Understanding

Society, Culture
and Politics
(Milestone)
Should African Nation Ban
Skin Whitening Creams
and Similar Products in
their Countries?

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Introduction

“Dark Out, White In”, “Be fair, be handsome/beautiful” are some of the lines
that we can watch through the television and on social media promoting several skin
whitening cream and whitening products such as lotions, soap, scrubs,tablets and
injectables. Thus showing that nations with darker natural colored skin associating
white skin to a wealthier status and attractive. Though these practices of having a
lighter skin color through using whitening products has rooted from the ancient. It is
still a big issue until the present time that using these whitening products is attached
to the stigma about not loving one’s color, being fair is being beautiful, being
subjective to what is beautiful, basically colorism and racism and the most recent
issue of banning it in the African Nation is way too alarming.
Banning the whitening creams and products in African Nations is due to the
concern of their government on the increasing rate of serious health and skin
problems caused by using such products. Due to the chemicals present in the
products like the hydroquinone and mercury which are poisonous elements once
being taken by a person in the long run. Thus according to the World Health
Organization up to 70% of the people of Africa use these cosmetic products means
that a lot of people in Africa are at risk of having these skin and health diseases if the
usage of the Whitening products are not being in control. Having the issue of the
banning of the whitening products in African Nation opens a different reaction of the
netizen about it some agrees and some do not. Thus this paper would give the pros
and cons of having these whitening creams and products be banned in African
countries.

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 Definition of Terms
1. Ban
❏ An official or legal prohibition
2. Colorism
❏ Discrimination based on skin color
❏ Disadvantages dark-skinned people while privileging those with
lighter skin
3. Stigma
❏ a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality,
or person.
❏ A mark of shame
4. Mentality
❏ the characteristic attitude of mind or way of thinking of a person or
group.
❏ Mode or way of thought: Outlook

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 List of Advantages of Banning the Whitening Products
1. It would prevent people in African Nations from the bad effects of the certain
Chemical content that the whitening products have.
2. This would prevent the pregnant woman to cause defects to the baby while its within
her womb
3. It would promote a self-loving environment for people of african Countries rather
than the stigma and Mentality that they have right now.
4. It would prevent people from becoming addicted to using these whitening creams
and products.
5. Stops the stigma that light skin colored women are more beautiful than those with
darker skin color.
6. People will be more comfortable under their own skin color.
7. Their skin color will be respected and this would enrich their culture
8. There would be no mentality of “White Superior, Dark Inferior” in the community.
9. They will build their self esteem at their natural color
10. Lessen Unauthorized seller of different whitening products

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 List of Disadvantages of Banning the Whitening Products
1. It hinders people from having the right to choose what they want to enhance or do
with their own body.
2. It hinders them from having the freedom to get the specific privilege that the lighter
shin colored person has.
3. Force the people to be deviant of their cultural norms
4. Banning the Whitening products would stop the useful effects of these to the Africans
which they tend to have for a long run
5. Lessen the person’s Social capital (self-esteem,perceptions of beauty,economic
opportunities)
6. Whitening products are actually a cure for hyperpigmentation(dark patches on the
skin) banning this would also ban the cure for those african people who have these
skin diseases.
7. Once they stop using these products their skin will darken gradually in a few days.
8. The discrimation or racism against their skin color continues
9. There will be no improvements in terms of self esteem
10. Businesses will be shut down: Decrease/Recession in Skin whitening products
industry

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7
 ADVANTAGES

Content of advantages

It would Prevent People in African Nations from The Bad Effects of the
Certain Chemical Content that The Whitening Products have
According to the studies too much exposure to chemical content of the Whitening
Products such as Mercury and Hydroquinone which suppressing the melanin produced by
our cells which is the melanocytes is way too dangerous in health if intaken in a large
proportion. And the bad effects of these are mercury poisoning, dermatitis, exogenous
ochronosis(black pigmentation), steroid acne and nephrotic syndrome. Banning would be a
prevention to these serious problems in the skin and health of a specific persona.

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This would Prevent The Pregnant Woman to Cause Defects to The Baby
While its Within her Womb
Doctors highly recommend pregnant woman to avoid using products with strong
chemicals on it during pregnancy. An article from African Countries talks about how the
pregnant women in their place continuously using skin whitening products during their
pregnancy affects the baby inside their womb. Thus causing the baby to have defects, not
well-developed limbs during the delivery. And cleared that FDA doesn’t approve any
whitening oral and injectable product to make the baby inside a woman’s womb to have a
lighter skin color.

