subject to these mistreatments, including the ones who chose skin bleaching as a solution. I wish I was braver as a kid to question the colorist jokes I hear instead of nervously staying silent. And I hope to honor the privilege of being able to speak to so many amazing people,

by bringing topics like colorism to light and reduce and hopefully remove the stigma and shame around our uniqueness. Thank you all so much for hanging out with me. If you haven't heard it yet today, you were born beautiful and you are beautiful. No one can take that away from you. Be all thankful for this beautiful community where we can talk about important topics like such and learn and grow together. Love you all so much, and I will see you next week. Rosen lasagna, medium power, 15 minutes. Sounds like Ojo time. Let's play.

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