Lighter Skin? Darker Skin? Why does today's society view lighter skin as more attractive than darker skin?

I fall somewhere in the middle, but I've always heard that women with lighter skin tend to be looked upon as more attractive especially when accompanied by a finer texture of hair. Why does the majority (until very recently) think that lighter skin / lighter shade of eyes / long wavy-textured hair is better? Is it just a phase? Is light in? Is dark in? Does it even matter...because everyone's beautiful? What do you think?

Lighter Skin? Darker Skin? Why does today's society view lighter skin as more attractive than darker skin?
Girl i understand what you mean! I think its just where you were raised. I'm light skinned and when i lived up north all my darker friends were viewed as much prettier but then i moved to GA and all of a sudden it was just the opposite. My mom always told me its from back in the days of slavery
Reply:The thing that is weird is light skinned women try hard to get tan!


Nobody is happy with what they are.
Reply:This is news to me. Every light-skinned person I know (including me) is trying to tan and get darker!
Reply:Really, it was the other way around where I was from, the darker girls where considered prettier. While the lighter girls were referred to as "high yellow". I actually tried to tan l.o.l, but not any more I love myself, no matter what others think of me.





I wish we would just let the whole skin color thing die, as one poster told me, look up the Willi Lynch and see how his racist ideas are keeping dark and light Blacks divided today centuries after slavery.
Reply:i dont think it matters what color you are if your pretty your pretty end of story.
Reply:i wish i was tanner =[ lucky u!
Reply:skin color should not matter, their are beautiful people of all colors.
Reply:Only People with low self-esteem would say something like that. Light skin isn´t in no way better than dark skin, neither the other way around. Evryone is beautiful regardless their skin color.
Reply:Am lighter skin but personally prefer se people with darker skin...but i think it traces way back to slavery times and racism..and even though there has been some few changes basic things will always remain with us...but society don't only judgewomen by their skin tone...from what am seeing taller people nor matter what colour are gettin much more attention that short women so thats not fair
Reply:I dont jugde others, and alot of people do. It just depends on the person. I think that the way a person looks is NOT what matters, the thing that matters is the inside. Okay, to tell the truth, I have some friends that are different colors than me, but I only DATE people my color. But everyone is different. Dont be sad. Just go look in te mirror, and look at yourself for a couple minutes, and you will see how beautiful you are. I hope I helped. And I hope this put a smile on your face.
Reply:Well personaly I think it is all steriotyping and it is very VERY wrong. I love people with dark skin and light skin both. I hope I helped! And hon, if your worried about the way people look at you, tell them they need to find something else to pick at.
Reply:IT GOES BACK TO OLDEN DAYS , RICH WOMEN DIDN'T HAVE TO WORK OUTSIDE IN THE SUN . THEY STAYED LIGHTER IN SKIN COLOR WHILE BEING INSIDE BEING WAITED ON , POORER WOMEN WHO HAD TO WORK FOR A LIVING QUITE OFTEN HAD TO WORK OUTSIDE AND GOT A TAN . IN OTHER WORDS A TAN MEANT YOU WERE OF THE WORKING CLASS , WHILE FAIR SKIN MEANT YOU WERE ROYALTY
Reply:I don't understand why things are this way, nobodys satisfied with what God gave them, it's a shame the dark want to be light and the light want to be dark. Seemes as though humans want the opposite of what is natural.
Reply:it all boils down to one's cultural identity and preferences.. one's beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.. skin tanning and skin lightening have the same objectives - better self esteem and correction of uneven skin tone.. whichever one you choose, it should be where you're happy at and feel good about yourself regardless of what other people think about it.. each one has different needs and wants.