Pale Women Are Beautiful Too: Stop Saying We Need a Tan
I am not pasty, sickly, or a vampire. I am embracing my natural skin-tone
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I have always been pale and was very insecure about it.
When I was 6-years-old, the kids in my class started calling me “ghosty” and a vampire. Their words really hurt me and I would cry to my mother when I came home from school.
I wondered where they learned their dislike for pale skin at such a young age? Was it from the media that mocks paleness or their parents? Either way, those little kids were misguided and I never retaliated because I believed I was ugly.
My whole life, people have been telling me to “get a tan” or asking me if I’m sick.
I have been judged by the color of my skin but not in the terrible, oppressive way that People of Color have been. I want to make it clear that this article is not a comparison to their struggle because my struggle will never compare.
The tanned “California girl” look is revered in our society. Personally, I think some people overdo the tanning and offensively tread the line of impersonating People of Color.
I have tanned and bronzed myself, only to feel weird in my own skin. This is because I was doing it for other people and not for myself.
I didn’t look like myself when I was tanned. I received many compliments when I was “bronzed up”, but that didn’t mean anything to me if I didn’t feel good in my own skin.
By the time my nineteenth birthday rolled around, I had black hair and was embracing my pale skin.
On the night of my “legal age” celebrations, a handsome young man walked up to me and gave me a rose. He said: “You remind me of Snow White”. Then he walked away without waiting for an answer from me.
This was a stark contrast to the people who called me a vampire and smiled at me, waiting for a reaction.
That was the first and last time someone ever said something nice about my “paleness” and I never forgot it. Thank you, mystery dude.
I let my natural beauty shine through and someone noticed.
