The heavy cost of light skin

by Joan Baxter

The use of bleaching creams to lighten complexions seems to have reached epidemic proportions in Mali, despite widespread education campaigns.

Women who refuse to bleach often find themselves regarded as second class citizens.

A woman who did not bleach her skin said she is often not offered a chair at baptisms, and is asked to make herself scarce when group photographs are taken at marriages.

A quick survey shows there are more than 100 bleaching products available on the market in the capital, Bamako.

Sold under brand names such as Marie-Claire or Diana, the products come from Morocco, Nigeria, the United States or Saudi Arabia.

Dermatologists estimate that more than half the women in Mali are now using these creams to lighten their skin. These products are costly and often cause pain and blemishes.

So why are so many women in Mali using them? The answer is simple, according to one Malian woman singer: The creams make her white, and impart a certain charm.

But Malian physician Dr Ali Gindo finds bleached skin anything but charming.

"They are just burning themselves," he says. "It's painful and it's awful."

Dr Gindo says bleaching can cause skin cancer and the poorest people are the most at risk, because the cheaper the product, the more dangerous it is.

But he says it is not just poor women are bleaching their skin.

"We have also people who are well educated like lawyers, writers or professors, or people on the TV - and this is a real problem because if people who are leaders of opinion bleach themselves, you can imagine how deep the problem is."

Many of the women who use these products told me they do so because Malian men prefer women with bleached skin.

But male musician Al Hassan Soumali disagrees.

"I don't think Malian men like bleached women," he says. "It's better for Malian women to change their minds."

Source:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/718359.stm

Have they forgotten that she is in actual fact a BLACK WOMAN????

The blonde wig may be throwing us off, but Rihanna is on the cover of British Vogue’s November 2011 issue and she’s looking much lighter.

It could be the actual lighting on set, it could be that we’ve gotten used to her wearing a fire engine-red wig, or it could be that someone forget to tell Vogue’s retoucher that Rihanna is in fact black.

What do think? Chime in the comments and help us figure it out. 

Skin lightening in beauty magazines is an all too common practice. At this point it’s just a question of how severely a person will be lightened. ELLE did it to the most beautiful woman in the world most recently, they’ve transformed Gabourey Sidibe into a much lighter cover girl. L’Oreal whitewashed Beyonce, too.

There’s a thriving skin lightening beauty industry too and that one can be dangerous. In 2003, Dr. S. Allen Counter, a professor of neurophysiology and neurology at Harvard Medical School questioned why it was mostly women who were dealing with increased rates of mercury poisoning in places like Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and even in the Southwestern United States

"In every case, clinical questioning revealed that the women had used skin-whitening creams — many for years. In other words, these women had tried so desperately to whiten their skin color that they had poisoned their bodies by applying mercury-based “beauty creams.”

Ninety percent of the women entering border clinics in Arizona with mercury poisoning were Mexican-American, and they like their Mexican counterparts had been using skin-whitening creams such as “Crema de Belleza-Manning,” which is manufactured in Mexico. These skin-whitening creams contain mercurous chloride, which is readily absorbed through the skin. Saudi, African, and Asian women were also using these skin-bleaching chemicals in a tragic attempt to change their appearance to that of white women."

Hamza Kashghari

As many now know, a Saudi writer – Hamza Kashghari – is in deep trouble. He went on Twitter on or near the Prophet’s Birthday (which is not, incidentally, officially observed in Saudi Arabia, though it is a national holiday in many other Islamic countries) and made some unfortunate remarks. These remarks questioned the almighty. Under Shariah law, that is a major crime, apostasy (ridda or irtidad) one which can lead to execution if not promptly repented. Kashghari appears to have repented in that he took down his offensive Twits as soon as he was told how unwise they were and acknowledged that they were a mistake. But he also fled the country.

Too late. As Arab News reports, not only does he now have the highest religious authority in the Kingdom calling, literally, for his head, but apparently he offended King Abdullah as well [link goes to Arabic source].

