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An Entity of Type : owl:Thing, within Data Space : 134.155.108.49:8890 associated with source dataset(s)

While fair skin is usually a common beauty standard around the world, paleness can also be seen as unattractive in North America and parts of Europe. This wasn't always so (and still isn't for many people worldwide). In ancient times, fair skin was a sign of nobility and tan skin was a sign of the working class, due to outside labor. Great lengths were taken to maintain pale skin, including using lead and arsenic based makeup and ladies carrying parasols whenever going outside. There's a reason "fair" was once a synonym of "beautiful." Not to be confused with Dark Is Not Evil.

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  • But Not Too White
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  • While fair skin is usually a common beauty standard around the world, paleness can also be seen as unattractive in North America and parts of Europe. This wasn't always so (and still isn't for many people worldwide). In ancient times, fair skin was a sign of nobility and tan skin was a sign of the working class, due to outside labor. Great lengths were taken to maintain pale skin, including using lead and arsenic based makeup and ladies carrying parasols whenever going outside. There's a reason "fair" was once a synonym of "beautiful." Not to be confused with Dark Is Not Evil.
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dbkwik:all-the-tro...iPageUsesTemplate
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abstract
  • While fair skin is usually a common beauty standard around the world, paleness can also be seen as unattractive in North America and parts of Europe. This wasn't always so (and still isn't for many people worldwide). In ancient times, fair skin was a sign of nobility and tan skin was a sign of the working class, due to outside labor. Great lengths were taken to maintain pale skin, including using lead and arsenic based makeup and ladies carrying parasols whenever going outside. There's a reason "fair" was once a synonym of "beautiful." Tanned skin was one of the new "beauty standards" promoted by Coco Chanel in the early 20th century. Tanned skin was a sign that you had both the money and the free time to visit the seaside, something that wasn't common in the West in the twenties and thirties. Tanning reached its apex in The Seventies, where every actress and model had to have a dark orange tan in order to be considered attractive. Tan lines from swimsuits were not considered unattractive, but a "farmer's tan"--the kind you get by actually working outdoors-- is still considered a sign of low social class. This has also led to the rise of tanning salons, sunbeds and hours of sun-exposure without any form of UV protection, which consequently led to a rise in skin cancer, particularly in young people. Today, the extent of the But Not Too White trope varies from country to country. In most of Asia the fairest possible skin is still considered the most attractive (at least for women), but in the UK "a bit of brown" is considered healthy. A surprising number of people have no idea that many (perhaps most) redheads are physically incapable of tanning because they don't have enough eumelanin in their skin to tan. A pale redhead could burn themselves lobster red, but once the burn goes away they'll be as white as before. The same can also apply to very pale blondes and even some brunettes, especially those of Northern European descent. Quite simply, if the eumelanin isn't there, tanning is impossible. Usually this trope is Played for Laughs at the expense of someone's "whiteness." Also see Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette, Evil Albino, Undeathly Pallor. Contrast But Not Too Black, though be careful as this trope doesn't carry the same implications. Compare But Not Too Foreign. Not to be confused with Dark Is Not Evil. Examples of But Not Too White include:
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