At first glance, the skin-whitening creams themselves are seemingly no different than any other beauty product. After all, what is the difference between Indian

At first glance, the skin-whitening creams themselves are seemingly no different than any other beauty product. After all, what is the difference between Indians wanting lighter skin and white Americans wanting more tanned skin? The problem is that the skin color issues in India go much deeper. It is a form of racism that is overt and deeply held throughout their society. The level that skin color is focused on in India would shock the average westerner. From very young age, dark kids (specifically girls) are made fun of for their dark skin color but told of their beauty if they have light skin. It's rare in the arranged marriage process that a man marries a girl of darker skin. (Besides affirmative action programs) Nothing in the US is near as race focused as what I've seen and heard from Indians. Not that we don't have our own widely held discrimination... maybe the most similar concept in the west is height (girls don't marry shorter guys, from young ages short guys are made fun of while tall are admired, big income boost for extra height, leaders tend to be tall, etc).