Ifta wants Kashghari tried for apostasy
ARAB NEWS
RIYADH: In a new development in the case of Saudi writer Hamza Kashghari, who wrote a few tweets that were considered slanderous to Almighty Allah and His Prophet (peace be upon him), the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Religious Edicts (Ifta) issued a strongly worded statement in which it said mocking Allah or His Prophet is a downright sacrilegious act, kufr (infidelity) and apostasy that should no go undetected, local daily Al-Eqtisadiah reported Thursday.
“Whoever dares make a mockery of Allah, the Prophet or the Holy Book undermines the religion and displays enmity toward it. It is the duty of the rulers to try such a criminal,” the committee said, warning Muslims to stay away from such practices so as to avoid exasperating God.
The committee issued its statement after a meeting under its chairman Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, the Grand Mufti.
…

Various media pieces note that Kashghari fled to Southeast Asia. The Washington Post reports that he did, in fact, go to Malaysia, where an American human rights activist, David Keyes of Advancing Human Rightsconversed with him by phone. According to Keyes, Kashghari has been detained by Malaysian authorities pending extradition back to Saudi Arabia.
Keyes notes that this case has the makings of an international cause cause célèbre. International jurists are starting to line up to argue against his extradition. If he ends up being sent back, there will be loud and broad international calls for mercy.
Non-prosecution does not seem to be an available goal. Because Saudi Arabia closely follows Shariah law, it will be compelled to follow its rulings. The Quran [2:217] appears to consider apostasy to be a serious sin/crime, but that is to be punished in the afterlife. Numerous ahadith, however, call for the death of the apostate. The question is under debate in various parts of the Islamic world, but for the ulema in Saudi Arabia, the question is settled.

Saudi writer Hamza Kashgari faces charge of blasphemy
after tweets about Muhammad
David Keyes
Saudi journalist Hamza Kashgari was detained in Malaysia on Wednesday night and is likely to be extradited soon to Saudi Arabia, where he will be tried for blaspheming religion. Kashgari, 23, had fled the kingdom Monday after he received thousands of death threats. His crime? He posted on Twitter a series of mock conversations between himself and the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
… The tweets came to light last week around a celebration of Muhammad’s birthday, and Kashgari’s ordeal began. Hours before he was detained, Kashgari spoke to me by phone from the house in which he was hiding. “I was with sitting with my friends and one of them checked Twitter on his mobile phone,” he said. “Suddenly there were thousands of tweets of people calling to kill me because they said I’m against religion.”
…

Saudi Arabia is not exactly a theocracy: the religious leaders are not also the secular leaders. Islam is so important that the government does things likesend out a quarter million copies of the Quran. But Islam and Shariah law are so intertwined in the Kingdom that religious judgments hold the force of law; many things which would be sins are also crimes. International human rights generally see sin as a moral failing and crime as a subset of those failings. Not all sins, however, are crimes. Certain things, like the ability to change or to leave one’s religion are seen as fundamental human rights, guaranteed to all mankind. Shariah law does not agree.
The recent years have seen conflicts over this issue in several countries. In some, human rights advocates have been able to exert sufficient pressure to save the lives of the apostates; in others, they have failed. We’ll have to see how the case of Hamza Kashghari works out, starting with his extradition.

http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/rights-groups-urge-malaysia-not-deport-saudi-055705267.html

Saher to the Rescue?

‘Saher’ is the traffic monitoring system the Saudi government has implemented to make the country’s roads less hazardous. It combines cameras and radar to track speeding as well as the running of red lights. It is not very popular, but it does save lives and resources, this article from Saudi Gazette reports.

In South Africa radar and laser speed-monitoring has been in effect for decades.There are however grave questions about whether they truly serve to reduce accidents (there is conflicting research) or are just mechanisms through which government extracts extra money from drivers’ pockets.
In the Kingdom, though, they seem to be having an effect. The piece states that since the introduction of the Saher program in August, 2010, Jeddah alone has seen a 35% decrease in road deaths, a 36% reduction in accidents, and a 38% reduction in injuries. Those are significant numbers.
The program has also been used, the paper reports, to track stolen vehicles as well as ‘suspicious’ ones, i.e., those being used by potential criminals. Those uses, though not major, are just a bonus. Anything that makes driving in Saudi Arabia less hazardous should be applauded.

Saher, a savior on the Kingdom’s roads
Amal Al-Sibai | Saudi Gazette
Were you furious when you were cruising down Jeddah’s Madinah Highway, and were discreetly clicked by a Saher camera? And you raged with anger when you were fined SR300.
Well, don’t be furious because it may affect the ‘cool show’ you are trying to put on by cruising and screeching in your fancy cars, but in reality Saher is saving lives of many such drivers and innocent victims of such sordid show.
A recent study by the Jeddah Traffic Police revealed that the introduction of Saher camera has significantly contributed to the safety of drivers, passengers and pedestrians. The immediate and costly penalties incurred on traffic violators have improved the driving behavior of many motorists, for they fear being clicked by Saher and slapped with heavy fines.