Introducing Anthropology. Laura Pountney

of people. This shows how some bodies were and are, in some cases, controlled and labelled as less important and unequal to others.

      tattoo A permanent mark or design made on the skin by a process of pricking and ingraining an indelible pigment or by raising scars

      body-branding Branding involves burning the skin with hot or cold instruments to produce a permanent design. It is often used to express ownership of other humans

      However, since the 1960s, tattooing has become increasingly popular in the West as a statement of individualism, independence, rebellion and fashion or gang culture. Sports people and celebrities have made tattooing a fashion statement and its popularity has increased as a result. Justin Bieber, Harry Styles and Rihanna are just some examples of high-profile celebrities who are heavily tattooed

Anthropologists have always been interested in studying tattooing and how the body is used to express different meanings for individuals and the cultures in which they live. Tattoos are a visible nonverbal way of expressing many things. They are an example of people using their bodies as a canvas. What is chosen for the tattoo is the result of both personal and cultural factors. A tattoo may be a personal symbol, but it also has social meaning.

      Tattoos can provide an effective way of communicating many things, such as personal, social or religious characteristics or cultural pride and identity. They can be linked to a transition from one stage of life to another; they can form part of an initiation that marks the passage from boyhood to manhood or from girlhood to womanhood. For some cultures, tattooing is necessary to establish humans as full social beings. The Roro people of Central Province, Papua New Guinea, describe those who are not tattooed as ‘raw’, comparing them to uncooked meat. Maori warriors of New Zealand have facial tattoos (called moko) to intimidate and distract enemies. Throughout history, in many different cultures, tattooing has been a way of creating an identity.

      Globalization: Tattoos and tattooing

      In an increasingly global world, designs, motifs, even techniques of tattooing move across cultural boundaries, and in the process their original meanings are often lost or changed. Polynesian tattoo designs worn by Westerners are admired for the beauty of their graphic qualities, but their original cultural meanings are rarely understood. A tattoo in Tahiti was once worn to signify status and beliefs, but in London it becomes a sign of rebellion from conformist culture. Traditional body modifications are given new meanings as they move across cultural and social boundaries. In the past, tattoos in Tahiti showed the importance of an individual’s social status. In contemporary global society, while drawing on traditions from around the world, a tattoo is more likely to indicate a person’s individuality.

      Extreme body modifications: Tongue-splitting, implants, earreshaping, beading, corneal tattooing and body-branding are new forms of body modification in the West. (LeichenParty / Wikimedia Commons)

Skin colour bias

      Skin colour bias originates from the history of slavery and racial oppression. An American Sociological Society paper explains: ‘To justify racial slavery, slave-holding interests promoted a white supremacist ideology which held that persons of African descent were innately inferior to whites. Whiteness became identified with all that is civilised, virtuous and beautiful’ (Hill 2002). Pale skin became desirable because, for hundreds of years, it was associated with wealth and status.

      Skin lightening, or skin bleaching, is a cosmetic procedure that aims to lighten dark areas of skin or achieve a generally paler skin tone. Skin bleaching has become a widespread global phenomenon, and in the UK is mainly used by people from African, Caribbean and Asian communities. The trend of skin bleaching is not harmless. People who are already socially and financially marginalized may end up spending a significant amount of money on products that they can hardly afford. Many skin whiteners are associated with proven skin damage or other health risks. Some countries, such as Ghana and Rwanda, have banned skin whitening products. However, whitening remains popular and, according to Statistics MRC, the global market for skin-lightening products accounted for $4075.00 million in 2017 and is expected to reach $8011.17 million by 2026.

The whole notion of desiring paler skin relies upon and emphasizes toxic ideas of white superiority. It was during the height of colonialism and the rise of ‘scientific racism’ (the pseudoscientific idea that empirical evidence supports notions of racial superiority and inferiority) during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that white skin became even more desirable. Whiteness came to signify not just personal privilege but also belonging to a privileged group; dark(er) skin, meanwhile, was linked to racial inferiority and slavery. Whether in apartheid South Africa or the segregationist USA, whiteness, in the words of critical race scholar Cheryl Harris (1993), ‘became the quintessential property of personhood’. Nina Jablonski (2012) writes that ‘untanned skin was a symbol of the privileged class that was spared from outdoor labour. Dark-skinned people were deprecated because they were of the labouring class that worked out in the sun.’ Colourism, as sociologist Margaret Hunter (2007) calls it, is prejudice involving the preferential treatment of people with light skin within and between ethnic groups. This is seen especially in areas such as income, education, housing and the marriage market. Colourism is directly related to a larger system of racism.

      colourism Prejudice involving the preferential treatment of people with light skin within and between ethnic groups

      Fair & Lovely: Billboard advertising skin-whitening cream in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

      (© Adam Jones / flickr)

      Perhaps an increasing awareness of internalized ideas about whiteness, and their origins in the history of racism, combined with the modern push against discrimination based on skin colour, will increase acceptance of all skin tones around the world. But there is a long way to go before this hierarchy is likely to be overturned and before ideas that run so deep that many people aren’t even conscious of holding them are likely to change.

       Keeping up with the times (Gideon Lasco)

      Here, physician and medical anthropologist Gideon Lasco explores the effects of skin-lightening practices among men in the Philippines (see Lasco and Hardon 2019).

      Jose, aged 19, is a college student in Puerto Princesa City, Philippines. On a regular school day, after he wakes up, he takes a shower, scrubbing his body using soap made of papaya (Carica papaya), a fruit that’s said to have skin-whitening properties. Afterwards, he applies a facial whitening lotion, and before finally going to school he uses SPF 30 sunscreen, again with whitening properties, on his face and arms. Jose is not alone in his use of such products. A 2015 study found that the prevalence of skin-whitening product use among male university students in twenty-six low- and middle-income countries was 16.7 per cent. The figure was higher in many Asian countries: 17.4 per cent in India, 25.4 per cent in the Philippines, and 69.5 per cent in Thailand.

      Why do Jose and many other young men in many countries want to whiten their skin?

      First, it must be pointed that the preference for white skin, even among men, has existed since ancient times. In Heian Japan (AD 794–1185) and Ming China (1368–1644), handsome men were described as having white or pale skin. American anthropologist Nina Jablonski (2012: 167) writes that, historically, ‘untanned skin was a symbol of the privileged class that was spared from outdoor labor … Dark-skinned people were deprecated because they were of the labouring class that worked out in