I am part of the cosmetic industries group but one of our articles is so very relavent this week. The piece I am referring to is a chapter in Stacy Malkan's Not Just a Pretty Face called "Beauty Myth Busters." You can read this chapter by going to the Cosmetic Industries link at the course site. In this chapter, Malkan brings up the fact that Asian women are lightening their complexions with SK II products. These products contain very toxic chemicals and make the skin peel and thin dramatically. But Asian women are putting themselves through this just to have temporarily lighter colored faces. The chemicals in these products are actually banned. They are chromium and neodymium which cause exzema and allergic dermatitis. There was a large controversy about the safety of these products and they were taken off the shelves. But after Proctor & Gamble, who produce the products, defended the products in saying that low doses should not hurt consumers, the products were for sale again.
It is crazy to me that the Snow Brown story we read could be so remarkably close to reality. These Asian women are applying generous amounts of toxic chemicals to their faces in order to fit into the Western picture of beauty. They feel that they will be more beautiful, perfect, and desirable with lighter, more caucasian, looking skin. How sad that they feel this way, just as Snow Brown did. How does this type of global brain washing happen? How can the fashion and cosmetic industries of Western society have so much power over the world?
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