A preference for paler skin is a pretty universal preference (modern tanning culture to the contrary). I know it's been a big deal in India, where "whitening" products with often dangerous ingredients are an issue. It pre-dates Western contact in many areas, though I can't imagine us palefaces have helped any. One theory I've read is that it implies social status in many cultures because working outside (manual labor, peasant status) darkens the skin.
I've just read The Orphan Master's Son, a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about North Korea. I'm a little dubious about the cultural appropriation, but the author has good things to say about looking forward to a time when North Koreans will have the opportunity to tell their own stories to the wider world. He seems to have done his research (and, actually, to have left out some of the more horrific things he heard of) and crafted a compelling work.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2013-07-09 01:44 pm (UTC)I've just read The Orphan Master's Son, a Pulitzer Prize winning novel about North Korea. I'm a little dubious about the cultural appropriation, but the author has good things to say about looking forward to a time when North Koreans will have the opportunity to tell their own stories to the wider world. He seems to have done his research (and, actually, to have left out some of the more horrific things he heard of) and crafted a compelling work.