It would Promote a Self-Loving Environment for People of African

Countries rather than The Stigma and Mentality that They are Having
Right Now
Banning the whitening products would promote a self-loving environment in the
African Country men since it would exclude the usage of the Whitening creams and products
thus making them realize that having a darker shade of skin color is beautiful as white does
and avoid colorism against one another. As a result of having a long time discouraging the
people in the African Nation about using such products turns out to be unsuccessful, this
shows that banning the products is not a solution either to this problem.
Changing the current stigma that a dark skin colored people are less than of those who do
have white and the current mentality that they( people with darker shade skin) needs to have
lighter complexion to have the same rights and privilege that the whites have. Is the solution
that the country men of African Nation is considering or wishing to have.

It Would Prevent People from Becoming Addicted to These Whitening

Creams and Products
Without even knowing that you are addicted to something it does harm you already.
When a person feels like it is not enough or you want more and better results, they tend to
use it more often and continuously that's where addiction to it comes from. Addiction is a
psychological and physical inability to stop consuming or doing something. The person
would even spend a large amount of money just to buy such products for them to sustain the
effects of the products to them.

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Stops the Stigma that Light Skin Colored People are More Beautiful than
Those with Darker Skin Color
Most of the People in African Nation believe that lighter skin color is more beautiful
that those with darker skin color thus making them use whitening products. This stigma is
being pass through generation that it makes them to countinuously using these products in
order to have an edge towards their other country men. Banning these products the
government thinks that this would also stop the long term stigma of their fellow men. Making
all the people in there be encouraged to stop using harmful products.

Africans will be More Comfortable Under Their Own Skin Color

Banning the whitening products in African countries shows us that anyone can be
more comfortable on their own skin color no matter how dark or skin are as long as it is your
natural skin color. Thus the study shows that they are just push through using the whitenig
products since the society circumstances are making them do so.

Their Skin Color will be Respected and This would Enrich Their Culture
Another advantage of banning the whitening products in African Nation is that this
would promote sustaining their natural skin color. Thus having dark skin in their country
makes them unique among the other countries. People would eventually respect their skin
color though it's a long process, showing people what their natural color is and being united
to have it is the key as well to making a mark in the wrong mentality and stigma of the rest of
the people. This would also promote the enrichment of their culture since the color would be
sustained and will be able to promote most of their culture that is visible which is their skin
color.

There Would be No Mentality of “White Superior, Dark Inferior” in The

Community
People tend to use the whitening products since we have these mentality that Whites
are more superior and privileged than those with dark complexion. Thus saying that having
lighter skin color would make them confident and more successful and downgrading those

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with darker shades of skin color. Banning these whitening products would promote in
removinng the mentality over inferiority according to complexion. And also promotes
equality on a person when it comes to the color of their skin. This gives rise to the petition for
banning skin whitening creams and products since 2018.

They will Build Their Self-esteem at Their Natural Color

Another reason why the banning of whitening creams and products in African Nation
is to help their country men to build their self-esteem and self-worth having their natural
color. And a change towards one small unit such as these countries would eventually be a
bigger help to the bigger picture which is the whole world on understanding equality over
race and Skin Complexion.

Lessen Unauthorized Seller of Different Whitening Products

Knowing that the industry of Whitening products in African Nations is booming
through years.Most of the whitening products with the hazardous chemicals are imported
products that include soaps, lotions, cream and body serums. These said products
sometimes don't have a prescription, if the information is confusing with misleading
ingredients. The inspectors in Rwanda, a country in East Africa, have strict inspections of
these products resulting in a lot of illegal whitening products that are confiscated and lessen
those illegal or unauthorized sellers.

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DISADVANTAGES

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Content of Disadvantages

It hinders people from having the right to choose what they want to
enhance or do with their own body
` Improving oneself is a choice that is made by any one over his own body by giving a
consent whenever there are some procedures needed and on simply applying products that
could enhance their appearance. Banning of the usage of the whitening products hinders
them from having these freedom to do enhancements for their body specifically on skin
complexion,

It hinders them from having the freedom to get the specific privilege
that the lighter skin colored person has
Having lighter or whiter skin has many privileges and benefits such as having an
edge towards job employment especially in the show business industry, and wrong
prespective that lighter skin color is more beautiful and in having social capital since having
lighter skin today means your more qualified in industry involving social interactions. Most
of the dark colored people bleach their skin to get these privileges not usually because they
are not aopreciativei of what they have. Banning the whitening products is also banning
their freedom to atleast achieve tha same privilege.

