Why do white women hate their fair skin?

[epari]

Okay so I'm a white woman myself. Ever since I was in school, which was 99 percent white, all I got was

"Milk bottle legs"

"Put some fake tan on"

"Get on the sunned"

I thought it was so confusing considering these girls were the same skin tone as me underneath their makeup etc.

I just never got it, and when I would ask the question all I got was "life's better with a tan, everyone looks better bla bla bla"

But if I'm completely honest, fake tan looks fake, it's so obvious however much you convince yourself it's not, and ironically since I married into a Middle Eastern family, my husband constantly praises how he loves my fair skin and told me fake tan looks disgusting bla bla bla.

So I actually want to know, why is it the majority of British girls and American etc hate their own skin tone?

Many fashions for woman are more about using your body/appearance to show subtle signs of wealth.

It used to be fashionable for woman to look pale as that was a sign you were kept by a man (husband or father) who could afford for you not to work outside. A poorer woman could put on an expensive dress, but not fake the paleness.

Now it takes money to be able to afford foreign travel and to not be stuck inside at work over the British summer months to get a natural tan.

Nails are similar, natural long nails used to suggest you had someone else to do the cleaning and domestic labour.

Anything that might be a subtle sign of wealth, that cant just be put on (like clothes and jewels, but takes a lifestyle to achieve), is usually going to be influencing fashion at some point.

I'm pale but covered in freckles so i'd look bloody stupid with a tan.

I'm pale and freckled i hate it my skin is practically translucent!
I wear fake tan every day just a little to give me a healthy glow
I always think if I didn't have freckles I would be happy with my pale skin but we shall never know
I don't go ott with the tan just a little

I still find it quite strange that so many people always associate travel with a tan. There are many places I've been lucky enough to visit and others on my wish list that don't involve lying by a pool.

Most people that do want that can afford an EasyJet to Spain at the very least. It's not exactly an elite rare thing.

I don't get it either. I have some asian blood and I go quite dark if I go in the sun (I rarely do these days). My skin is olive toned naturally. I prefer it to be as pale as possible. I have no desire for it to be tanned.

Is it a case of the grass is always greener?

I'm definitely a milk bottle - and I love it! Sure it's a pain when the sun shines and I turn into Larry the Lobster, but otherwise it suits me. I think I'd look bizarre with a tan.

Probably helps that I was a goth at school though. Pale skin was the style for us!

I'm Scottish - I have skin so pale it's practically blue, a well known shade where I come from!

I don't mind it , but I do prefer it in the summer when I warm up to a respectable white- I don't look as though I'm about to collapse with an iron deficiency then.

Seriously isn't just a case of wanting what you don't have?

I'm so pale I've now got half a red face and one red arm just from sitting by the window on the bloody bus when it was stuck for ages in a traffic jam.

I never noticed until MrBC came home and started calling me Two Face... ffs...

That'll teach me for going out when the sun was out instead of hiding indoors like the pale blue hermit I am.