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Decoded, M. (2019, January 25). Retrieved April 08, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE4Lo4TIc8Y

Egypt Search. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2019, from http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f

Hall, R. (2019, January 28). Black America's 'bleaching syndrome'. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://theconversation.com/black-americas-bleaching-syndrome-82200

Her, B. (2018, March 13). Retrieved April 08, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vThhN68coQw

Kebede, R. (2017, December 20). Why Black Women in a Predominately Black Culture Are Still Bleaching Their Skin. Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://www.marieclaire.com/beauty/a27678/skin-bleaching-epidemic-in-jamaica/

Luxury skincare line for endless radiance body. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://whitenicious.com/

Skin Lightening. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cosmetic-treatments/skin-lightening/

Skin Lightening, Brightening & Whitening: Everything You Need To Know. (2018, November 20). Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://www.makari.com/blog/skin-lightening-brightening-whitening-everything-you-need-to-know/

Wilson, C. (2018, June 04). Colourism: Do light-skinned black women have it easier in showbiz? Retrieved April 7, 2019, from https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-44229236

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·      What did you learn about the topic that most surprised you?
What surprised me was how so many black woman feel that their complexion measures their level success instead of their skills,talents and how hard working they are. I also found surprising that the issue has been an issue for such. long period time and overtime the beauty definition still remains the same.

·      Provide a real-life example of how this topic is relevant or interesting for you.
My best friend is a black woman. Time to time she'll tell me the issues she faces as black women and how difficult it can get sometimes so this topic was chosen in light of that.

·      Which research did you find most interesting?  Why?
The most interesting thing I found is that people don't realize the real reason to bleaching syndrome and the stigma around colourism. It's something that happens everyday, something so popular in the celebrity industry but also to normal women. However, people decide to not talk about or act like its not a real existing issue.
·      What are you most likely to remember from this research?
I most likely to be mindful of the people around me - to encourage when I can, tell people that beauty is beyond the colour of your skin when I can.

·      How has learning about this topic changed you? Discuss your attitude, practices, etc.
Something I read through my research is how people make jokes about complexion very nonchalantly. I believe this to be extremely insensitive. I hope to at the least be mindful of the jokes I make not just about this topic but overall. You never know how things affect a person. It is very important to be mindful and kind to those around you

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The 3 women are all results of skin bleaching. Skin bleaching is not ideal, it is not healthy. One should NEVER feel the need to lighten themselves to fit the "ideal" idea of beauty. Beauty is skin deep. Bleaching your skin has many harmful side affects - it can cause burned skin, melasma, skin cancer and more.

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Do Light-Skinned Black Celebs Have it Easier?

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Do Light-Skinned Black Celebs Have it Easier?

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This article is an interesting read. It speaks of light skin privilege. It speaks of black women who have a darker complexion have heard comments like "he would be better if she was light-skinned' or, "if I was light-skinned I would get further". It is upsetting to see that someone can tell you you'd be better off if you were lighter. It is upsetting to hear that that is how shallow the definition of "beauty" can be to someone. It is an unreal reality to have.

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These are just some of the women at the top of their game in the world of entertainment in 2018.

But how much of their success is down to the shade of their skin?

It's been suggested by some that black women with lighter skin find it easier to get ahead because of colourism.

Colourism is prejudice against people who have a darker skin tone - and/or the preferential treatment of those who are of the same race but lighter-skinned.

It's something that grime artist Lioness says she's experienced.

She told Newsbeat she quit music for seven years and part of the reason was down to prejudice about her darker skin.

"A&Rs [talent scouts] would say things like: 'She would be better if she was light-skinned' - and that sentence doesn't even make sense.

"I know what they're trying to say, if I was light-skinned I would get further.

"Once you get told that every single second, and being young as I was at the time, I just didn't like it.

"So I stopped doing something I love because people kept talking about my complexion."

