Why is it okay for people to complain about being "too light" but not "too dark"?

Question

I see questions all the time on YA! with people complaining that they are "too pale", how to get tan quickly, how to make a tan last, and generally question about darkening their complexion. No one thinks anything of it.

But when people with dark skin ask about skin lightening, instantly people are all jumping down their throat saying they're a sell out/shouldn't hate themselves/going to end up looking all nutty like Michael Jackson, etc.

What gives? No one accuses a pale person that wants to tan of hating themselves or trying to be someone else.

I guess this stems from an article I read about how people were upset that Loreal lightened Beyonce's skin digitally for their ad campaign. However, I bet if Christina Ricci had her skin digitally tanned for an ad campaign, no one would care.

Answer 1

fyi, western people only want to get tan on certain occasions such as summer bcs getting a tan is a part of summer fashion but other than that, no.  

skin whitening that most brown or dark-skinned people do is plain vanity & if you're born with a dark-skin, its very impossible to look white.

also looking pale isn't that much pretty but look lifeless and that's why caucasians does have a point.

Answer 2

norms change

being pale used to be the trend in fact, it showed class because the ones who was tanned was the workers in the fields, being pale as such proved you was not one, so the fine ladies actualy would stay out of the sun to avoid geting taned, as it was def not a trend

which all in all was a lot more healthy probably if you think of things like skin cancer and the like

Answer 3

that's a really good point but unfortuately i don't know why. i guess because light is more acceptable it's okay to complain about it whereas dark is often seen in a negative light, so to complain about it makes you bad?

Answer 4

That is true but it relates to so many things in society.  For example you shouldn't mention if someone is fat but if somone is too thin everyone feels it is okay to say something to the like they should eat more.