As to the cultural preference for fair skin, it is somewhat understandable since fair skin is usually equated with higher economic status in many parts of the world, due to the whole “working in the fields” thing. But as you note, the combination of recent European world hegemony and racist theory have exacerbated the situation.

Coincidentally, women naturally are fairer than men – even within the same ethnic groupings.

if it were a clear postcolonial issue, it would be much better, but the fact that there seems to be something deeper within many cultures that idealizes whiteness makes it more complex.

on top of that, the fact that we can commoditize it seems even more strange. while white people can say it’s all the same thing, it strikes me that skin color is not usually where it stops, as Epeuthetebetes mentions, it is also hair color, eye features, nose features, and even lip features that people of color are idealizing. i’ve have yet to hear white people trying to get more kinks in their hair or wanting to get their noses flattened.

Early in our marriage, she noted that she was offended that Gif peanut butter had an ad that said “Moms love Gif…” and she said that advertisers had a responsibility to be equal and unbiased in their advertising. I responded that 95% of the people that buy Gif are moms, so they are simply marketing to their buyers.

The whole “we’re not racist, they WANT it!” argument is similar.

It’s circular, it’s self-perpetuating and it’s never going to go away until someone puts a stick in the spokes and says “Whoah, time to rethink some assumptions here.”.