skin bleaching self hate and black identity in jamaica

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Journal of Black Studies

DOI: 10.1177/0021934703033006001 2003; 33; 711 Journal of Black Studies

Christopher A. D. Charles Skin Bleaching, Self-Hate, and Black Identity in Jamaica

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10.1177/0021934703251098JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / JULY 2003Charles / SKIN BLEACHING, SELF-HATE, AND IDENTITY

SKIN BLEACHING, SELF-HATE,AND BLACK IDENTITY

IN JAMAICA

CHRISTOPHER A. D. CHARLESCity University of New YorkUniversity of the West Indies

The Afrocentric view concerning Jamaicans who bleach their skins is thatthey suffer from self-hate, a result of the lingering psychological scars ofslavery. The self-hatred thesis is tested by comparing the self-esteem scoresof a small convenience sample of skin bleachers with the scores of a controlgroup. The two groups have almost the same average scores above themedian, which indicates that skin bleaching did not occur because of lowself-esteem. The preliminary results suggest that there are varied reasonsfor skin bleaching and there is a range of Black identities as each personconstructs his or her identity in a multicultural society.

Keywords: skin bleaching; self-hate; miseducation; identity; survival

This essay looks at Black identity in Jamaica. Some Jamaicanshave been using skin-bleaching creams to become brown or lessBlack. Health officials became concerned because, increasingly,dermatologists were treating people with damaged skin because ofbleaching (Daily Gleaner, 1999a).

Plantation slavery was abolished in Jamaica in 1838. Colonial-ism ended when Jamaica received its independence from Britain in1962. More than 90% of the population is of African descent and

711

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This article was presented at the 32nd annual conference ofthe Jean Piaget Society, June 6-8, 2002, Philadelphia, PA. I would like to thankWilliam Cross Jr., Anna Song, and Stacey Brodie for their insightful commentsand Jo-Ann Johnson and Sigmund Mighty for their research assistance. I, how-ever, take full responsibility for any shortcomings in this article.

JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES, Vol. 33 No. 6, July 2003 711-728DOI: 10.1177/0021934703251098© 2003 Sage Publications



they dominate the political landscape and operate the Westminstermodel of democracy. However, the economy is dominated by theminority White, Jewish, Arab, Chinese, and East Indian popula-tion. There is minimal tension in the society over race, but class andcolor distinctions are important (Smith, 1990).

Self-hate or low self-esteem is often posited as the explanationfor the bleaching phenomenon. Slavery was a traumatizing experi-ence for the enslaved Africans. They were brainwashed to hatethemselves by the elevation of British values over African ones.The descendants of enslaved Africans through socialization haveinternalized the negative attitudes about themselves. Skin bleach-ing is the contemporary evidence of the deep-rooted and lingeringpsychological scars of slavery in particular and colonization in gen-eral (Abrahams, 2000; Singham, 1968). The negative influence ofthe plantations persists with astounding resilience (Beckford,1972). The psychological scars of slavery are the marks of oppres-sion (Kardiner & Ovesey, 1951).

I hypothesize that skin bleaching is caused by low self-esteem.Self-esteem is a person’s overall positive or negative attitudetoward himself or herself. A person with high self-esteem thinksthat he or she is a person of worth. On the other hand, low self-esteem indicates contempt, rejection, or dissatisfaction with theself (Rosenberg, 1978).

IDENTITY

Identity development occurs during the period of adolescencewhen the youth is confronted with the critically important ques-tions of, Who am I? and How do I fit into the adult world? Inanswering these questions, the youth reorganizes his or her earlylife into a meaningful pattern that links his or her past to the present(as it is perceived) and the future. This is necessary to achieve pur-pose and unity in one’s life (Erikson, 1993, 1994). The cognitiveabilities of the youth and the use of formal operations are of criticalimportance in this process (Piaget, 1972).