The issue of colourism was reignited recently after Maya Jama addressed the controversy over a "joke" she tweeted in 2012 which mocked dark-skinned women.

Some people on social media claimed the Radio 1 presenter's career has been helped by "light-skin privilege".

Maya Jama light skin privilege got her to where she is now, same privilege is having her get a free pass on making distasteful jokes about dark skin women
- nOt EveN WAter? 🇺🇬 (@Blick_Oyinbo) April 20, 2018

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. View original tweet on Twitter

Beyonce's dad Matthew Knowles also suggested some black people enjoy greater fame because they're lighter-skinned earlier this year.

He claimed his daughter was more successful because of her skin tone and said virtually no black pop stars with darker skin had broken through in the past decade.

Of the 68 female solo artists who've been in the British Top 40 chart since the start of 2017, 17 are of black heritage - and the vast majority of those are lighter-skinned.

Kelli-Leigh, whose mum is black and dad is white, got into the top 10 last year on the James Hype song More Than Friends.

She said: "For some reason in the UK the doors are still quite closed for female artists who are of a darker complexion in terms of different styles... it shouldn't be based on our skin tone, it should be about who we are."

In 2017, Ray BLK won the BBC's Sound of Music but has yet to have a Top 40 chart hit - unlike Jorja Smith and Raye, who were also on the list.

It's led to questions about whether their skin colour played a part in their success.

The UK Music scene is sketchy.

Women like Ray BLK & Nadia Rose are incredibly talented but they're constantly overlooked and the Mabel's, RAYE's etc aren't.

There's a PLETHORA of dark skinned black men artists popping off so its clear misogynoir & colourism are at work.
- Pronounced O-wo-sa (@SincerelyOghosa) April 20, 2018

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. View original tweet on Twitter

Nicole Vassell, entertainment and features editor at Pride magazine - which is aimed at women of colour - says: "There's a reason why a lot of the rising stars and the people who are the highest in the industry are lighter-skinned.

"The Beyonce's, the Rihanna's, obviously they have incredible talent but their lighter skin has been an advantage in getting them as far as they've gone.

"There could be darker-skinned women that are just as talented but we might never know because the attention is not paid in their direction."

Experts point to colourism being deep-rooted in history and racism - and people often experience it from others within their own race.

Dr Kehinde Andrews, associate professor in sociology at Birmingham City University and co-chair of the Black Studies Association, says: "If we think about the idea of beauty and what is beautiful, racism is kind of based on this idea that you have this hierarchy - African black at the bottom and white European civilised at the top.

"Essentially the further you are away from blackness, and the closer you are to whiteness, this has historically been seen to mean that you are good, you are pure, you are beautiful, you are intelligent."

The debate around colourism has also extended to other parts of the entertainment industry.

In film, the black actresses with big roles in the top 20 best-selling films in the UK in 2017 include Zoe Saldana, Tessa Thompson, Halle Berry, Elise Neal and Nathalie Emmanuel.

When looking at magazines, the top four best-selling women's magazines (Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Grazia and Marie Claire) have had nine black female celebrities on 125 of their front covers since January 2017.

These were Rihanna, Meghan Markle, Beyonce, Adwoa Aboah, Lupita Nyong'o, Zoe Kravitz, Zoe Saldana, Jennifer Hudson and Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

The Duchess of Sussex spoke about the issue of colourism in 2015 - saying as an actress she was seen as "ethnically ambiguous".

Writing in Elle magazine, she said one of the reasons her role as Rachel Zane in the US legal drama Suits "stole her heart" was because it wasn't about the character's skin colour.

"The show's producers weren't looking for someone mixed, nor someone white or black for that matter.

"They were simply looking for Rachel."

Star Wars actress Lupita Nyong'o has previously spoken about being teased for her "night-shaded skin" and would pray to God to wake up lighter-skinned.

"Every day I experienced the same disappointment of being just as dark as I was the day before."

Actress Adele Oni plays a photographer in upcoming British film No Shade - which is all about colourism and love.

