Document Type
Article
Abstract
This paper is a response to comments on my paper “The Whitening of Brown Skins and the Darkening of Whiteness” published in Reconstruction Vol. 7, No. 1, 2007, wherein I discuss skin-whitening practices within the Filipino diaspora. Many of these comments remarked that the practice of tanning one’s skin a darker colour was diametrically opposed to the practice of whitening one’s skin with cosmetic lotions and soaps. This paper challenges the idea that tanning runs counter to hegemonic ideals about whiteness. In fact, it does the opposite to mark how whiteness shapes how tanning is embodied. Consequently, the paper demonstrates that in attempting to darken one’s skin, those who tan themselves imbricate themselves within systems of white privilege.
Repository Citation
Laforteza, Elaine. "Tanning (Anglo-Australian) Whiteness." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture vol. 13, no. 3, 2013, pp. 1–12. https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/reconstruction/vol13/iss3/10