712 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / JULY 2003



Identity is also viewed as the narrative or story of the self thateach person as the biographer successfully weaves across the lifecourse (McAdams, 1988). It is also the resolution and consolida-tion of values and life choices and stable commitments a personmakes over time (Franklin, 1999). A person’s identity is uncon-sciously influenced by the mental activities of significant others(Socor, 1997). In addition, identity is important for the survival ofthe self (Lewis, 1976; Rey, 1976). People construct several identi-ties based on gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, occupation, reli-gion, politics, personal relationships, and race. These identities areintegrated or ordered in terms of importance. The identity that isused is situational or context dependent. Identity also changes overtime (Asante, 1993; Brewer, 2001).

It is important to make the distinction between nominal identityand self-affirmed identity. We all are nominated or defined by oth-ers and placed in a category based on our physical characteristics.This is nominal identity. On the other hand, we all define and affirmourselves within the categories that are of importance in our lives.This is self-affirmed identity. It should be noted that people may ormay not choose to affirm themselves in their nominal identitycategory.

The doll study undertaken by Kenneth and Mamie Clarke in theUnited States had a tremendous impact on the self-hatred thesis(Clark & Clark, 1947). Black and White school children were givenBlack and White dolls and asked to choose the one they prefer. Themajority of Black children selected White dolls. It was assumedthat because these Black children selected the White dolls, theyrejected their Black group. Moreover, their preference was an indi-cation of self-hate. However, it was not assumed that the Whitechildren that selected Black dolls hated themselves (Cross, 1991).

It should be noted that a person’s total self-concept (SC) is afunction of his or her personal identity (PI) and his or her referencegroup orientation (RGO). In other words, SC = PI + RGO. A per-son’s PI characteristics are, for example, whether he or she is shy,has low or high self-esteem, is fun-loving, anxious, intelligent, andloves to smile, and so forth. The RGO domain deals with the char-

Charles / SKIN BLEACHING, SELF-HATE, AND IDENTITY 713



acteristics of the groups the individual identifies with (Cross,1991).

In the SC formula, self-hate can only be measured in the PIdomain by administering a self-esteem scale. You cannot deter-mine how a person feels about himself or herself by looking at howhe or she feels about his or her in-group. However, this is exactlywhat was done in the doll studies. In other words, PI and RGO arecorrelated. However, a review of the landmark studies on Blackidentity that were done in the United States between 1939 to 1960and 1968 to 1980 revealed that the majority found no correlationbetween PI and RGO (Cross, 1991).

In looking at self-hate and identity, it is important to note thatJamaica is a plural society. In spite of universal adult suffrage, polit-ical independence, universalistic incorporation, and moderniza-tion, the racial, cultural, and color distinctions of the colonial orderpersist. For example, in some studies done in the late 1960s and theearly 1970s, White high school students evaluated themselves ashaving more status and importance than the brown students had.The brown students evaluated themselves as having more statusand importance than the Black and Chinese students had. TheBlack and Chinese students in evaluating their self-worth underes-timated and undervalued their importance in relation to the othergroups (Smith, 1990).

Jamaica is also viewed as a Creole society. There is cross-fertil-ization in that the various groups cling to their heritage but find cre-ative interactions in the inherited British political institutions.However, there is a constant struggle between the African cultureand the “superior” European culture (Nettleford, 1978). Those whohave embraced their African heritage are resisting the challenges ofthe European canons (Alleyne, 2001). Others have embraced theEuropean norms and values and have become the standard bearersof this culture because the African heritage has been relegated tothe bottom of the society (Brodber, 1989). This has occurredbecause the colonial situation was a deep-rooted state of mind thatleft lingering psychological scars. This has, therefore, presentedproblems for the newly emerging nations of the Caribbean(Singham, 1968). As a consequence, Black mothers in Jamaica tell




their children that their nappy hair is bad. Moreover, the childrenare also told that White is better than brown and brown is better thanBlack. This is why some Black Jamaicans bleach their skin(Abrahams, 2000).

SKIN BLEACHING

The Ministry of Health held a press conference on July 5, 1999,to publicize its counterstrategy to the bleaching phenomenon. Itmade topical corticosteroids unavailable in the market. In spite ofthe many publicized dangers of bleaching the skin, such as devel-oping acne and skin cancer among others, steroids were still verypopular (Daily Gleaner, 1999a). There is also a $1,000 (US$25)bleaching pill that is in great demand because it can turn a BlackJamaican into a browning. Some of the women “make a dark pasteusing a mixture of peroxide and baking soda or toothpaste, lemon,Dermaclear, Nadinola and Topiclear, along with a little curry pow-der, which is reputed to make the color of the face much prettier”(Ritch, 1999). Dr. Neil Persadsingh, a prominent member of theJamaica Dermatological Association, has denied that there is ableaching pill (personal interview, April 24, 2002).

