Young Red Haired Girl With A Pale Skin On The Sandy Shore

Many cultures have historically favored lighter skin for women. In Europe, before the Industrial Revolution, pale skin was preferred and was a sign of high social status. The poorer classes worked outdoors and got darker skin from exposure to the sun, while the upper class stayed indoors and had light skin. Light skin became associated with wealth and high position. Women even went as far as to put lead-based cosmetics on their skin to artificially whiten their skin tone. However, when not strictly monitored these cosmetics caused lead poisoning. Achieving a light-skinned appearance was brought about in many other ways, including the use of arsenic to whiten skin, and powders. Other methods included wearing full-length clothes when outdoors, including gloves and parasols.
Colonization and slavery by European countries inspired racism, led by the belief that people with dark skin were uncivilized and were to be considered inferior and subordinate to the lighter skinned invaders, which has continued to be perpetuated in modern times. During slavery, lighter-skinned African Americans were perceived as more intelligent, cooperative, and beautiful. They were more likely to work as house slaves and were also given preferential treatment by plantation owners and the overseers. For example, they had a chance to get an education while darker African Americans worked in the fields and did not get an education. The preference for fair-skin remained prominent until the end of the Victorian era, but the racial stereotypes about worth and beauty were still persistent in the last half of the 20th century and continue in present day. African American journalist Jill Nelson wrote that "to be both prettiest and black was impossible" and elaborated:
We learn as girls that in ways both subtle and obvious, personal and political, our value as females is largely determined by how we look... ... For black women, the domination of physical aspects of beauty in women's definition and value render us invisible, partially erased, or obsessed, sometimes for a lifetime, since most of us lack the major talismans of Western beauty. Black women find themselves involved in a lifelong effort to self-define in a culture that provides them no positive reflection.
Most actors and actresses have light skin, and there continues to be a preference for fair or lighter skin in some countries, including Latin American countries where whites are a minority. In Mexico, light skin is associated with power, as well as attractiveness. A dark-skinned person is more likely to be discriminated against in Brazil. Many actors and actresses in Latin America and Hispanic United States have European features—blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. A light-skinned person is considered to be more privileged and have a higher social status; a person with light skin is considered more beautiful and it means that the person has more wealth. Skin color is such an obsession in some countries that specific words describe distinct skin tones from "jincha", Puerto Rican slang for "glass of milk" to "morena", literally "brown".