She says: "We are all aware how inherent it is in our society, the concept of colourism and the concept of growing up and understanding if you're fairer skinned you're prettier in the eyes of men - and we accept it.

"We never actually shine a light on it and it's fascinating how much of a problem it is."

Media and entertainment has recently been celebrated for being more diverse.

Edward Enninful, the first black editor of British Vogue took over in August last year, and the May issue of the magazine featured women with various skin tones.

And Black Panther, whose cast includes Lupita Nyong'o and Letitia Wright, was praised for representing darker-skinned women in film.

Jordan Mitchell, managing director for PR firm Liz Matthews PR, says the debate around colourism can "sometimes work against women of colour".

"It's not enough to have someone that's black, it's about the right shade of black."

She says the focus should be celebrating the fact the entertainment industry has become more diverse.

"I know certainly from back in the day the only representation of a black woman would be someone like Halle Berry and that would've been it.

"Whereas I think now there are so many black women of different shades that I think there is change and things are progressing."

Lioness released a remix of her single DBT (Dead Black Ting) earlier this month - which featured several other darker-skinned female artists such as Lady Leshurr and Little Simz - to hit back at colourism.

She says she now celebrates being darker-skinned and wanted the song to "touch on the fact that we are all one race whatever the shade".

"I'm like 'Alright let's play this game - You're trying so hard to stop me just because of my appearance, all right cool let's play this game.

"I'm going to burst open every single door I can possibly think of'."

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra - if you miss us you can listen back here.

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Colourism: Do light-skinned black women have it easier in showbiz?

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These are just some of the women at the top of their game in the world of entertainment in 2018. But how much of their success is down to the shade of their skin? It's been suggested by some that black women with lighter skin find it easier to get ahead because of colourism.

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Dark Skinned Models Talking About The Industry

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Dark Skinned Models Talking About The Industry

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The video below discusses some of the struggles faced by dark skinned models in the modelling world. It's amazing to see how unfriendly people can be based on your skin tone while working for modelling campaigns. The make up world is populated so much around fair skin tones, it's impossible to be melanin rich and find products that compliment your skin tone. Instead, they're made to look lighter to be more appealing. This is similar to the beauty myth because it consists of the belief that women must possess an immutable quality and beauty in order to be successful and attractive.

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Darkskin Models Talk About Their Struggles In The Industry | Black Like Me

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I found this interesting image online that portrays a melanin rich black woman applying foundation that is seemingly lighter and completely different from her actual skin tone. Is it because society depicts lighter is better ? Is it because being lighter means you're more successful? To right of the same image, you see a medium skin toned black applying a significantly darker foundation shade than what she is. Why? Is it to understand a day in the life of how someone with a melanin rich skin tone would be treated ? Unrealistic expectations regarding what women should look like is also apart of the beauty myth.

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The article below talked about the power of fair skinned people. It addresses that solution to ending the bleaching syndrome and the stigma around being of darker complexion is political - which I believe to be true. Feminine beauty is a social construct. It is a more than just lightening your skin, it becomes changing your hair, changing your structure and more to fit into this image of a successful light skinned person. It is a disgusting way to identify beauty.eauty is beyond skin and appearance.

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For black Americans, skin color is a complex topic.

Whenever a black celebrity lightens his or her skin - whether it's pop star Michael Jackson, retired baseball player Sammy Sosa or rapper Nicki Minaj - they're usually greeted with widespread ridicule. Some accuse them of self-loathing, while many in the African-American community view it as a rejection of black identity.

Increasing numbers of mixed-race births have further complicated matters, with light-skinned blacks occasionally being accused of not being "black enough."

At the same time, The New York Times recently detailed the growing popularity of glutathione treatments. The antioxidant, which is administered intravenously, can deactivate the enzyme that produces darker skin pigments.

The article noted that while these treatments have become hugely popular in Asia, "it is also cropping up among certain communities in Britain and the United States," with demand "slowly growing."

