Dark skin in the Philippines

    

    Skin color is a touchy subject among Filipinos. Those who were born with light skin are grateful that they were, and those born without it wish they had. However, what most people don't realize is that dark 'kayumanggi' skin is becoming more accepted in the entertainment industry and is considered beautiful, more now than ever before.

    This Filipina woman from New York is married to an American and has a fair skinned child, and she wrote this article from Newsweek because she is wondering whether she should sign him up with a modeling agency. Her resistance to colonial ideals is admirable, but if we're talking about real life, it's not smart if she doesn't sign her son up, because if her son doesn't get the job, another light-skinned Filipino boy or girl will, so why not take advantage of it? I mean seriously, just be realistic.

     But she's not being realistic also in saying that light skin is preferred for Filipino men in fashion, because just look at the latest Bench and other modeling pictures and billboards lately, like Dingdong Dantes' latest Bench billboards, and many other billboards in Metro Manila. For men, having dark skin is actually considered sexy now and more required in the entertainment industry in the Philippines for models.

    For women it's also changing, as shown by the latest picture from Preview Magazine with Ruffa Gutierrez, Gretchen Barreto, Claudine, and Judy Ann Santos on the cover.

    I don't think people should be so quick to judge unless they've looked at the latest photos, dark kayumanggi skin is in fact becoming more accepted in the Philippines, and that is a positive thing.
 

    I don't like when Filipinos use the word 'Filipino' as if it were a race to refer to only those of brown-skinned Malay descent, as not all Filipinos have brown skin and wide noses, and not all Filipinos were born economically disadvantaged.