Light skin

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Accessed 19 Mar. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! See Definitions and Examples ». Cite this Entry Citation Share. Log In. I've never thought there was a whole lot of value to being light skinned in a society that hasn't embraced its black people of whatever shade, but if people want to be colorist, you can't stop them. I identify as a mixed-race woman because being light-skinned and having mixed features places me at an advantage in the matrix of colorist, Europeanized beauty standards, which have historically and artificially placed light-skinned Black and biracial women at odds with our darker-skinned sisters.

Light skin

Light skin is a human skin color that has a low level of eumelanin pigmentation as an adaptation to environments of low UV radiation. Humans with light skin pigmentation have skin with low amounts of eumelanin , and possess fewer melanosomes than humans with dark skin pigmentation. Light skin provides better absorption qualities of ultraviolet radiation, which helps the body to synthesize higher amounts of vitamin D for bodily processes such as calcium development. As a consequence of folate depletion, they are at a higher risk of DNA damage , birth defects , and numerous types of cancers , especially skin cancer. The distribution of light-skinned populations is highly correlated with the low ultraviolet radiation levels of the regions inhabited by them. Historically, light-skinned populations almost exclusively lived far from the equator, in high latitude areas with low sunlight intensity. It is generally accepted that dark skin evolved as a protection against the effect of UV radiation ; eumelanin protects against both folate depletion and direct damage to DNA. Lighter skin tones evolved independently in ancestral populations of north-west and north-east Eurasia, with the two populations diverging around 40, years ago. Studies have suggested that the two genes most associated with lighter skin colour in modern Europeans originated in the Near East and the Caucasus about 22, to 28, years ago, [21] and were present in Anatolia by 9, years ago, where their carriers became associated with the Neolithic Revolution and the spread of Neolithic farming across Europe. A further wave of lighter-skinned populations across Europe and elsewhere is associated with the Yamnaya culture and the Indo-European migrations bearing Ancient North Eurasian ancestry and the KITLG allele for blond hair. These alleles can now be found in the San , Ethiopians , and Tanzanian populations with Afro-Asiatic ancestry. It is inferred that it may have arrived into the region via migration from the Levant, which is also supported by linguistic evidence. Some authors have expressed caution regarding the skin pigmentation predictions. According to Ju et al. According to Crawford et al.

Claire, and Cayton Horace. Blossom Word Game You can make only 12 words. For example, scholars have noted the particular importance of beauty for the life chances of all women in light skin societies Hamermesh

Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Normal skin contains cells called melanocytes. These cells produce melanin , the substance that gives skin its color. Skin with too little melanin is called hypopigmented. Skin with no melanin at all is called depigmented.

Light skin is a human skin color that has a base level of eumelanin pigmentation that has adapted to environments of low UV radiation. Humans with light skin pigmentation have skin with low amounts of eumelanin , and possess fewer melanosomes than humans with dark skin pigmentation. Light skin provides better absorption qualities of ultraviolet radiation, which helps the body to synthesize higher amounts of vitamin D for bodily processes such as calcium development. As a consequence of folate depletion, they are at a higher risk of DNA damage , birth defects , and numerous types of cancers , especially skin cancer. The distribution of light-skinned populations is highly correlated with the low ultraviolet radiation levels of the regions inhabited by them. Historically, light-skinned populations almost exclusively lived far from the equator, in high latitude areas with low sunlight intensity.

Light skin

Human skin color ranges from the darkest brown to the lightest hues. Differences in skin color among individuals is caused by variation in pigmentation , which is the result of genetics inherited from one's biological parents , exposure to the sun , disorders, or some combination thereof. Differences across populations evolved through natural selection or sexual selection , because of social norms and differences in environment, as well as regulations of the biochemical effects of ultraviolet radiation penetrating the skin.

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American Anthropological Association. Given the plethora of research supporting the notion that interracial differences in SES contribute to racial inequality in health, it is likely that these intraracial variations in SES among African Americans will help explain skin tone disparities in health. Marriage is one mechanism through which socioeconomic position may be enhanced, particularly for women Dixon A second mechanism through which skin tone may shape health among African Americans is exposure to chronic and discrimination stressors. Also reviewed by David C. They are ideal for panel data because they adjust for non-independence of observations due to repeated measures of the same individual across multiple waves Raudenbush and Byrk First, prior work has tended to focus on specific indicators of physical health, leaving unclear how skin tone might shape broader indicators of health and well-being. Editorial team. Furthermore, these people have been living in the far north for less than 7, years. Chow tests are used to assess whether the magnitude of coefficients for skin color, socioeconomic resources, stressors, and discrimination statistically differ for men and women. While examining this possibility is beyond the scope of this study, future work should consider how specific types of discrimination might differentially shape health among African Americans of different skin tones. Models 2, 3, and 4 add sociodemographic factors, stressors, and discrimination measures to Model 1, respectively. Among men, there is a similar skin color gradient in socioeconomic resources whereby dark-skinned men have lower levels of education and income than light-skinned men. Jablonski points out that people living above the latitudes of 50 degrees have the highest chance of developing vitamin D deficiency. The coefficient for dark skin among women reduces in magnitude, but remains statistically significant in these models, indicating that chronic burdens and discrimination slightly contribute to the self-rated health disadvantage among dark-skinned women.

Last Updated: January 23, Approved. This article was co-authored by Kimberly Tan. She has been a licensed esthetician for over 15 years and is an expert in mainstream, holistic, and medical ideologies in skin care.

Recent research, however, suggests that African Americans of varying skin shades are exposed to not only different amounts of discriminatory experiences, but also different types Keith et al. Among men, there is a similar skin color gradient in socioeconomic resources whereby dark-skinned men have lower levels of education and income than light-skinned men. Archived from the original on 14 September However, questions regarding unfair treatment in many datasets tend to confound or equate consequences stemming from race and color, limiting the ability to disentangle the influences of race and color on life chances. The Words of the Week - Mar. Cumulative biological risk CBR refers to a summary index of risk factors that reflect physiological dysregulation across multiple systems owing to cumulative and repeated exposure and adaptation to stressors. Author manuscript; available in PMC Jul 1. Open in a separate window. This can contribute to premature aging and skin cancer. Light-skinned African Americans serve as the reference group. What medicines do you take? Pale skin areas are due to too little melanin or underactive melanocytes.