I am very fair and an old man in a noodle restaurant waxed poetic about me for a good 5 minutes at least.

The whole topic was something me and my local friends discussed alot.

I would find it hard to believe people living in the States would take to it so much though. I never knew anyone hurt by these products though.

Just some info.

Sun protection is another issue. Bleaching creams actually do something permanent to the skin, apparently (there was that long article from a Desi magazine that was brought up on Feminist the last time you guys discussed this issue, that explained the pharmacology of it). SPFs just protect skin from UV rays. And that is something people of all skin tones should do to avoid skin cancer.

Another disturbing thing here in Egypt is that Egyptians often use the word “pretty” to mean “white skinned.” e.g., I was wondering out loud how Egyptians can ask me where stuff is when I so obviously don’t look Egyptian becuase i am so caucasian looking and the Egyptian woman I was with (who was pretty light skinned) said “Oh, but we have lots of pretty people in Egypt!” and she said this without thinking twice. Pretty = white, and dark people are often said to be ugly.

Again, I hesitate to discuss this issue because it sounds weird coming from an extremely pale white non-Egyptian, but it is really troubling.