I don’t usually watch Loose Women as I don’t get to sit down during the day from running around and teaching. But today I switched on telly and watched a topic they’re discussing – spray tan to look darker.
This topic reminded me of how people see dark complexion in the Philippines. Recently I stopped interacting with people on Facebook as I have had enough of the madness there. The same person posting about racism, criticizing her own Filipino skin. I said something about that post as I felt really offended. When I was growing up, I was always teased ‘negra’ (niger) because of being dark-skinned. People want to be white in the Philippines and in fact, only people with white skin are considered beautiful. That’s why I never appreciated my own skin when I was living there. It changed since I went to Europe.
I am still outraged by that post. That is being racist to your own race. Filipinos to Filipinos. White people in Europe, even kids, are obsessed with spray tan, sunbathing, sunbeds, just to get our dark complexion esp in Summer. But why does it look ugly when Filipinos have dark skin? And it looks classy on white people to have tan colour?
For Elite Filipinos with dark complexion, they see it differently than poor people with dark complexion. The first thing Filipinos see is the colour of the skin. That’s why skin whitening lotions are every where in the Philippines and you won’t be able to find a ‘normal’ lotion without the bleaching effect. It’s absolutely ridiculous!
When Filipinos see fellow Filipinos with a white man, they judge that Filipino as a hooker or someone poor trying to get a rich white man to escape poverty. I am married to a white man, British in fact, and I am well educated back home. I went to Europe when I was working as an artist/actor for a musical. That’s how I entered Europe, not because I married someone. But in the eyes of a fellow Filipino, I am just one of them. It is sad really. I love my country but the mentality will never change.
Thank you for reading. Let’s help each other fight racism. The most important thing in a person is having a pure heart, not by skin colour.
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