Many Asians go swimming fully clothed and “bask” in the shade.
Why?
In order to not get tanned!
Indian Swimwear
Western ideal of beauty today:
- slim figure
- tanned complexion
Western ideal of beauty, early last century.
- belly of prosperity and double chin
- white skin
Why is that?
being white in Vietnam
The signaling effect matters.
- having pale skin shows, that you don’t work (in the sun), or not even leave your house
- being corpulent, when many go hungry shows, that you can buy more than enough food
Both signals prosperity.
In Europe, after the 1920s tanned became the new pale and slim became the new plump.
- if you are tanned today, you can afford a holiday in the south
- if you remain slim with today’s food abundance, you show success and motivation.
Both signals prosperity.
skin whitening cream in Thailand
In Asia, the signaling effect with respect to wealth works differently:
Southeast Asians wear long clothes at 40°C, because going outside of air conditioned areas is low class.
In South Asia (India, Nepal, Bangladesh), curves are sexy, because food is scarce.
Southeast Asians wear long clothes at 40°C, because going outside of air conditioned areas is low class.
In South Asia (India, Nepal, Bangladesh), curves are sexy, because food is scarce.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
By the way:
About beauty and pop culture, the youth all over Asia seems to look to Korea. Koreans are pale and K-Pop is crazy!
Indian beach beauties
My personal ideal of beauty with women is actually the opposite of the Southeast Asian one (-;
- plump
- tanned
What’s the signal of that?
Maybe I like relaxed people more than overachievers…
You didn’t include a picture of my favorite whitening product in Asia- the stuff that allegedly makes your nipples less dark! :P
It’s worse than I thought!
What is the point of having white nipples. Do they show them off? Wait… do they? I have to find out who is buying this stuff!
But the most important question is:
Does it work, Yvette? (-;
I don’t know, I’ve never had a reason to buy it. ;-) (I did get whitening sunscreen in China once tho because there was none to buy that didn’t have it.)
And yeah, not sure who it’s for in such a conservative culture, but then when you start to think about all the stuff women do to beautify themselves that no one will ever notice or care about around the world it’s rather par for the course…
Sounds like the Burka has its advantages…
Nein, mit diesem Schönheitsideal kann ich auch nichts anfangen – mit deinen Fotos dafür umso mehr. Bin über die Hostelbookers.de auf deiner Website gelandet und freu mich über den Anblick :-)
Alles Liebe noch & schöne Reise! Doris