In this article about a new type of skin bleaching cream based on gene silencing technology, student/researcher Eman Ahmed-Muhsin (a Carleton University student who helped develop the cream) says “The market [for skin lightening cream] exists and we’re not going to increase or decrease that market.”
HMM.
Well, you’re helping to increase the supply of a commodity through your research into a cream which is more effective than the skin bleaching creams on the market right now. Doesn’t an increase in supply CHANGE THE MARKET? Whether it decreases or increases is irrelevant. The point is that people need to stop pretending that their actions have no consequences. When you make something available to people, you’re part of whatever problems that come out of those actions.
You and your fellow researchers are going to make money off the vanity and institutionalized racism of people living in Asian and African countries. You’re changing the market because you’ve seen that demand for these creams has increased, or you wouldn’t be doing this cosmetic research in the first place. You’re bloodsucking leeches and you’re not fooling anyone. And yes, researching, marketing, and manufacturing a cream with the goal of making dark skinned people more “beautiful” by lightening their complexion is racist. There’s no other word for it.
