The Skin Color Debate

[blas87]

I'd like to personally thank you, anriana, for clarifying that people aren't just a bunch of ignorant sheep who need to be educated on what they are doing to themselves.

Why no, I had no idea stepping in a tanning bed could cause cancer or premature aging to my skin......the little waiver I signed couldn't possbily have been for a purpose, could it?

[Flyndaran]

I'd like to personally thank you, anriana, for clarifying that people aren't just a bunch of ignorant sheep who need to be educated on what they are doing to themselves.

Why no, I had no idea stepping in a tanning bed could cause cancer or premature aging to my skin......the little waiver I signed couldn't possbily have been for a purpose, could it?

Lots of people sign things without reading every single feature. Not every person is really aware of all the risks they take. You don't have to be a sheep to not know everything.

[guywithashovel]

I'm pretty pale. I'll most likely always be that way, too. On rare occasions I will get a nice tan (like when I go to the beach for vacation). But most of the time, I make Casper look like a Cuban. I'm just don't tend to gravitate towards behaviors/locations that enable me to tan. I tend to prefer cooler weather to hot weather (Sweaters are one of my favorite types of clothing). Also, I tend to not like being out in the sun for very long. I also don't like the idea of lying in a tanning bed.

Honestly, I don't mind being pale, either. On top of that, I look younger than I really am (or so people say). And if I avoid the sun, I may be able to keep my skin from aging much. With that in mind, I'm kind of looking forward to being fifty and having people think I'm thirty-five.

As for skin color on other people, it doesn't matter much. I'll admit, I have a bit of a thing for girls with "olive-colored" skin. Think Laura Breckenridge . But I like other skin tones, too. All in all, it doesn't really matter.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I DO engage in activities that make me tan, even with sunscreen. And while I realize that a whole lot of sun all the time with your skin unprotected, or even worse a sunburn, is bad, I just don't believe that all sun is bad.

I mean, you need sunlight so your body will produce certain vitamins (D, I think). Also, if you are out in the sun all the time, as I am, and you DON'T get a bit of a base tan, you are at some point going to screw up and get a burn.

I don't tan on purpose, but right now there's no avoiding it. It's summer and I'm unemployed. Or should I say "funemployed." I got pretty dark floating around a friend's pool with a girl drink in my hand one afternoon and since it's summer and I am an outdoor kinda gal, I pretty much stayed that way.

I was wearing sunscreen, too. And a hat. I just had to order new makup not 10 minutes ago.

I got a patch of skin between my shoulder blades burned at the beach last summer (I'm not as limber as I used to be...I missed that spot with the sunscreen.) My friend K, who is a very dark skinned black woman, yelled at me "You're burned?! Jeeze, how long have you been white? Even we know to put on sunscreen!"

Having a little natural protection is useful, though, I can be out most of the day now without sunscreen. Probably not the best thing, but at least I now have a little safety feature if I forget.

[Flyndaran]

I DO engage in activities that make me tan, even with sunscreen. And while I realize that a whole lot of sun all the time with your skin unprotected, or even worse a sunburn, is bad, I just don't believe that all sun is bad.

I mean, you need sunlight so your body will produce certain vitamins (D, I think). Also, if you are out in the sun all the time, as I am, and you DON'T get a bit of a base tan, you are at some point going to screw up and get a burn.
....

There is far more vitamin D than necessary in a normal diet.
Of course even a little sun is risky. All it takes is a single photon to break a single cell's D.N.A. in one of few little sections to cause a runaway tumor. Once the skin burns the risk jumps probably orders of magnitude, so a protective tan might not be such a bad idea when suffixed by continual exposure.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Actually, you'd me suprised at how poor diet is for providing vitamin D. There's just not all that much in food. Beef liver and fish are probably the best sources, and even they aren't adequate for fullfilling the daily requirement. And who eats either of those every single day. Fortified milk is fortified way under what is needed, and many people (particularly adults, who need more D, not less) can't even drink milk.

I'm not a big believer in artificial supliments, anyways.

Ironcially, D helps protect against some cancers.

