Yellow Skin

If someone had mentioned the words "yellow skin" to me a couple of years ago, the first association I would have made would probably have been Jaundice. After all, when one has Jaundice, then one's skin turns yellow, correct? I never would have associated yellow skin with Asian people. Now, however, that is the first association I would make. Why? Not because when I look at my students, my co-workers, and my friends I see that they have yellow skin. Quite the opposite. But because they all talk about and complain about having yellow skin.

Most of the people that I talk to who are Asian (and women) bring up their skin color and compare their yellow, dark, and ugly (according to them) skin color to my white, light, and beautiful skin color (again - this is all what they say - this is not my opinion). I often hear how much prettier my skin color is because it is white and how horrible their skin is because it is yellow. Because of this, or perhaps to make money off of this dislike for their skin color, there are many skin creams, face washes, and other products whose chief purpose is to whiten/lighten the skin. It is difficult for me, when I go to the store, to find a face wash that does not have a whitening agent.

I look around at my friends and students, though, and I feel that this is ridiculous. When I actually try to notice their skin color (which is only when it is brought up) it does not seem yellow at all to me, just as my skin is not really white - it is more of a pink. Their skin is not the color of the sun, or the color of a daffodil, or even the light yellow color of butter. Instead, it varies just like the skin tones of people in America - some of my students, for example, have very light skin - just like my friends who have to slather themselves with sunscreen before they go outside in the sun. Some of my students have the skin color of many children who are from Mexico or South America - very dark. As a matter of fact, many times when I walk around outside, if I am not thinking clearly I may think I see people from South America or Mexico because I see people with dark hair and dark skin. Only after I look closer (or start to think clearer) do I realize that they are actually Chinese. And, of course, there are skin colors that are in between. But yellow I do not see.

Calling attention to their skin color like that, in such a derogatory way, makes me wonder why they do not like the color of their skin. What is wrong with it? According to them, it is too dark, but is it really so terrible to have dark skin? I suppose that in this world, in this time period, many people to not see it as a wonderful thing to have dark skin. It is too bad, though, that so many women here cannot be happy with the color of their skin.