Skin bleaching - yay or nay?

[moggett88]

In my Facebook sidebar this morning, there was a "news" article suggesting that Lil' Kim has been bleaching her skin and hair (why this appears in the same place as major world events, I don't know). I didn't care enough to click the link, but because I've spent a little time on the internet, my first thought was that an overly vocal group are going to be disgusted by this, probably calling it racist.

So my question is - is there any problem with a black person bleaching their skin? If someone is born male but feels female they can have surgery to become female. If a white person feels pale and pasty, they can lie in a sunbed until crispy. If someone identifies as a tiger, they can file their teeth to points and tattoo their skin in black and orange stripes. If someone wants to bleach their skin (for whatever reason), does anyone else have a right to comment on it?

 

[DefunctTheory]

Is there anything wrong with someone bleaching their skin - No.

Is it possible someone bleaches their skin for the 'wrong' reason - Yes, the 'wrong' reason being the same for a minority of people who get things like breast implants - Because they feel society has pushed them into it, rather then them wanting it.

Is it appropriate to comment on it - No more or less then boob jobs. In this particular case, it's a famous person though, so discussion is both expected, but necessary to the person in question. Celebrities live or die on this kind of stuff. Taking pictures of random unknown people and belittling them on the internet is, as usual, something to avoid.

As an additional comment, I'd like to point out that most skin whitening is done not to appear 'white,' but to create a more even skin complexion. It's just easier and more effective to lighten everything up then it is to darken everything.

Also, in before anal bleaching comments (Much to my dismay).

 

[Bob_McMillan]

I don't feel like researching, but to me it would depend on how safe this bleaching thing is. In a lot of Asian and apparently some South American countries, skin whitening is a big thing. The only difference here is that the person in question is African American, which inevitably leads to racism being thrown into the discussion.