Comments on: Michelle on Her Own Skin Color

by: anonymous

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:31:19 +0100

The idea that there is light-skin/dark skin divisions among Filipinos is not that far fetch at all.Internal racism exists among all groups of color! The lighter skinned-especially mixed blood that are white/person of color- members amongst all groups are perceived better and given special priviledges in opportunities. This phenomenon is not limited to groups of color either. Whites have colorism to. Notice the way blondes are preferenced over brunettes. Remember the young Italian-American supermodel portrayed by Angelina Jolie-Gia Karangi. This was some of Gia Karanjis(not sure if I spelled this correctly) problem. The results may not be as harsh as the consequences dark skin people of color face but it is not surprising people of color face this problem when it is in the white community too when we have been taught by this group to despise ourselves!

by: Shoebug

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 23:48:04 +0100

Being Filipino myself, not the “mestizo” type Filipino, I know exactly what Michelle is talking about! In the Philippines, there is a “shade-based” perception. If you’re skin is lighter, you’re considered “beautiful.” It’s sad but it is what it is. To those of you who has opinions, they are just that “opinions” and you really can’t understand it unless you’re Filipino or have experienced what she is talking about.

by: Tony

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 02:03:46 +0100

I found most American born Asians belong to one of two extremes. One extreme is like Michelle, very patriotic, against minorities, especially immigrants, always side with conservative whites; believe being treated equally and racism doesn’t exist claim. The other extreme is that they are being oppressed by the society, victims of bigotry or racism, do everything to make sure their minority rights are protected. It seems very few American born Asians are neutral. Those are not extreme seems to be immigrated from foreign countries when they are older, and they are those who can excel in the US.

by: Leather Clothes

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 08:35:43 +0000

Agree with “To me, it looks less like an “inferiority complex” and more like a revolt against it being imposed upon her.”

by: Northern Cross

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 13:50:43 +0100

To me, it looks less like an “inferiority complex” and more like a revolt against it being imposed upon her. She embraces America because it is America that empowers her in a way that she would not otherwise be in the Philippines, perhaps because she believes that Filipinos themselves feel “inferior” to lighter colored skin. If that’s the case, then maybe she shouldn’t be judged so harshly.

by: Tommykey

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 16:31:29 +0100

As the husband of a Filipina immigrant, I can second what Ivy wrote above. My wife is darker skinned and has often made remarks that lighter skin is better than dark. I always berate her for it, telling her how beautiful she is (and she really is) and that what she is spouting is an ingrained colonialist mindset that equates light skin being good and beautiful and darker skin being ugly and a handicap.

Maybe on some unconscious level Michelle Malkin feels the need for acceptance having been teased a lot when she was a kid by her white classmates. Ironically though, she feels the acceptance she longs for from conservative whites who think she is attractive and exotic looking and who says the things they like to hear. “Hey, look it’s a hot looking Asian babe sticking it to the illegal immigrants from Mexico! You go girl!” If she were just another blue eyed bleached blonde like Ann Coulter, she would not get nearly as much attention as she likes. In the conservative movement though, her looks and ethnicity have become a plus for her. But that’s just my opinion, and I could be wrong.

by: gordo

Sun, 25 Jun 2006 00:29:10 +0100

I didn’t detect an inferiority complex in this piece. What I did see was a stubborn refusal to concede that Hispanics and blacks might face hurdles that Malkin didn’t have to clear.

Malkin has made a career out of making middle-aged white males feel like they’re the ones who face discrimination. When she sees an opportunity to use her personal biography to bolster her case, she doesn’t hesitate to play her own version of the race card.

But if any liberal mentions her ethnicity, that makes us racists.

Ivy Research–

Thanks for the info. There might be a different explanation for a tendency for Americans to marry darker-skinned Filipinos. Maybe lighter-skinned Filipinos are less likely to seek an American husband, because they have an easier time finding a middle-class husband in the Philippines. You may have noticed how the American wife-shoppers lost no time in descending on Eastern Europe and Russia after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

I find the question interesting, but I don’t know how I’d begin finding an answer.

by: Tim

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 23:18:05 +0100

Ivy Research, the things that you talk about are also true in the U.S. Just look at all the African American models and actresses, they are mostly light skinned. The dark skinned actresses are not shown in good light whereas light skinned ones are given the good roles. This focus on light skin is not just limited to Philippines. Maybe Malkin herself believes in such things and this is the reason she married a white man. This way she could have kids that have lighter skin than hers. Maybe she has inferiority complex.

by: Ivy Research

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 18:34:53 +0100

As someone who grew up in the US and moved back to the Philippines, I can definitely agree with Malkin regarding the extent of color discrimination in the Philippines. Like many former Spanish colonies, there’s a pro-Mestizo bias in Filipino popular culture. This is due to the fact that Mestizo culture has long been looked on as the Filipino beauty standard as well as being the source of the country’s political and social elite. The influence of the Chinese on the country’s aesthetic ideals also reinforced the pro-light skin bias since Chinese also subscribe to the same light skin ideal. Just like the Spanish, the Chinese light skin bias grows from the fact that dark skinned individuals work outside and get ‘tanned’ while light skinned individuals don’t work outside. There’s that added class-based element.
If my research is correct, White Europeans used to subscribe to this ideal. In fact, the notion of BLUE BLOOD ie., so white that the blue veins and capillaries can be seen was in vogue from the time of Queen Elizabeth to the Victorian age. This all changed as American and European societies became more economically democratic. Now the focus is on getting a tan.
Anyway, what made the 1998 Malkin article about her skin color interesting is that there was a glimmer of an interesting fact about Filipino-American culture in that article. Due to the Civil Rights and Black Power movement of the 60’s Filipinos in the United States began to (via cultural osmosis?) absorb the thinking that dark skin is not necessarily bad. They began to believe that the shape of one’s nose or the waviness of one’s hair are not sources of shame but sources of identity and pride. “Filipino Pride” in the US encompasses brown Filipinos. Just go to any dance club or hiphop hangout where Filipino-Americans hang out and you’d see that brown skin is accepted and Filipinas with “native” features are all the rage. This new level of confidence of what is beautiful and personal identity is also evidenced by the dearth of skin whitening products in the filipino-american community. In contrast, skin whitening is HUGE in the Philippines. Indeed, Colgate-palmolive has a skin whitening line. Moreover, when Filipino-Americans come to the Philippines, there is a wide disparity in terms of personal confidence between dark-skinned Filipino Americans and their local counterparts. Since American culture and Americans in general are held in such high esteem here, the ‘patina’ of being from America innoculates most darker Filipino-Americans from the local discrimination against darker Filipinos. Finally, a rough personal survey of Filipina-white male relationships show American men prefer darker Filipina women. They prefer the “exotic” look of Pinays reminiscent of Gaugin’s paintings. This is very empowering since Filipinas in the Philippines spend a huge sum of money trying to surgically and non-surgically ‘enhance’ their features when men a world away love and admire them for their natural ‘unenhanced’ look. The sad irony. Hence, you see white men dating and marrying Filipinas in the US (and also in the Philippines) who would be deemed “ugly” by contemporary Filipino standards. The aesthetic stone that the Pinoy builders rejected has become the beautiful cornerstone of many Filipino-American households. The SECOND LEVEL of irony is that the Mestizo products of such mixtures are then WORSHIPPED in the Philippines.

Being in America has taught the dark skinned Filipino to love and accept himself/herself. There were some glimmers of that in the Malkin piece.

by: Ryan

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 08:08:59 +0100

RTD,

Check out this post.