So I guess you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

And honestly, and this is just me talking here, we evolved on this planet. I'm not saying that we need to go out spend all this time getting blased by UV radiation, but we are animals that evolved on earth under our sun. There is a reason our different skins evolved to react with the sun of our planet.

I think we need to be reasoable here with our sun avoidance. Don't get burned, no, and don't overdo it. But lets not get so paranoid we never let a drop of sun touch us, either.

[Boozy]

There's plenty of vitamin D in people's diets, but the body has difficulty absorbing it from food. The best way to get vitamin D is about five minutes of sun exposure each day, preferably early in the morning or late afternoon when the sun isn't as strong.

Health Canada recently started recommending that Canadians take vitamin D supplements in the winter months, since so many of us never leave our homes without being covered head-to-toe. The supplements they recommend contain far more than the average person's daily requirements, since our bodies will pass most of the vitamin without absorbing it.

[Flyndaran]

Actually, you'd me suprised at how poor diet is for providing vitamin D. There's just not all that much in food. ...

And honestly, and this is just me talking here, we evolved on this planet. I'm not saying that we need to go out spend all this time getting blased by UV radiation, but we are animals that evolved on earth under our sun. There is a reason our different skins evolved to react with the sun of our planet.

I think we need to be reasoable here with our sun avoidance. Don't get burned, no, and don't overdo it. But lets not get so paranoid we never let a drop of sun touch us, either.

There's plenty in food. Honestly, how often have you heard of children getting rickets nowadays? It normally takes England levels of poor nutrition to develop malnutrition. Yes, a few will develop problems no matter what they eat. But most people can handle some pretty devestatingly bad diets.

As to evolution, human instinct is to tell nature to go fuck herself. We evolved mostly along sparse forested areas getting eaten by big cats and just about every other big predator out there. Evolution is about surviving just long enough to reproduce, not about health.

All things being equal it is far better to be pitch black than anything else. The myth that pale skin is anything other than a harmfull inbred fluke is racist posturing.

Skin will still wrinkle on cue even when never going outside. Ever seen those people from the movie, "Awakenings"? The real people look their age despite never showing expression or going out in the sun for most of their lives.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I've only been burned once, and that was in childhood when I fell asleep in the sun. Ouch. After that, I covered myself in sunblock even if I was just going down the road.

Now, I'm less paranoid, but still put it on if I'm going out in the sun. Haven't burned since.

[Flyndaran]

I've only been burned once, and that was in childhood when I fell asleep in the sun. Ouch. After that, I covered myself in sunblock even if I was just going down the road.

Now, I'm less paranoid, but still put it on if I'm going out in the sun. Haven't burned since.

I've been burned twice. Once was on a highschool trip to a lake. I completely forgot to bring sunblock. I was surprised I only got a light sunburn. The second was when I got lost walking in L.A. in summer again after forgetting sunblock. I was surprised that I didn't immediately ablate into a puff of hot gas.
I have spent numerous summers hiding from the sun and not eating fish or mammal. I wonder why I never suffered vitiman D defficiency.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I dunno, have you ever been tested for such thing?

If you are very pale, it might not take much sun exposure at all to give you what you need.

[BroomJockey]

Most companies tend to add a fair bit of Vitamin D to milk, since it aids absorption of calcium. If you drink a decent amount of milk, you'll probably get your RDI.

[Flyndaran]

Most companies tend to add a fair bit of Vitamin D to milk, since it aids absorption of calcium. If you drink a decent amount of milk, you'll probably get your RDI.

I only drink a little lactose reduced milk. About a cup a day at most.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Cereals too have vitamins added, especially those aimed at children.

I have never had a deficiency; I don't avoid the sun, but I do cover up and/or use sunblock.

[Flyndaran]

Cereals too have vitamins added, especially those aimed at children.

I have never had a deficiency; I don't avoid the sun, but I do cover up and/or use sunblock.

I sometimes go months without cereal or milk, and also have never had a deficiency. Actually, as someone with an anxiety disorder I have to be careful not to take anything with too much vitamin B6 I think. It will cause an attack.