&gt; Victorian beauty ideals were unsurprisingly obsessed with pallor: upper class white women chased even whiter skin, a symbol that their privilege never left them working in the sun.<p>You won&#x27;t believe how true this still holds in India. Skin lightning creams are a huge deal here (and I&#x27;m guessing almost all of Asia like Malaysia, Thailand, etc where I&#x27;ve seen this marketed heavily too). These creams contain stuff like Hydroquinone which is a known carcinogen. I&#x27;m sure they contain many other chemicals too.<p>But people still use it. It&#x27;s a huge industry. Recently, there have been lightning creams for private parts. It&#x27;s so weird that someone would actually consider that. The funniest thing though is that white people who come here spend a lot of time sun-bathing to get their skin tanned otoh :)