Amadou,
This has also been a topic on the anthens of Canal Plus when the same controversial issue was raised by Yaya Jammeh during the early days of the coup.What "players" saw in Mr Jammeh's pronouncements was linked to its authoritanian approach.Therefore this stirred "legal" minds to shun the unilateral approach from the executive on a social challenge like this one.Indeed this an ongoing stigma within our society "legally" Yaya was wrong but he was right as an individual in this case ie he showed how much he hated skin bleaching.Of course I for one totally disagree with him ie for trying to tie this to his functions as head of state.He could have sponsored a sensitisation program thru NGOs and the like.
On the other hand available data has proven that skin bleaching is not only practiced females only.In a country like Nigeria(Example) men bleach theirs skins (based on available data,because I have hnever been to Nigeria myself).
It is also said that a former head of a unit at the central bank(A MAN!) bleaches.True or false it is only God who knows the real facts.Certainly styles and makeups are usually attributed to our female partners but when one looks at hair braiding or Jelly Curls etc this version can be disputed very easily.One does not spend a whole day when searching for a male with Jelly curls or hair braids! This has become a fashion in many parts of the world particularly USA.Thanks to Rappers like Snoop Dog and others!
Indeed skin bleaching goes beyond the limit because dermatologists do not approve of it.
It is exactly the same way a physician would control people from taking tranquilisers and so on.There are other medications that are used to cure back pains etc etc which patients are not allowed to abuse because it may cause addiction.Fashion or looking good is an art that is ok because this marks a difference between humans and animals.However,using this as a route that leads to destroying one's external or internal natural features is just not good.
Such topics cause endless polemics because that is why many people use the same polemics to justify smoking "ganja".Some countries have even legalised it.Well when one says tar is bad but "ganja"'s smoke cures glucoma(Peter Tosh's reader's digest) makes a good debator drink a lot of water as well.
All one needs to emphasise here is the essence of educating those who do it.Ie for them to know the dangers that lie ahead in when compared to the pleasure they are searching for.
The pleasure here cannot help them live long or be productive per se.
Our men folk or brothers should also avoid the following:
"Jiguen hess"
"Musu Koyow Saasaa borro"
In Mandinka it means those women who are fair can replace medicine! Laugh.
In Wolof the language or the message was coded...saying as a female one should be fair in complexion.
These things are usually PUMPED into society by popular talkers etc.
This is the same trend that writers like Victor Hugo used to mislead some readers towards believing the difference that exists between races.
Thank You for bringing in this topic.It is a wide one that touches on all sectors. Socio-political etc.
Last Card!
Amadu Kabir Njie <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Biri!
It is sad to say but this demeaning practice seems to have gained a firm foothold within within our very psyches.
I have always maintained that it takes a bleached mind to bleach one's skin. Just imagine the level of self-hatred that drives one to such a degrading practice; and it does not help when 'brothers' don't take a clear stand on the issue. Some even help in rubbing the poison on their partners!
Regards,
Kabir.
alaji ndure wrote:
Kabir, thanks for this thought-provoking forward. I hope after reading it,
it will sink into us that it is not always true what others mean about you
but what you make of your self.
Biri.
>From: Amadu Kabir Njie
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Fwd: [Network Africa Sweden] Skin Bleaching
>Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2005 14:16:17 +0100
>
>Love the skin you’re in? Is it possible to be black and beautiful in
>today’s society?
>
>
>
>In this feature Black Britain continues the debate on skin bleaching within
>our communities looking in greater depth at the historical, cultural,
>social and psychological reasons why some people are just not happy with
>the skin they’re in.
>
>
>
>Where does the desire to be white stem from?
>
>
>
> Supermodel Alek Wek's dark skin and striking physical features are seen
>as assets that have contributed to the success her of career, proving that
>black can be regarded as beautiful in today's society.
>
> From a young age we are taught to worship all things white and beautiful,
>so therefore anything black isn’t beautiful or desirable
>
>
>
>Dr Lez Henry, sociologist
>
>
>
>The Health Hazards of Skin Bleaching
>
>Historical Legacies based on religion
>
>
>
>According to sociologist Dr Lez Henry, who appeared in Dami Akinnusi’s
>documentary: Bleach My Skin White, part of the desire to have a whiter skin
>stems from a desire to be nearer to God. He told Black Britain:
>
>
>
>“From a young age we are taught to worship all things white and beautiful,
>so therefore anything black isn’t beautiful or desirable.
>
>
>
>We are also taught that anyone in a position of real power is white, God is
>white, and Jesus is white.”
>
>
>
>He describes such ideologies as Eurocentric and ethnocentric, because it
>puts Caucasians, as an ethnic group at the centre of everything.
>
>
>
>“European standards and norms are the yardstick to measure everything, both
>good and bad.”
>
>
>
>Dr Henry referred to Hinduism, the religion based on a caste system whereby
>the darker your skin is the more cursed you are. He said:
>
>
>
>“According to the religion, you are not just cursed and damned in this
>life; you are cursed and damned for all eternity, for being black.”
>
>
>
>However, this belief system was given to Hinduism by the Aryans who were a
>tribe who moved into the Indus valley in India some time between 1750 to
>1200 BCE from areas surrounding Russia and the Baltic.
>
>
>
>They introduced the varna system which is believed to be how Hinduism came
>to be based on the caste system.
>
>
>
>The name Aryan means noble and therefore when the Aryans came to India they
>established a class structure whereby they placed themselves at the top of
>it and others below them.
