to think that people who sneer at fake tans...

[CeQueLEnfer]

... are partly responsible for the rise in skin cancer deaths?

I read the story today of Vinnie Jones and his wife both suffering from skin cancer and it got me thinking. There is no doubt that having a tan makes you look younger, healthier and slimmer, so I can understand why people want to have one.

But when people do the responsible thing and fake it, other people can be very nasty. References to looking "orange", "tangoed" and "chavvy" and other put-downs put people off having a fake tan in favour of a proper tan, in spite of the risks.

I think people should be applauded for going the fake route if they want a tan, not sneered at. And those who do sneer should think about the damage they are causing.

AIBU? What do others think?

I think you're being unreasonable. People don't HAVE to be tan, if they choose to tan in the sun or tanning beds, they are risking their health. There's no one to blame for that but themselves.

I understand why people want to look tan. It's possible to have a realistic-looking faux tan. Many actresses and models fake tan, and they generally look fine. You don't have to apply it so heavily that you resemble an oompa loompa.

YABU. It is perfectly possible to use fake tan and it not be streaky and orange.

Nobody is forced to use tanning products anyway.

YABU. I wear a hat Even if you want a tan, use decent products, exfoliate and KNOW WHEN TO STOP and you won't look like this.

Well, YANBU in thinking that people shouldn't sneer at other people's choice of appearance, but YABU to blame them for skin cancer there is a third option, just have the skin you're born with.

I think people with fake tans deserved to be mocked, and people with real tans ought to look after their health a bit more carefully.

A tan doesn't make you look younger or healthier. Unless you still live in 1998.

YABU - that's got NOTHING to do with the rise in skin cancer rates.

Being tangoed looks ridiculous. People can't help but comment when seeing Caucasian human beings walking around bright orange.

Why on earth would that make an orange person try to get a natural tan?
How about going down a shade of satsuma? Or - and this is radical - not getting a tan, fake or otherwise?

People need to be personally responsible for their own health for Christ's sake.

I sneer at all tans, so its really not my fault if people fry themselves to a crisp, is it?

I too sneer at all tans. YABU - unless of course some law has been passed which says everyone should aspire to be on the colour scale somewhere between tango and mahogany.

Oh and you are being doubly U to blame the opinions of others for the stupidity of yet more others!

Yabu. It isn't about a choice between a real tan and a fake tan as you put it in the op. How about no tan and just look after your natural skin in the sun?!

YABU.
I'm pretty sure that most people couldn't give a flying fuck what others think about their fake tans, or you wouldn't have the cast of TOWIE etc. looking that way because they'd all be too worried about other people pointing and laughing.

Skin cancer isn't a single-factorial disease anyway. It's not just about sun exposure. Some sun exposure is a good thing, to get people's vitamin D levels up (vitamin D has anti-cancer properties, by the way).

"There is no doubt that having a tan makes you look younger, healthier and slimmer..."

Yes, there is plenty of doubt. What a stupid thing to say.

Tanned skin is damaged skin. It never looks healthy.

like this, you mean OP?

This has to be one of the most bizarre OPs I have ever read!

OMG thumbwitch, thats just plain nasty, hoikes judgey pants.

YABU - fake tans look grim (& I am not that keen on real tans).

Plus, you are assuming that people who like a tan are such easily led thickos, they don't have mental capacity to take responsibility for their own choices in the face of public opinion. Therefore, intelligent people must humour them by pretending looking like a tangerine twat looks great.

You are actually insulting people with tans, you know.

YABU.

Because you omit the obvious possibility that some people dislike the look of tanned skin however the change in colour occurs. It's a matter of fashion and one does not have to like it, whether it is achieved by skin dye or sun exposure.

False oppositions often result in poor argument.

I don't like tans, fake or otherwise. They do not make you look younger and healthier in my opinion.

I too mock all excessive tans, fake or otherwise. I don't like to discriminate.

How people individually choose to look is their own business but when the fashion industry tells us that our skin colour is bad (whatever that colour might be) then we really need to look at that message and decide if it is harmful.

Fake tans and the act of intentional UV tanning are both ways the industry pushes people to change their 'undesirable' skin colour, both are part of the same message.

I like my very pale skin, I also like getting a bit of colour on my arms and lower legs in the summer.

I don't understand why people aspire to be orange or tanned.

There may well be cancers caused by the chemicals in spray tan.

But I don't sneer.

Erm..the people responsible for the rise of skin cancer are the idiots who don't think they need to look after their skin. It's called personal responsibility.

Am I to blame for someone's cervical cancer because I am late for my smear test?

Fake tans do not make you look slimmer at all, and yes, if a person overdoes it, they can look orange.

Red carpet A listers all tend to be very pale these days, maybe it's just the Z listers who go for tanned look.

So if I, as a feminist, state that women should sleep with whomever they want, then I am responsible if one of them, not taking sufficient precautions, gets the clap?

Bollocks to that.

People are responsible for their own lives.