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Here's an ENTITY writer's take on why the obsession with fair skin in Asian countries is a problem.

Advertisements for skin whitening products, glistening ivory-skinned women plastered on every available billboard, umbrellas blossoming on a semi-tropical day – these images are the norm in Southeast Asia. Their purpose? They are an extension of the Asian cultural obsession with fair skin.

Westerners often have a hard time understanding the fact that a woman would want to be more pale rather than more tan. In fact, the dissimilarity between our beauty standards does not come from discrepancies in media, but rather cultural interpretation of skin tones. While the trend is highly complex, ENTITY unpacked the socioeconomic reasons behind the phenomenon.

In the Western world, being tan is synonymous with having extra time. In a country obsessed with productivity and work, time a valuable asset to have. If someone has enough disposable income to get out in the sun instead of being trapped inside during the laborious nine to five workday, then he or she is envied. High level socioeconomic jobs are characterized by indoor cubicles, so it makes sense that these vacationers would be applauded for their tans.

READ MORE: America’s Obsession With Perfect Teeth

The American obsession with artificial tanning has become an issue so serious that the Food and Drug Administration has had to take a stand. According to The New York Times, the FDA proposed a ban on tanning beds for youths younger than 18 years old. An analysis of scientific research published by the US National Library of Medicine predicted that 400,000 cases of skin cancer in the United States could be attributed to tanning bed use.

In Asian countries, jobs aren’t as cut and dry as they are in the West. Out of norm jobs are found specifically in Southern Asia, where according to The World Bank, agriculture made up at least 50 percent of all jobs in 2010. In Eastern Asia, agricultural jobs only made up 10 percent and Central Asia only eight percent of total employment.

It is for this reason that many Southern Asians aspire to be pale – they want to distinguish themselves from agricultural workers. Since jobs farming or working in the fields are held by citizens with lower socioeconomic status, a tan can peg you as being from a poorer background.

READ MORE: Where Is the Diversity in the Modeling Industry?

In the United States, agricultural jobs make up only a meager two percent of total jobs. That, plus the fact that the United States is well-known as a melting pot of diversity, means that distinction by skin tone is no real gauge as to someone’s status. In South Asia, ethnic backgrounds are fairly homogeneous, which means that skin tone and time spent in the sun is a huge factor of socioeconomic status.

Though this tradition has phased out of millennial Asian-American culture for the most part, it still remains prevalent in older generations. The cultural influence of Southern Asians runs deep – such as seeing a woman on the street with a visor, umbrella and coat on a cloudless 85 degree day.

Edited by Sara Butler
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