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Comment by jordigh | Hacker News Reader

No, it is not just a matter of flavours. It's a deeply ingrained and institutionalised bias that happens all around the world. You see it in Mexico, in India, in France, in China, in Nigeria: white is pretty. Sweden and Norway are widely regarded as the ultimate in beauty.

I wish I knew why this happened and how to fix it. It's a giant problem that should not exist.

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On the great social level it could result is some problems -the same as if everyone decided they wanted to become doctors. Individually there is nothing wrong with such preferences. In China and Japan lighter color meant not being outdoors, meant not working the fields meant someone of means. That's where it comes from and existed way before any modern contact with Europeans.

This seems one sided. Many white guys love a darker tone. What about Brazil turning out supermodels? I couldn't list or count any, but every time I hear something about models there seems to be a Brazil reference.

Really? I can't think of a single one from Brazil besides Giselle Bundchen. And she definitely has some German in her. I think the vast majority of super models are European, especially Eastern European - Czech, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, etc.

Then why do so many people go to tanning salons? It's a signal you had time for leisure, you could spend time at the beach, you didn't have to work. So its not tanness itself people are attracted to but what it signals. In Asia, its the opposite, being pale, means you don't have to do manual labor, work the fields, so people look to seem paler so as to appear of higher classes.

Here are nine more: http://www.stylebistro.com/Brazil's+Top+10+Most+Beautiful+Mo...

In India there are billboards and TV advertisements advertising 'whitening' creams to bleach your skin to a whiter tone.

Whereas a lot of pasty white folk want tanned skin :)

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