Pigment Envy

Dr. Welsing states that whites like to get a tan because they “desire to have colored skin.” With all respect to her, it would behoove her to look at tanning for what it actually is: a statement of fashion as it relates to status.

For hundreds of years in Europe and right up to the latter 19th Century in America, pale skin was the sine qua non of the rich and the aristocracy. Why? People with status did not need to work in the harsh sun; they oversaw the work. A tanned white was instantly identified as a menial worker and thus an individual of lower status.

In this century, and in this post-industrial culture, having a tan now signifies status--because a person who has the leisure time to afford a tan is sending the message that he or she can also afford anything else.

But with the latest emphasis on skin health/cancer as relates to the ozone, etc., I think we will soon see far fewer white people desire to, as Dr. Welsing implies, “be black.”

JAMES A. EARP JR.

San Diego