She asked, why do most Filipinos prefer people who are white-of-skin? She is a 14-year-old Filipina just learning to grow as a visual artist and so her questions were all about the local inclination to “reverse-racism”. Koreans seem to be “in”. That, at least, is a bit of an improvement from the traditional conception of “Hollywood beautiful”. But even so, why don’t they like dark skin?
They were driving to and from the Mactan International Airport. Her aunt, his sister, was on the way to flying back to California. They were seeing for themselves exemplars of the current social fabric. Filipina girlfriends sending off their foreign boyfriends, tourists, etc. A lot of public kissing going on. The sight would have its effect.
And so the conversation inevitably harked back to the Philippine colonial past, landing inevitably to what was the local conception of “the beautiful”. How complex that question really is. The historical reasoning is relatively easy to grasp. Four hundred years under Spanish colonial rule and then decades under America has resulted in a particular construct of distributing wealth and power according to racial roots. It is not just a question of beauty but also of economics. It is not a historical accident that people in power here are usually also lighter-of-skin.
Those who intermingled sexually with the colonizers whether inside or outside marriage acquired a social position, a status, closer to the centers of power. The color of skin would have been their apparent marker. They eventually became better educated and developed faster economically than their peers who remained either by choice or accident at the social and geographic margins.
This is operational to this day. There would be a bit of Darwin in effect here. Light-of-skin would be a factor contributive to the organism’s survival. It would be a favored trait. This would be the reason it would be seen by many as “beautiful”.
There would be other factors germane to the issue as well: height, straightness of hair, lightness of build, as well as peculiar proportions of facial features. Add to this, the proficiency with the colonizer’s speech.
This condition prevails to this day in a particular way quite different from times past. The colonial culture is also subject to change. There has grown since the post-war years a disaffinity to overt racism. This transition has been rather quick considering that it has been only a bit over half a decade since the last world war. The emancipation of the blacks in America and later in South Africa are historical markers of the current universal urge away from the racism of the past. Strangely enough, many Filipinos are still overt racists. Racism is not entirely eradicated here. And there must be reasons for that. But whatever the reasons, the most striking indicator is the local preference for light skin. It is a phenomenon bannered with every skin whitening lotion advertisement.
The 14 year old is right of course to find this fact annoying. But her father, the writer, is not quite so sure of the true quality of his own feelings.
He explains that while the contemporary Filipino post-colonial is quite aware of this situation and identifies it as problematic, he or she is not herself immune from the effects of this.
New media has quite a lot to do with it. Perhaps the main reason for the current popularity of Koreans might be related to the popularity of Korean pop culture, especially, Korean telenovelas and so too anime in general.
It would be quite easy enough for the daughter to explain in words what would be for her the ideal of the Filipino post colonial face, for example. She might cite the indigenous shape of the nose and lips, a roundedness of face. She might cite the Malay ideal. But the true test would have to be something else. It would have to transcend the intrinsic limitations of words.
They had natural clay somewhere in the studio. And so the father challenged his daughter to make the most beautiful face she can make with the clay. He will do the same for himself and they can then compare each other’s works. In this way, they might see the true extent of their own biases born as it were from a common colonial past. Is there really a post-colonial present? The father gave fair warning.
It is easier to “lie” with words than with clay. The clay reveals a person’s true feelings and beliefs, but only to the same extent they reveal his or her most well-intentioned hypocrisies. It is a good problem for an artwork.
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