A dermatologist has estimated that about 10% to 15% of thepatients seen by dermatologists are bleaching their skin. This figureignores those bleachers who are using over-the-counter and home-made products. The majority of persons suffering from skin prob-lems associated with bleaching are said to be females in the 20s toearly 30s age group. Men are also involved (Daily Gleaner, 1999a).Astoundingly, “even 10 year olds in school are taking the bleachingpill. Only babies aren’t being given it yet” (Ritch, 1999).

The police confiscated dozens of skin creams that were beingillegally sold over the counter in small shops, stores, and restau-rants, among other places. Some of the illegal products includedTop Extra Gel, Prosone, Omic, Regge Lemon, Topsone andNeprosone Gels, and Lemonvate and Movate Creams (DailyGleaner, 1999a).




The issue of bleaching has received widespread coverage in themedia. The views of columnists and letter writers to the newspapersare instructive. There is one letter titled “For the Color of Me”(Jamaica Observer, 2001b) that captures in essence the bleachingissue.

I have been following the arguments about color, and as a youngBlack woman (two years out of high school), I realize why myfriends use to spend so much time bleaching. They were right. I waswrong. Fairer is better in our country. The guys say so, dancehall[music] says so, my friends say so, beauty contests say so, andlearned adults say so! I have a good figure, and a cute face, but I amBlack. Therefore, I am saving up all my money to buy my pills andmy Ambi, and I will even try blue soap. Hello! I need a life here inJamaica.

Other writers felt that people bleached because they had lowself-esteem (Daily Gleaner, 1999b; Jamaica Observer, 2001a).Another view was that bleaching was because of the realization ofthe demonstrated cultural superiority of Whites in the West in thishistorical period. This is seen in their civilizational, scientific, andtechnological achievements (Daily Gleaner, 1999c). Bleachingalso suggested that there were deep problems in Jamaica in relationto race. It was caused by lack of African pride or racial self-esteem(Jamaica Observer, 2001c).

The bleaching phenomenon was just “merely the latest exam-ples of the lengths to which women will go, not only to make them-selves attractive to men, but simply to be in fashion by doing the inthing” (Cargill, 1999). One male teenage columnist agreed thatgirls did this to “keep up appearances” (Morgan, 2001). A femaleteenage columnist countered that boys were guilty of the samething (Murdock, 2001).

The images of success that are portrayed in the Jamaican societyare of persons who are White, brown, and fair (Mair, 2001). There-fore, in the “color-coded” Jamaica, the female bleachers wererejecting their Blackness and as such had a major identity crisis ontheir hands (Ritch, 1999). Bleaching is not only prevalent in




Jamaica but also in Suriname among the various ethnic groups(Menke, 2002). The colonial notion of beauty that afflicts Blackwomen in the diaspora is a function of slavery and its legacy.Bleaching is also prominent among African women in severalcountries on that continent (Mair, 2001). Skin bleaching is a univer-sal phenomenon and is a result of cultural domination (Hall, 1995).

The postindependence nationalist leaders were also blamed forthe bleaching problem. It has been argued that they failed to lift theself-respect and self-esteem of the Black majority (racial self-esteem) over and above the plantation system (Jamaica Observer,2000). They have also failed to create a sense of being Jamaican sothey have been unable to foster national unity (Boyne, 2000).

Although there are varying views as to the reasons for skinbleaching, one thing is certain: The bleachers are concerned withtheir body image. Generally, boys express less concern over theirbodies than girls who usually want to be thinner. However, becausesome boys have low self-esteem, they are dissatisfied with theirbodies and so want to be bigger (Cohane & Pope, 2001). In AfricanAmerican women, an important predictor of their self-esteem istheir skin color—unlike African American men. However, skintone predicted Black men’s self-efficacy unlike Black women(Thompson & Keith, 2001). The experience of being female evenwhen it is positive is not able to buffer the feelings of shame that canbe triggered by the consciousness of objectifying the body. Thisalso causes the women to be ashamed about the self (Gilmore,2001).