>
>
>
>Therefore the belief among Asians that it is more desirable to be a lighter
>complexion is based on the belief that this conveys a superior status in
>society.
>
>
>
>“So this has a historical legacy [for Asian people] but for us [black
>people] it is slightly different”, said Dr Henry.
>
>
>
>“During slavery, as Africans we were socialised into accepting that
>everything white was virtuous, true, honest, master and mistress.”
>
>
>
>The images of Africans as negative were communicated to slaves through the
>Bible, using certain scriptures to tell them that they were savages.
>
>
>
>Dr Henry told Black Britain: “It wasn’t by chance that all of a sudden
>Europeans were telling us that Africans are savages.”
>
>
>
>This was written into European books and written into European
>vocabularies:
>
>
>
>“They designed that to place us on the bottom rung of the ladder and
>themselves on top.”
>
>
>
>The reason why these ideologies continue to pervade society is because
>“nothing has been put in place for white people do deal with their own
>racism and that system of white supremacy”, Dr Henry said.
>
>
>
>Dr Henry refers to these ideologies as “systems of power” which exist
>“without black people realising that they are being socialised and educated
>away from themselves.
>
>
>
>This is about socialising people to believe that they are inferior. Our
>society teaches you to hate and not to trust anything that looks like you
>if you are not white.”
>
>
>
>Social and psychological factors
>
>
>
> If you are someone with low self esteem who has experienced adversity in
>your life then you are more likely to look at external factors to explain
>your problems, such as the shade of your skin.
>
>
>
>
>
>Dr Dele Olajide is a Consultant Psychiatrist at the South London and
>Maudsley NHS Trust who also appeared in Bleach My Skin White.
>
>
>
>He told Black Britain that the majority of people who bleach their skin are
>women. However, it is not just black women from the UK but from south-east
>Asia, Japan, the Middle East, the African continent, the Caribbean, south
>and North America.
>
>
>
>In other words, what we have is a world wide phenomenon of people who are
>not happy with the skin they are in. Dr Olajide told Black Britain:
>
>
>
>“The people who bleach are people of colour who do so because the role
>model projected, the ideal women who are projected onto our TV screens are
>light-skinned women.”
>
>
>
>Among the Indian population, women say that they lighten their skin because
>if they are dark it doesn’t make them feel sexually attractive, it doesn’t
>increase their dowry and they are mistaken as being lower class.
>
>
>
>Women are kept at home when they are young to keep them from too much
>exposure to the sun so they don’t get too dark.
>
>
>
>This is well known among Asians although it is not openly discussed. Among
>Arab women plastic surgery is common as Middle-eastern women are
>restructuring their noses to look more European. Dr Olajide told Black
>Britain:
>
>
>
>“When you look at how we, as black people have been colonized and enslaved,
>over the years the value of the subjugated is to aspire towards the master
>group.”
>
>
>
>Therefore people of African descent are more likely to feel that white
>culture is superior to everything black, because that is what has been
>pumped into them since very early on in childhood.
>
>
>
>A major disadvantage to black culture has been the lack of written African
>history, according to Dr Olajide.
>
>
>
>Most African history is mainly oral and therefore most of the stories known
>about African history are recent and based on the media and what white
>people have written about black culture:
>
>
>
>“So basically history tells us that Africans are primitive and white people
>are civilized.”
>
>
>
>Dr Olajide told Black Britain that in his opinion as a psychiatrist, the
>people most likely to bleach are the more vulnerable members of our
>communities:
>
>
>
>“The more fragile your ego is, the more likely you are to have low
>self-esteem and the more likely you are to aspire to the attributes of the
>superior race.
>
>
>
>Those of us who are not strong emotionally tend to believe that. This is
>conditioned from a very early age.”
>
>
>
>In America an experiment was carried out whereby black children were asked
>to choose between pink toys and black toys at the age of five and 70 per
>cent of the children picked pink toys.
>
>
>
>Dr Olajide said: “Black children picked pink toys because that is what they
>believed is a better colour to be, not black.”
>
>
>
>He said unless a child has a strong family to nurture them and give them
>confidence in themselves as a black person, there is a risk of falling
>victim to external mediums that portray black people in a negative light.
>
>
>
>Commenting on the portrayal of black women in music videos Dr Olajide
>claims that darker skinned women are given the type of roles that flaunt
>their sexuality, perpetuating the stereotype that darker skinned women are
>sexual beasts. He asserts that the lighter skinned women are given more
>graceful roles.
>
>
>
>Dr Olajide stated that as people tend not to watch television programmes
>critically and analytically they fail to notice that generally the media
>tends to perpetuate the same stereotypes over the years:
>
>
>
>“Black men are aggressive, virile and always ready and they are only
>objects of desire because they are studs. They are not intelligent.”
>
>
>
>White men are portrayed as cerebral and intellectual but black men can be
>as wild as possible.
>
>
>
>With black women, the darker they are the more they are seen as wild. There
>is no question of dignity. We have bought into this even as black people
>ourselves.”
>
>
>
>
>---------------------------------
>How much free photo storage do you get? Store your holiday snaps for FREE
>with Yahoo! Photos. Get Yahoo! Photos
>
>¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
>To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
>Web interface
>at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
>
>To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to:
>http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
>To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
>[log in to unmask]
>¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
_________________________________________________________________
Få alle de nye og sjove ikoner med MSN Messenger http://messenger.msn.dk/
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Messenger NEW - crystal clear PC to PC calling worldwide with voicemail
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
---------------------------------
Yahoo! for Good
Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
|