Force the people to be deviant of their cultural norms

Skin bleaching is already in the cultural norms of the Africans since even before they
said that their ancestors tend to do so. Banning these products would make their people
deviant to what is the cultural norm until the present time.

Banning the Whitening Products would Stop The Useful Effects of These to
The Africans which They Tend to Have for a Long Run Already
As it was practiced for a long run already and they can say that it's quite normal in
their country if a person bleaches their skin. In these years they are experiencing a lot of

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good benefits thus banning would prevent them from having those. Even the banning is not
so much in favor with the people of the African Nations.

Lessen the person’s Social capital (self-esteem,perceptions of

beauty,economic opportunities)
Having dark skin has less opportunities than whiter and lighter skin because in year
80’s if you’re black or dark skin you’re inferior, that’s why your self-confidence fading away
because of their discrimination and racism. So banning the whitening products would
decrease the social capital of the dark skin colored African men since the Society thay used
to have is privileged the whites for the social capital that they have.

Whitening products are actually a cure for hyperpigmentation(dark

patches on the skin) banning this would also ban the cure for those
african people who have these skin diseases
Originally skin whitening products are used to cure those people with
hyperpigmentation in their skin, to lighten uo these dark spots on the skin. And other skin
problems including the exesive darkening of a specific area of the skin.

Once they stop using these products their skin will darken gradually in a
few days
When our body is used to using whitening products our skin changes in its
complexion and when once stop it will return to its natural color or worsen the darkening of
the skin complexion.

The Discrimationss or Racism Against Their Skin Color Continues

Banning the usage of the skin whitening products would make the color of their skin
be darker. As for the present time, banning the usage of such products would result to the
continues of the discrimination and Racism as well for they are not into the standards that
the society has made.

There will be No Improvements in Terms of Self-Esteem

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 As for the present time wherein they tend to have the mentality that having a lighter
skin would build their self-esteem more. This means that when they are being banned from
using these whitening products they would not feel that they are confident and beautiful.

Businesses will be Shut Down: Decrease/Recession in Skin Whitening

Products Industry
We know that the industry of Whitening Products in African nations is booming until
the present time. The banning of the Whitening Products made a recession to the skin
whitening industry. Since the people are being banned through law about using such
products a lot of businesses were experiencing a great loss because of the ban.

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Bibliography

References for the Terms:

Colorism -https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-colorism-2834952
Ban-https://www.google.com/search?
q=ban&oq=ban&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i59j0l3j69i60l3.3596j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Stigma-https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stigma
Mentality- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mentality

Advantages:
Harmful chemical content of the whitening products
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4788657/
Self-loving environment
https://theconversation.com/self-love-not-bans-will-bring-an-end-to-africas-bleaching-
syndrome-77985
Effects on pregnant women
https://www.ovuline.com/guide/10386/products-to-avoid-when-pregnant
https://www.theatlantavoice.com/articles/pregnant-women-in-ghana-are-taking-skin-
bleaching-pills-for-their-unborn-babies/
Addiction on Using Whitening Products:
https://www.thejakartapost.com/life/2018/08/10/skin-bleaching-in-africa-an-addiction-
with-risks.html
Stigma that White skin is more beautiful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbdfBReoinY

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Comfortable to their own skin color
https://mediabites.com.pk/2019/01/be-comfortable-under-your-own-skin-a-lesson-to-learn-
from-african-nation-who-has-banned-use-of-whitening-cream/
Enriching one's culture and respecting skin color
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/culturalanthropology/chapter/ethnicity-race/
Stops Inferiority and Superiority based on skin color and building self-esteen in natural
color
https://www.change.org/p/impose-ban-on-skin-whitening-creams-advertisement-since-
they-cause-inferiority-complex-in-youth
Lessen unauthorized seller of whitening products
https://chemicalwatch.com/73779/hazardous-substances-found-in-over-90-of-tested-
cosmetics-in-rwanda#overlay-strip

Disadvantages
Right to choose for enhancement over our own body
https://www.theopulenceskin.com/how-does-skin-whitening-products-help-you-gain-
confidence https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/april-2019-july-2019/paying-high-
price-skin-bleaching
Privilege of lighter skin colored person have that is being taken away from darker skin
colored person
https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/fall-2018/what-is-white-privilege-really
Forcing them to be deviant in the cultural norms
https://www.businessinsider.com/an-african-country-is-banning-skin-bleaching-
products-2017-8
Whitening products are useful
https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/302579/skin-bleaching-africa-factfile/
Skin bleaching as a Cure to skin diseases
https://www.healthline.com/health/skin-bleaching#benefits

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