Pale Skin as a Beauty Standard for Vietnamese Women
“Nhất dáng, nhì da” is one of well-known proverbs used for evaluating the beauty of Vietnamese girls and women. Literally, the proverb means that the skinny body form is the most important and the pale skin is the second most important when Vietnamese people consider whether a girl or woman is pretty or not. Therefore, in my own experience and observation, majority of Vietnamese girls and women spend much of their time and money taking care of their skin to be whitening. In addition, those girls and women who are tanned are more likely to feel less confident in social interaction and activity. In contrast to girls and women, there is none of proverb describing the beauty standard for Vietnamese boys and men. For this paper, I would like to focus on analyzing the skin beauty of Vietnamese girls and women as gender object.
Unlike in the United States and some other parts of the world where the issue of skin relates to discrimination, this issue reflects the social status in Vietnam. Vietnamese girls and women with pale skin are thought to be from high-class, successful and be health-conscious in addition to being beautiful. Whereas, those with tanned skin are viewed as not being pretty, being from a low-class family and being health-unconscious. The tanned skin can even make the girls feel less confident in meeting with their friends because they are afraid of their friends’ judgement. This perception of skin to girls does not apply to boys. In contrast, a boy with tanned skin is good-looking, strong, experienced, and a bit sexy. However, a pale boy is considered to be weak and gay. Due to the fact that many people judge the girls and women through their skin, they spend a lot of time and money taking care of their skin as pale as possible. There are two common ways that Vietnamese girls and women usually do to protect their skin from being tanned. One of them is that they use cosmetics, specifically whitening cream. For those who cannot afford the high-quality cosmetics, they buy the cheaper ones which have side effects on their skin, such as allergy and itch. Cosmetics are preferable and widely used by majority of Vietnamese girls and women. This, coupled with their increasing income, makes them more willing to spend money on cosmetics. According to Brand Vietnam’s research, it shows that the expenditure on cosmetics has a correlation with the income of the women. This research also points out that those whose income is at least five million Dong per month (approximately 250 US dollars) will spend 10% of monthly income on cosmetics. Since the demands on skin care products are high in Vietnam, many oversea beauty care company introduce their products, such as The Face Shop chain from South Korea. Interestingly, Korean music and movies which highly influence in Vietnam show many actors actress with a nicely pale skin which many Vietnamese girls and women desire. In addition to using skin care products, many take care of their pale skin by avoiding going outside when the sunlight is intense, such as during the time between 10am till 4pm. This way of protecting their skin from being tanned clearly limits their activity. For instance, they do not want to go to the beach around that time because the sunlight can make them tanned. In my own observation, when they stay at home during that time, they consume more energy. Such as, they watch movies or television or use the air-conditioner when it is hot. Furthermore, in the hot weather, they cover from head to toe when driving the motorbikes by wearing masks and sweater or cardigan which can make them even feel hotter. Vietnam is a tropical country but the weather differs between the South where I am from and has two seasons: sunny and rainy, and the North where has four distinct seasons. Therefore, those who reside in North are more likely to be pale no matter which gender you belong to. Whereas, the Southern people have more chance of being tanned. Thus, Southerners think that the Northerners have more privilege to have pale skin.
In conclusion, although the issue of skin is not about discrimination, but social status, Vietnamese girls and women are judged by the other people. Those with tanned skin have to
spend a lot of time and money to make their skin pale, otherwise they do not feel confident in themselves. In contrast, tanned boys and men are viewed as strong and sexy.
