A BleachingTale
Storyboard Description
Sophia and Paulie are two black young women who grew up together. Paulie started bleaching her skin to the dismay of her friend Sophia.
Storyboard Text
- A BLEACHING TALE BY Jean Brown & Muriel Smith
- Hi Sophia. How is it you're passing me like that?
- Oh my God! Paulie is that you? I didn't recognize you at all. So you have joined the skin bleachers?
- WHAT IS SKIN BLEACHING?
- Well, it is the the use of chemicals to lighten or even one's skin / complexion. These can range from beta carotenoids, citric acid, hydroquinone and mercury to home made blue soap and lime juice. Charles (as cited inHarris)
- So what do you know about bleaching?
- BLEACHING INGREDIENTS
- Well, I don't use any cheap products on my skin.
- You may think you aren't but do you know that some people use Dermatological creams e.g. Neoprosone gel, Cosmetic creams e.g. Hair relaxing creme and Homemade: curry and toothpaste?
- Sophia and Paulie are two black young women who were school friends. One day Sophia passed Paulie and did recognized her because of the whiteness of her skin.
- WHO ARE LIKELY TO BLEACH? (a)
- Sophia, everyone is doing it. You must be the only exception.
- Not really. A study conducted by Charles in 2010 pointed out three groups of persons who are most likely to bleach, starting with those of low self-esteem.
- They continued the discussion as they travel down the road.
- LIKELY TO BLEACH (b)
- The second group are those who had a problem with their physicality: they think their complexion is too dark, they need to remove facial pimples and to look beautiful.
- The conversation continued under a tree so Paulie could get out of the direct rays of the sun. Sophia highlighted some ingredients found in bleaching products. Charles (as cited in Gray, n.d.)
- LIKELY TO BLEACH (c)
- Those who want to change their social status. That is, they want to get a partner or a job and think lighter skin will open doors for them.
- So who makes up the third group?
- Rosenberg (as cited in Charles 2010) define self-esteem as the individual’s overall negative or positive attitude toward the self. Persons who have high personal self-esteem think they are individuals of worth, while those with low personal self-esteem have contempt or hatred for the self.
- I am not in that. I value myself highly.
- Charles (2010) postulates that Self-esteem and collective self-esteem are related and both are important in social identity because they are important in the individual’s overall self-concept.
- Well I don't bleach for any of those reasons.
- Collective self-esteem falls in the group domain or the individual’s reference group orientation, which involves how the individual regards the groups of which he or she is a member. (Charles, 2010 p.28)
- That's exactly why I bleach and it's working for me.
- THE SOCIAL PURPOSE OF SKIN BLEACHING
- So, my reasons for bleaching have social implications?
- Exactly! It indicates that you want to belong to; or it gives the idea of you belonging to a better class in society.
- I do not see myself as better than anybody.
- IMPROVE LIFE CHANCES
- Maybe not; but Hughes and Hertel (1990) found that lighter skin determines life chances because light skinned Blacks tend to have higher social and economic status than dark skinned Blacks.
- BEAUTY IS LIGHTER / LIGHTER IS BEAUTIFUL
- But since I start bleaching, many doors have been opened.
- Lighter complexion is equated with beauty and so the lighter you are the more beautiful you are in the eyes of a miseducated society.
- Oh no! Bleaching is very common in Jamaica. Almost everybody is doing it. All my friends have bleached and are doing very well in their jobs and relationships. Buju and Kartel made it popular.
- “Whites are assumed to be the dominant group, ,mixed raced individuals the middle, and blacks the subordinate group. This belief of a hierarchy in racial structure is rooted in a scale of skin color gradations (pigmentocracy) and a belief that an individual can fall on different spots of the scale based on his or her skin color.” Sawyer (as cited in Middleton, 2008)
- PREVALENT IN OUR COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE.
- Won't they be surprised to see you when you return to Jamaica?
- Having a light complexion is a more favorable asset for Blacks seeking employment than their job experience and level of education (Harrison &Thomas, 2009).
- REFERENCES
- Charles (2010) Skin Bleaching in Jamaica: Self Esteem, Racial Self Esteem, and Black Identity Transactions, Caribbean Journal of Psychology, 3(1), 1-15 Charles, C. (n.d) Skin Bleaching, Oppression and Black Resistance, retrieved from http//:www. Academia.edu/20049070/Skin_Bleaching_Oppression_and_Resistance Gray, K. (n.d.) Skin Bleaching in Jamaica...Introduction to Social Psychology Retrieved from, PSYC 1004, Course page Harris, D. & Thomas, K. (n.d.). Summary of Skin Bleaching in Jamaica: Self-Esteem, Racial Self-Esteem, and Black Identity Transactions. Retrieved from, PSYC 1004, Course page Middleton, R. (2008). Institutions, inculcation, and black racial identity: pigmentocracy vs. the rule of hypodescent. Social Identities, 14(5) BGIS MEDIA (2011), Health Ministry Cautions Against Use of Bleaching Creams. Retrieved from http://www.gisbarbados.gov.bb/index.php?categoryid=8&p2_articleid=5948
- The discrimination experienced by dark skinned Blacks leads some of them to marry an interracial partner not only because of love but also because they prefer a light skinned partner Craig-Henderson (as cited in Charles, 2014).
- This bleaching phenomena had subsided but in the past two years it seems to have resurfaced as a fashion statement or fad. Persons of both genders but moreso females tend to be using these creams.
- It is prevalent in Barbados to the extent that some years ago the Ministry of Health issued a warning to persons via the Government Information Service ,warning them of the dangerous chemical, mercury found in them .
- Done for PSYC 1004 Introduction to Social Psychology Course Coordinator: Dr Florence Semungal June 27, 2016
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