Background and objectives This research explores the trend of skin-lightening in Senegal from an experiential and health systems perspective. Skin-lightening - a practice mostly done by women consisting of topically applying lightening products - is a widespread trend in Senegal, a country still grappling with a colonial legacy of racism and colorism. Although there is growing research on the health impacts of this practice, the impact of widespread skin-lightening practices from a health system perspective remains scarcely explored. Approach The main research question is, “what are the health system impacts of skin-lightening trends among Senegalese women?” Three sub-questions were addressed: 1. What are the key health and health care implications of the use of skin-lightening products as identified in the literature? 2. How do these health and health care implications influence the skin-lightening practices of Senegalese women? 3. How can this knowledge inform health care decision-makers in Senegal? A multi-phased approach consisted first of a scoping review on the topic and second, in-depth interviews with 13 Senegalese women to gather insights on skin-lightening practices and their health system implications. Results The findings from the two methodological approaches addressed three main themes: motivations, practices, and effects. Negative and positive motivations for the practice of skin-lightening emerged with some overlapping and nuanced factors which highlighted the complex reality of skin-lightening trends. Skin-lightening practices included two influences: community practices and personal practices of women interviewed. It appears that skin-lightening in sub-Saharan Africa can often be associated with age as it seems to greatly affect younger women. Finally, insights on the effects of skin-lightening highlighted many dermatological problems. Other health concerns were also mentioned including some mental health problems which emphasized dissatisfaction with the practice for long-term users of skin-lightening products. Conclusion The knowledge generated from this research highlights existing misconceptions regarding skin-lightening trends in the community. It can support a more informed health system response to the utilization of skin-lightening products and help develop evidence-informed guidance for all relevant actors in this practice

Magister Artium - MA / Advertising and media imagery shape attitudes about race and ethnicity, which means that advertising media play an influential part in constructing the frame through which individuals perceive racial differences and negotiate norms and ideas around ethnicity. Physical signifiers such as skin colour and hair are not only considered to be the most important facets in global beauty culture but are also seen as two principal phenotypes for racial classification (Mercer, 1987). These two attributes are also deeply situated within Black Feminist Discourse Studies and are therefore, culturally and socially significant (Erasmus, 1997; Hunter, 2002). As Dyer (1997:539) states: “every decision about a person’s worth is based on what they look like, what they speak, and where they came from.” Hence, body and hair politics point to power struggles which stem from historical discourses. As part of a capitalist environment, magazines such as True Love are also perceived as cultural commodities which occupy an important role in creating, transmitting and disseminating cultural meaning and in this regard, advertised texts are rich in cultural meaning and embedded with hidden ideologies. As a vehicle of social communication, True Love professes to be a mouth piece and a representative of the liberal, modern Black South African woman and portrays itself as a guiding companion and expert on womanhood (Laden, 2001). In this capacity, the magazine also creates and transmits messages about ideal feminine beauty. Following a multi-semiotic approach, by incorporating multimodality and social semiotics as proposed by Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006), Van Leeuwen (2006; 2008) and O’Halloran (2011, in press), beauty advertisements are scrutinized in terms of the different semiotic principles which afford for different meaning-making opportunities and interpretation. Critical discourse analysis suggested by Fairclough (1992) and Wodak (1995) renders a supportive function to this social semiotic multimodal framework, in order to critically explore how the notion of ideal feminine beauty is constructed in True Love and to establish how inter-semiotic relations are created, reinforced and function to sustain hegemonic ideas in present-day beauty advertisements. The findings suggest that socio-cultural meanings attached to phenotypic traits such as skin and hair remain significant in contemporary society as a result of the repeated themes in media, especially advertising. Moreover, the consequential emphasis on beauty culture and the omnipresence of idealised imagery in mainstream media are responsible for composing and sustaining the belief that Whiteness is the only valid prototype of beauty. The whitewashing of Black models show how idealised preferences in media prevail. Advertisements display how the message of White superiority and supremacy is constructed visually and verbally, ultimately producing an overall ‘visual language of Whiteness’ which leads to devaluing and erasing forms of Black identity, while enhancing forms of White representation. This paper exposes existing dominant cultural narratives in the True Love advertising discourse that simultaneously produce and inflate an idealised Eurocentric version of feminine beauty. The hegemonic standard of feminine beauty dictates that women conform to a specific ideal which involves engaging in practices such as skin lightening, hair straightening or wearing weaves. This dissertation concludes that digital alteration techniques and photographic manipulation are predominantly used in mass media to portray advertised images resembling ideals closer, which means that it effectively enhances rather than detracts from the norm. Thus, White women look Whiter, thinner, richer and blonder. Caucasian models in advertised texts all have light hair and are seldom portrayed with dark hair. Light-skinned Black women portray Western mediated standards through physical appearances which seem to emulate those of their White counterparts, which Hunter (2011) describes as the ‘illusion of inclusion’. Although this marketing strategy operates under the premise of fostering ethnic diversity and to include women from all racial backgrounds, it reinforces the belief that Anglo-Saxon beauty norms are the only valorised signifiers of idealised beauty. Essentially, having a light skin colour is associated with sophistication, social mobility, success and the resulting financial and economic well-being. Based on this, the magazine appears to promote and celebrate feminine beauty based on a Eurocentric ideal.

This study explores how changes in skin tone surveillance predicted by: (a) skin tone satisfaction, (b) preference for lighter skin tone, (c) internalization of cultural standards of attractiveness, and (d) use of skin-lightening products among Asian Indian women. Exploratory analyses with demographic variables such as age, education, and marital status were also examined. Cross-cultural issues in conducting research with Asian Indian women using U.S. American standardized measures of skin tone related variables were explored. Participants were 169 Asian Indian women over the age of 18 from New Delhi, Mumbai, and other major cities in India and proficiency in English. The data were collected via an Internet-based survey with measures including the Skin Tone Specific Surveillance Subscale of the Objectification Body Consciousness Scale (OBCS, McKinley & Hyde, 1996); the Skin Color Satisfaction Scale (SCSS, Bond & Cash, 1992); Internalization subscale from the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire -3 (SATAQ-3, Thompson, van den Berg, Gurada, & Heinberg, 2004), and a questionnaire about skin tone preference and use of skin lightening products (Hamed, Tayyem, Nimer, & Alkhatib, 2010). Results of the study indicate that an increase in skin tone surveillance was significantly predicted by decreasing skin tone satisfaction, increased preference for lighter skin tone, internalization of cultural standards of beauty and increased use of skin lightening products among the participants. Implications of this study include illuminating the role of skin tone related attitudes and beliefs among Asian Indian women in the persistence of objectification experiences among Asian Indian women to advance feminist scholarship on objectification.

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