The notions of happiness, beauty, and health in different culturesare unstable. Historically, there have been prejudices against peo-ple who reflect bodily differences. Therefore, the cultural assump-tions that make aesthetic surgery an acceptable form of psychother-apy should be questioned (Gilman, 1998). To acquire power, somewomen behave and manage their appearance to conform to theideal image in the society (Rudd & Lennon, 1999). It was found thatwomen who sought breast-reduction surgery compared to thosewho did not had greater psychological dysfunction and lowerhealth status (Guthrie, Bradbury, Davenport, & Faria, 1998).




METHOD

SAMPLE

A convenience sample of 18 persons was interviewed. Theyranged in age from 13 to 37. There were 11 females and 7 males.There were 9 participants in the research group and 9 in the controlgroup.

PROCEDURE

The researcher selected the two groups. A visual judgment wasmade to determine whether there was facial discoloration. The truenature of the study was not revealed initially so as not to prime therespondents because bleaching is an emotive issue in the country.This was done to prevent the participants from giving defensiveanswers that would distort the self-esteem measure.

The participants at the start of the interview were given examplesof how the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale (RSE) works with one oftwo dummy items. These items were “I am a beautiful woman” or“I am a handsome man.” The participants were told to indicate howthey felt by choosing from the list of possible responses. The mea-sure was administered after the participants said they fully under-stood what was required of them.

MEASURE

The measure was a questionnaire with 17 items. Items 1 through6, respectively, dealt with gender, occupation, income, age, level ofeducation, and residence. Items 7 through 16 composed the RSEscale. The maximum score that can be attained on this scale is 30,indicating very high self-esteem. The median is 15, and scoresbelow this are indicative of low self-esteem. The responses for eachitem on the scale were strongly agree, agree, disagree, and stronglydisagree. Item 17 dealt with the reasons for bleaching; this was onlygiven to the bleaching group.




RESULTS

The mean self-esteem score for the bleaching group is 20.5,whereas the mean self-esteem score for the control group is 19.2(see Table 1). The lowest score for the bleaching group is 17 and thehighest score is 23. For the control group, the lowest score is 13 andthe highest score is 24. In terms of the bleaching group, all of theparticipants have self-esteem scores that are above the median. Incontrast, the control group has 1 participant with a self-esteemscore below the median. The other participants have self-esteemscores above the median. The members of the control group tend tohave a slightly lower mean self-esteem score than the bleachinggroup. This is because 7 of the 9 participants in the research group


TABLE 1

Demographics and Self-Esteem

Self-EsteemGender Age Education Occupation Rating

Research groupFemale 26 High school graduate Unemployed 22Female 19 High school graduate Unemployed 21Male 18 High school student — 18Female 16 High school student — 17Female 21 College student — 21Female 16 High school student — 21Female 16 High school student — 20Female 15 High school student — 23Female 15 High school student — 22

Control groupMale 22 College student — 22Female 18 High school graduate Unemployed 19Male 18 College graduate Unemployed 18Male 21 College student — 19Female 13 High school student — 24Male 37 High school graduate Salesman 17Female 26 High school graduate Cashier 13Male 25 High school graduate Press operator 22Male 26 College graduate Clerk 19

NOTE: n = 9 participants for each group.



have self-esteem scores of 20 and above. In the control group, 6 ofthe 9 participants have self-esteem scores under 20. Overall, thereis not much difference in the mean self-esteem scores of the twogroups.

One possible limitation in the results is that the majority of par-ticipants in the research group were in adolescence, the criticalperiod of identity development in which they are most open to envi-ronmental influences and may have bleaching for this reason ratherthan low self-esteem. It is possible that if the majority of these par-ticipants were not adolescents, their self-esteem scores would belower.

