The Brilliance of Tanning (Or Lack Thereof)

Pale skin, throughout history, has been a sign of feminity, status and beauty.  It used to be that those who were rich enough, or high enough in their social strata, were able to afford the luxury of staying indoors. Those lower in class were the ones who worked outdoors, thus making the tan undesirable.

Even today, in most areas of the world save the West, pale skin continues to be a very desirable attribute. So why is pale skin looked down upon in western society?

Ever since Coco Chanel returned from a vacation on the French Riviera with bronzed skin, and ever since Vogue declared that the 1929 woman needed to be sunkissed to be attractive, tan skin has been "in." 

Now, if you've ever done any research on this topic, these facts have already been known to you (most likely.) One thing that I recently discovered, however, might even interest one educated on palocity.

Did you know that, as early as the thirties, doctors were aware of the dangers of the sun? In medical texts, there were already references to "sunlight cancer." This is something that surprised me. I had always assumed that people's tanning between the years of the 1930s until relatively recently was excusable on the basis of ignorance. Well, ignorance of the sort that stemmed from lack of scientific information. However, now I'm starting to think that another sort of ignorance was to blame: willful determination to "look pretty" despite the negative health effects.

This also makes me question why, in recent years, pale skin has become more popular (marginally) ; my reasoning being: the dangers of tanning were formerly known..so what's really changed, if not the increased knowledge of UV awareness?

My guess at an answer to that question is: tanning booths. 

Now, this is speculation, be aware. But tanning reached its peak, I'd say, in the 70s and 80s, due to the introduction of tanning salons. In response to the popularity of tanning, an increased popularity of shouting its negatives came along.  This is a consistent pattern in any society. When something gains a lot of ground, for a decent amount of time, an inevitable reactionary response occurs. This is especially noticeable in the fashion world. One good example is the Georgian period of fashion and its response- the Regency period. The Georgian period was all extravagance: hoop skirts, wigs, frills. The Regency period was after the classic look. Hoop skirts fell out of use, creating a drastically different silhouette, fabrics became much more matte, and wigs, too, became a thing of the past.

I'm not saying that the 90s saw a drastic drop in popularity of the tan. However, toward the end of the nineties, the fashion world saw an increase in pale skin. I believe this is due to the massive availability of bronzers and fake tanning products that far surpassed what had been offered in the past. As anti-tanners shouted louder than ever before, and tanning "supplements" became more effective, the popularity of a purely authentic tan waned more than it had in decades (though minimally.)

I consider the fashion media to have really, solidly existed since the 80s. It is when Americans really began to worship the aristocrats, or celebrities. The media tells us, though you may not realize its effects overtly, what is beautiful. We are conditioned into seeing fads presented by beautiful people. So we begin to equate beauty with these fads, Pavlov style. For 20 years, we saw tan beauties with beach-blonde hair. In the past decade, however, we've begun to see pale skin with dark hair. This combination isn't the most prevalent; it is presented about equally with the tan/blonde image. However, it is there.

As this image wheedles its way into our collective subconscious, pale skin slowly becomes less disgusting to the American public, thank God. However, "less disgusting" doesn't mean "more appealing."

So here I present some facts that might persuade you to actually think about what beauty means to you.

1) There are people out there who will bring up the issue of vitamin D. By being in the sun, our bodies begin to produce vitamin D. This is not an excuse to tan. Experts will tell you that only 15 minutes of unprotected sun exposure is necessary for this- which is not enough for a tan for most people. In addition to this, you can take a supplement of vitamin D, and be, perhaps, even healthier.

2) There is NO SUCH THING AS A HEALTHY TAN. A tan, in and of itself, is a sign of skin damage. Your skin darkens to indicate that it is damaged by the sun. You cannot have a tan without skin damage. Do not try to rationalize this. There is no way to do so.

3) If anybody tells you that pale skin is unattractive, realize that they have been influenced by the media. Also realize that most models in the fashion world have pale, porcelain skin. Don't let hurtful comments get to you. These people just haven't caught up with the edge of fashion yet. Feel awesome.

For all of you bronzed ladies out there, know that this isn't an attack on you. You are beautiful. I just wish to let the naturally fair know that they, too, are beautiful.  My desire is that women will stop sacrificing their health for surface beauty, when they can have that same level of beauty by leaving themselves be.