As someone who has studied and written about the issue of skin color and black identity for over 20 years, I believe the rise of glutathione treatments - in addition to the growing use of various bleaching creams - reveal a taboo that African-Americans are certainly aware of, but loathe to admit.

Though they might criticize lighter-skinned black people, many people of color - deep down - abhor dark skin.

The power of fair skin

There are few places in the world where dark skin isn't stigmatized.

Many Latin American countries have laws and policies in place to prevent discrimination relative to skin color. In many Native American communities, "Red-Black Cherokees" were denied acceptance into the tribe, while those with lighter skin were welcomed.

But it is in Asia where dark skin has seen the longest and most intense level of stigma. In India, dark-skinned Dalits, for thousands of years, were viewed as "untouchables." Today, they're still stigmatized. In Japan, long before the first Europeans arrived, dark skin was stigmatized. According to Japanese tradition, a woman with fair skin compensates for "seven blemishes."

The United States has its own complicated history with skin color, primarily because "mulatto" skin - not quite black, but not quite white - often arose out of mixed-race children conceived between slaves and slave masters.

In America, these variations in complexions produced an unspoken hierarchy: Black people with lighter complexions ended up being granted some of the rights of the master class. By early 19th century, the " mulatto hypothesis " emerged, arguing that the "white blood" of light-skinned slaves made them smarter, more civilized and better looking.

It's probably no coincidence that light-skinned blacks emerged as leaders in the black community: To white power brokers, they were less threatening. Harvard's first black graduate was the fair-skinned W.E.B. Du Bois. Some of the most prominent black politicians - from former New Orleans Mayor Ernest Morial, to former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder, to former President Barack Obama - have lighter skin.

Fair skin and beauty

In 1967, Dutch sociologist Harry Hoetink coined the term "somatic norm image" to describe why some shades of skin are favored over others.

In America, some trace the emergence of light skin as the "somatic norm image" for all modern-day races to the 1930s advertising campaign of Breck Shampoo.

Jamie/Flickr.com, CC BY

To market its product, the company created the "Breck Girl." In advertisements, her fair, alabaster skin was touted as the perfect ideal of feminine beauty. Few considered the devastating affects a glamorized image of light skin might have on the self-esteem of dark-skinned Americans - in particular, women.

In a 2008 study, researchers at the University of Georgia called skin color distinction "a well-kept secret" in black communities. "The hue of one's skin," they wrote, "tends to have a psychological effect on the self-esteem of African-Americans."

Yet they also noted that existing research on the relationship between skin color and self-esteem didn't even exist. Fear of being perceived as a race traitor continues to make the topic taboo in the United States - in a way which exceeds that in places like India or Japan.

To obtain a fairer complexion, many apply bleaching creams. Some of the most popular are Olay, Natural White, Ambi Fade Cream and Clean & Clear Fairness Cream.

While these creams can work, they can be dangerous: Some contain cancer-causing ingredients. Despite the potential danger, skin bleaching cream sales have grown. By 2024, it's projected that global profits will reach $31.2 billion.

In the U.S., sales are difficult to assess; African-Americans are reluctant to admit that they bleach. For this reason, American companies will often market their creams by using abstract language, claiming that the creams will "fade," "even the tone" or "smooth out the texture" of dark skin. In this way, black people who buy the creams can avoid confronting the real reasons they feel compelled to purchase the product, while skirting accusations of self-hate.

The harmful effects of the 'bleaching syndrome'

After studying skin color for years, I coined the term "bleaching syndrome" to describe this phenomenon.

I published my first paper on the topic in 1994. Put simply, it argues that African-Americans, Latinos and every other oppressed population will internalize the somatic norm image at the expense of their native characteristics. So even though dark skin is a feature of African-Americans, light skin continues to be the ideal because it's the one preferred by the dominant group: whites.

The bleaching syndrome has three components. The first is psychological: This involves self-rejection of dark skin and other native characteristics.

