White Power

A few weeks ago I was walking through E-Mart (pronounced “E-Matuh”) and in the lotion, section there was this:

White Power Mask (yep it says that)

I was struck by how funny it was to see that phrase printed on the package of a product. A person would never see that in the states, unless you were in Alabama of course. I thought it was hilarious and ridiculous to see packaging like that. Later, I was thinking about the product and I really was confused by it. Why would there be a product that you put on your skin to make you more white? I asked my one of my Korean co-workers, Heather, about this and she gave me some insightful details. According to Heather, many Korean women want to be fair skinned. They use parasols, enormous hats and visors, and lots of sunscreen to stay fair skinned. Apparently it is common for women to use this “white power mask” or something similar as well. The idea is to remain as pale as possible, and when that isn’t enough you use this cream to literally bleach your skin. I am told that occasionally you will see older women walking around with faces that are distinctly paler than the rest of their skin. Those women are people who use this kind of cream.

Of course I could talk about the cliché that Americans want to be tan while the rest of the world desires to be paler and how amusing it is that “the other” (to quote anthropologists everywhere) wants the opposite of what our culture wants in terms of skin tone, but I’d rather not be that kind of Western blogger (I would also prefer that Edward Said did not roll around in his grave too much). This kind of product is actually not really that surprising and make sense if your desire to be paler. In the states people might apply makeup to make themselves appear more tan or darker than they actually are. If that is not to a person’s liking they can buy a whole variety of lotions that work as a “bronzers” which work to darken a person’s skin. Additionally, a person could go and get a spray tan to artificially change their skin color. For even more extreme measures a person can actually go tanning at a parlor or the old fashioned way.

If you reverse your objective and wish to stay fair skinned then a “white power mask” cream makes sense. A person can simply avoid the sun, through clothing (parasols, visors, etc), and they will remain fair skinned. If that is not enough they can certainly apply makeup to mask the actual tone of their skin. An even more extreme measure would be to apply this kind of bleaching cream. The white power mask is a product in a series of methods to keep a person’s skin pale. It is logical when you put it into the context of the culture. However, the name of the product is still funny to me.