South African Singer Bleaches Skin, Has a ‘Passion For Whiteness’
If you aren’t familiar with Mshoza, this is probably not the best introduction. However, she’s one of the most popular Kwaito artists on the scene, and like any good artist, she likes to push the envelope.
Apparently, Mshoza has a penchant for cosmetic procedures, and after augmenting her breasts, getting a nose job, and having liposuction, Mshoza is taking her quest for perfection to another level: Skin bleaching.
Recently, Mshoza sat down with Motswako, a popular South African talk show. During the interview she talked openly about why she decided to bleach her skin and get “Christina Aguilera white.”
AfriPop reports:
This week [Mshoza] appeared on the popular South African talk show Motswako to declare her “passion to be white.” The horrified interviewer, Penny Lebyane, later said “Yes I was angry, Yes I took it personal! Yes I even wanted to shake her so I can get her to realize what she’s doing to herself!”
Apparently, many of our South African brothers and sisters are comparing Mshoza to Michael Jackson. However, unlike Mike who never mentioned wanting to be white or bleaching his skin, Mshoza is open about her desire to be white.
AfriPop continues:
Mshoza’s declaration goes one better than the king of pop ever did – she admits she wants to look more white. To her whiteness is something she intrinsically believes will make her happy. Is she really to blame? Or is it the society we live in? As one smart person put it: “our femininity and aesthetic, particularly as Black womyn is a highly politicised space…”
Skin lightening is big business. From China to Jamaica, and India to the U.S., men and women all over the globe are bleaching, and in many cases scaring, their skin in a quest to be lighter. Although some like to brush this off as yet another cosmetic procedure, it’s hard to overlook the social cues that tell people of color that white is right. And white skin is more beautiful than other colors of the rainbow.
While many of us have successfully escaped this tragic line of thinking, others are buying into it and passing on the myth that White skin is better than all others.
I really hate that people always bring MJ into this–it is easy to see why since he has been made the poster child of this phenomenon. But the man said he had Vitiligo and his autopsy confirmed this fact. He bleached to remain a consistent color, he has said repeatedly that he was a proud to be black and never wanted to be white. Lazy people can research via google, it ain’t that hard to do.
As for this issue, it is a sad state of affairs– but then when you have advertisers and societies at large constantly telling you that you are not good enough, so you buy make up, botox, plastic surgery, spanx, butt padding, penis enlargers, liposuction, sun tan, weave it, wig it, flip it and rub it down, is it so hard to imagine some darker hued people going to this extreme? Not really.
Many people who have vitiligo do not go further, like a nose job, frying your hair, cheek implants etc. I know people have a sentimental attitude towards Michael, understandably, but: his children? Just…him. This is why we cannot excuse him, because he really was the poster child for black turning to white. He still could have looked black, even with vitiligo.
like @LMO85 said, please do your research. his plastic surgery did not have anything to do with him wanting to look or be white. his father made fun of his “big nose” so he got rid of his big nose because he was tired of Joe ridiculing him. he didn’t have cheek implants, it was his nose and permanent tattoo coloring on his lips, eyebrows, and possibly his hair line because of loss of pigmentation. he wasn’t the only black man in the 80′s who had a Jerry Curl and that curl caught on fire. what was he supposed to do, wear an afro wig or some type of hair piece that looked like a fade? that’s ridiculous.
if anything, he sounds more like he had Body Dysmorphic Disorder, he dieted heavily when he was in his early twenties in order to stop the bad breakouts he was getting, but i think that coupled with the surgeries had more to do with BDD. having the severe form of Vitiligo that he did most likely only compounded his situation.
i agree with the body dysmorphia..doctors offend mention Michael Jackson has the poster child for body dysmorphia
Wow. More than anything this is sad. Live your life, do what you do, but at least own up to the fact that you have been brainwashed into thinking that “white is right.”
I’m sorry but we can’t blame society for OUR self, I’ll retype, SELF-esteem. Anyone who’ll let the opinion of other imperfect, screwed-up, issue-having human beings dictate how they should look to be qualified as beautiful has issues larger than the issue at hand. Of course we’re bombarded with the standard beauties in media but it comes down to the individual.
Now on this chick, obviously this is a desire that is skin-deep and when it’s that deep, all we can do is wish her well and feel blessed that we ourselves aren’t caught up in such a detrimental mentality. Stories like these make me want to call my mom and thank her for the encouragement/constant reassurance/compliments she gave me when I was growing up.
aMEN!!
The very people who say this: “We can’t blame society for OUR self, I’ll retype, SELF-esteem. Anyone who’ll let the opinion of other imperfect, screwed-up, issue-having human beings dictate how they should look to be qualified as beautiful has issues larger than the issue at hand.”
Are either 1.) Heartless souless robots. 2.) Inexperienced. 3.) Lack Empathy. 4.) The very same people who are trampling over Mzhosa’s self esteem. 5.) Irresponsible and selfish.
WE ARE HUMAN! I REPEAT. WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS, and we seek the approval of others. We do not live in a vacuum. Other people’s judgements of us Do affect out well being very tangibly. News flash dark skinned women are penalized in society for being dark skinned! So putting the onus on the individual is simply passing the buck, and blaming the victim.