Second, it's sociological, in that it influences group behavior (hence the phenomenon of black celebrities bleaching their skin).

The final aspect is physiological. The physiological is not limited to just bleaching the skin. It can also mean altering hair texture and eye color to mimic the dominant group. The rapper Lil' Kim, in addition to lightening her skin, has also changed her eye color and altered her facial features. The fact that so few in mainstream culture can even acknowledge the existence of the bleaching syndrome is a testament to how taboo the topic is.

The solution to the bleaching syndrome is political. The disdain for dark skin today is similar to disdain for kinky hair in the 1960s. African-Americans' dislike of their natural hair was so ingrained that the first black millionaire, Madam C.J. Walker, was able to accumulate her fortune by selling hair-straightening products to black folks.

"Black is Beautiful" - a slogan popularized at the tail end of the 1960s - was a political statement that sought to upend the negative associations many Americans, including many African-Americans, felt toward all things black. In response, the Afro became a popular hairstyle, and black entertainers, from Sammy Davis Jr. to Lou Rawls, proudly grew out their hair, refusing to apply hair straightening products.

"Back to Black" - a nod to the "Black is Beautiful" campaign - is a political statement that could address the impulse many feel to bleach their dark skin. It has the potential to reverse the disdain for such skin and hence those so characterized. Even black celebrities who possess fair skin could help glamorize dark skin by repeating the slogan and paying tribute to the numerous dark-skinned beauties whose attractiveness goes seldom acknowledged: Lupita Nyong'o, Gabrielle Union and Janelle Monae.

These dark-skinned black women would qualify as beautiful by any standards - regardless of skin color.

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For black Americans, skin color is a complex topic. Whenever a black celebrity lightens his or her skin - whether it's pop star Michael Jackson, retired baseball player Sammy Sosa or rapper Nicki Minaj - they're usually greeted with widespread ridicule.

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The concept of light skin privilege is to have derived from white supremacy and the  the years of enslaved black people.The video below sheds some insight on light skinned privilege and talk a little more about a light history and the link to light skin complexion means more successful. To me, this video definitely showed me how the concept of the lighter the better is an everyday issue that you are exposed to almost everyday.

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Lil Kim, who is a popular black celebrity who faced a lot of controversy for bleaching her skin. To left you'll see a photo that shows her in the skin complexion she was known for versus to the right you'll see her in present day. A total different complexion and a different facial structure. Lil Kim is amongst many black celebrities like Nicki Minaj, Beyonce and more to have been reported to bleach their skin.

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This is a luxury line for bleaching cream found on the internet. Clicking the link will allow you to see that the model advertised for this bleaching cream are Black American on the very light side of the skin complexion spectrum. It sends off this message that anyone using this luxury line will see these and can expect these results - that they too will look like this. This product is also promoted by Blac Chyna who is a light skinned black celebrity that underwent a lot of controversy when choosing to promote this line

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Luxury skincare line for endless radiance body

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Say goodbye to hyper pigmentation and dark spots forever. Our luxury high-end skincare products have no hydroquinone, no steroids, no mercury...

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Bleaching Syndrome also known as skin whitening, is primarily done over time through skin whitening creams. These creams are advertised to lighten your complexion and contain many unknown chemicals. Many skin lightening products have been formulated to inhibit tyrosinase which overtime stop your skin from producing melanin. Products that are typically used to lighten dark spots and hyper pigmentation are now being used all over the skin to lighten complexions.

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Why Women Change the Color of Their Skin

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Bleaching Syndrome is the desire to have a light complexion thus adhering procedures that whiten/bleach the skin. The desire for a lighter complexion is definately not a new phenomenon and is becoming more and more prominant. There is a strong connection between skin tone and success. Those with light complexion may not see this to be a known issue. However, being a darker complexion you see and start to feel that for you to be able to be anybody in life, you need to have a certain skin tone.