White skin is prized in Asia.

[HamburgerBoy]

I don't get this mentality any more. Yeah it was this way in the US 150 years ago, but today being tan = you're wealthy enough to have enough leisure time for outdoor activities.

I remember back in college seeing asian girls walking around with umbrellas on a beautiful day. Mind was blown. I have light skin but I sure as hell am not getting tanned or sun damage spending 3 minutes walking outside from one building to another.

Today the level of ones tan has no relation to ones opulence in the first-world. Your mentality is no less irrational than theirs.

 

[StrangerGuy]

So many Korean girls went through the plastic knife that they come out devoid of any personality whatsoever because all of them ends up looking so similar.

 

[SparkyJJO]

less skin cancer too. so i guess that works out ok :hmm:

Except farmers have worked out in the sun for thousands of years and they aren't plagued with constant skin cancer issues :hmm:

Sometimes I wonder if people do more harm than good by slathering all sorts of synthetic chemicals all over their skin to "protect" them.

 

[WelshBloke]

Except farmers have worked out in the sun for thousands of years and they aren't plagued with constant skin cancer issues :hmm:

Sometimes I wonder if people do more harm than good by slathering all sorts of synthetic chemicals all over their skin to "protect" them.

Farmers are at higher risk of skin cancer.
http://www.joe.org/joe/2004april/rb8.php

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

Used to be like this for Europeans too. Not sure when that changed.

Poor people in the colder and moderate regions couldn't afford to go on a sun vacation, rich people could. So having a tan when returning from vacation was a status symbol. Of course now it's mostly the middle and lower class who focus on tanning as much as possible, and even go for the extremely ugly spray tan look.

 

[Broheim]

Used to be like this for Europeans too. Not sure when that changed.

the Romans used to sunbathe at the bathhouses. It seems to be sort of cyclic like a lot of things in human culture.

 

[edro]

Isn't autism linked to lack of Vitamin D in pregnant women?
Also, I think 10min in the sun generates more Vitamin D than you can obtain through diet.

You need the sun!
Our bodies evolved in the sun.

 

[Raghu]

India

 

[pelov]

It gets worse...

That's how they fool you. You think it's some Chinese woman wearing a mask to protect her face from the sun but it's actually a Luchador that's waiting to legdrop you while you're lying down sunbathing.

Don't tell me I'm paranoid! Look at the resemblance!

 

[Eureka]

It's a general observation that fairness is prized. Outside of contemporary US culture, light skin is more desirable.

Hate to point this out, but lighter African-Americans are typically considered more attractive than darker ones.

That being said, society tends to go back and forth on what an acceptable level of "whiteness" is ok before you look like a ghost.

 

[Strk]

If they want paleness, I'm pretty damn white and willing to share.

 

[PingSpike]

Except farmers have worked out in the sun for thousands of years and they aren't plagued with constant skin cancer issues :hmm:

Sometimes I wonder if people do more harm than good by slathering all sorts of synthetic chemicals all over their skin to "protect" them.

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-sty...-unilateral-dermatoheliosis-article-1.1089706

 

[cronos]

I don't know about Asian 'prizing' white skin (personally I couldn't care less), but I have brown skin and I do avoid the sun when possible.

Accordingly, I of course don't like going to beaches that much. I can't even remember the last time I went, must have been about 15 years ago. Even now, if I go outside I stay in the shades whenever I can. I guess because I grew up with sunshine 12/7/365 I don't see what's so special about it.