Sammy Secrist

The chapter out of The Color Complex offered an interesting examination of the controversial subject regarding the role of color and features in the professional lives and relationships of African Americans. Beneath a guise of Black solidarity lies “a matrix of attitudes about skin color and features in which color, not character, establishes friendships” (1) and relationships. The “color complex”, a psychological compulsion about color and features, traditionally involved “light-skinned Blacks’ rejection of Blacks who were darker. Increasingly, however, the color complex shows up in the form of dark-skinned African Americans spurning their lighter-skinned brothers and sisters for not being Black enough” (2). Color prejudice still affects the Black community, especially in the area of dating and mating. Skin color and features preferences are political and “clear color preferences characterize the romances of African-American men and women” (108). More Black men specifically desired a lighter-skinned partner than did women, and distinguished Black men were more likely to have light-skinned spouses. There is a connection between ideas of power and the attraction to light skin; a “myth that light-skinned Black women are more fragile and more readily subdued than those who are darker skinned” (111). In addition, the chapter also mentions this attraction may stem from the idea that light skin is much more desirable because white women were historically off-limits to Black men and now they can finally have this “ideal beauty”. Of course, not all Black men are attracted to lighter-skinned women, and interestingly, “the more strongly a man identifies with his African heritage, the less likely he is to be attracted to light-skinned Black women” (114). Many Black women have color prejudices of their own as well. Some pursue men with lighter skin for the desire for lighter-skinned children; others prefer darker-skinned men due to the less inhibited, more animalistic, and more masculine image. Either preference makes a statement, often about their social or economic status. Regarding Blacks who “cross the race line” and have a White spouse, I found it interesting they used the term “marry out” as if they are escaping something or “selling out” in the Black community. I would think more substantive qualities would go into determining who to marry than just skin color, though, I suppose this simply further emphasizes the point that color prejudice still affects the Black community. There is still some disbelief and anger concerning interracial involvement of Black men and women and White men and women. Black men accuse Black women in relationships with White men as being “gold diggers”, and Black women “assume that a Black man’s involvement with a White woman has to do with her color and status, not with love, common interests, or respect” (121).

            The “Yearning for Lightness” article examines the increasing significance of colorism through the lense of the widespread consumption of skin-lightening products. It looks at the skin-lightening practices in different societies and “the role of transnational pharmaceutical and cosmetic corporations in fueling the desire for lighter skin through print, Internet, and television ads that link light skin with modernity, social mobility, and youth” (281). Colorism refers to the “preference for and privileging of lighter skin and discrimination against those with darker skin” (281). Light skin is a form of “symbolic capital” because of the connection between skin color and attractiveness and self-worth; “darker-skinned individuals are viewed as less intelligent, trustworthy, and attractive than their lighter-skinned counterparts” (281). Skin lightening is practiced all over the world and has become a multi-billion dollar global industry. The article goes on to discuss skin-lightening practices in different regions around the world, revealing the yearning for lightness and the use of skin bleaching is widespread and growing. This can be seen as a manifestation of “false consciousness” and the value of “white is right” among people of color. Individual consciousness and motives are at work here as well as powerful economic forces that create and manipulate needs through sophisticated manufacturing, advertising, and marketing of skin lightening. These corporations produce separate lines to target different audiences, but continually enforce that “dark skin becomes a veil that hides one’s natural luminescence” (298) and that light skin is necessary for achieving a “youthful, attractive, modern, and affluent” (299) lifestyle. In conclusion, both articles provide a revealing look into the politics and ideas surrounding color in multiple cultures and societies around the world.