Because low self-esteem is not associated with bleaching, atleast for this small research group, the participants’ self-reportsabout why they bleach should be given more weight because theycan direct us to some of the possible reasons for the bleaching phe-nomenon in Jamaica. In the bleaching group, 8 of the self-reportscited a beauty-related reason for bleaching. One participant saidshe loved the “brown thing” because it made her look better.Another used the bleaching cream to prevent acne and keep her skinsmooth. One said she liked how it looked. Another said she did it forstyle because it made her look pretty. Four of the participants saidthey bleached because they wanted to get rid of facial pimples. Theremaining participant did it because her “friends were doing it.”Because this is a very small sample, generalizations cannot bemade about the larger population. These preliminary findings sug-gest the need for further research. However, these findings shouldshed some light on the issue of conceptualizing Black identity inJamaica.

DISCUSSION

Because there is no major difference in the mean self-esteemscores for the two groups, this indicates that low self-esteem wasnot the reason for skin bleaching. This will, of course, be surprisingto those who propose the self-hatred thesis as the reason for theskin-bleaching phenomenon in Jamaica. It is very possible that in a




larger representative sample, there might very well be a determinis-tic correlation between low self-esteem and skin bleaching. I sus-pect that some persons who bleach their skin do suffer from self-hate, but this is not the whole story. What the convenience samplehas shown is that there are several factors that account for skinbleaching in Jamaica, and self-hate may be one of them. Only fur-ther research will determine the major factors that account for skinbleaching in Jamaica.

If self-hate is found to be the dominant cause of skin bleaching inthe future, the researcher will have to determine if it is caused by thepsychological scars of slavery or environmental stimuli. Some ofthese stimuli are a harsh childhood in which the child’s inner needswere ignored by the parents, or a series of overwhelming failuresthat beset an adult, such as going through a very terrible divorce andbeing unable to find suitable employment over a very long period oftime. The self-hate thesis from slavery ignores the fact that there arepostslavery traumas that we all face that can cause low self-esteem.

The proponents of the self-hatred thesis in Jamaica made similarmistakes to the Clarks and other scholars who researched Blackidentity and self-hate in America. The Jamaican scholars assumethat PI and RGO are correlated. It is argued that the Jamaicans whobleach their skins hate themselves. The desire to change one’s skincolor to look different from one’s racial group is caused by the psy-chological scars of the hierarchical plural society. The postcolonialstructure and its color distinctions promote the Anglo-Saxon cul-ture as the societal ideal. Therefore, those who bleach their skinwant to be the best standard bearers of the White culture. However,the thousands of tourists who flock to the vacation resorts inJamaica every year and use skin tan lotion to become less White arenot deemed to be suffering from self-hate. Moreover, those Jamai-cans who are nominally White, Chinese, or Indian but haveaffirmed themselves as Black are not viewed as hating themselves.However, it is assumed that all those Black Jamaicans who bleachtheir skins suffer from self-hate.

The skin color issue falls within the RGO domain of the formulatotal SC = PI + RGO. PI and RGO are integrated at the intrapsychiclevel. However, although each person in the context of the RGO




shares the norms and values of the group and its belief system, eachmember has a different PI profile. Therefore, even though PI andRGO are integrated at the individual level, it is not very predictiveacross persons. None of the participants in the bleaching group hadself-esteem scores lower than the median 15, and all the membersof this group had comparable self-esteem scores to the members ofthe control group. In this preliminary research, it was found that PIand RGO are related but not correlated. This result is similar tomost of the results found in the review of the landmark studies onBlack identity and self-hate that were done in the United States.

Some Black Jamaicans recognize the color and racial distinc-tions in the society. This should not be viewed as self-contempt. It isborne out by their experience that the Blacker one is, the less statusand privilege one has in the society. They recognize the reality ofcontemporary Jamaica. They do not necessarily accept it.

There are others, in my view, who believe in the correctness ofthe existing color distinctions. They are, therefore, proud of theachievements and status of the brown and White sections of thesociety, over and above that of the Black majority. Some of thesepeople suffer from low racial/group self-esteem because they valuetheir Black group less than the other racial and color groups in thecountry. The independence and postindependence political leadershave been accused of failing to lift the self-respect of the Blackmajority. However, low group or racial self-esteem cannot tell ushow each of these Black Jamaicans feels about himself or herselfbecause racial self-esteem falls within the RGO domain, in thesame way that a person who eats Black, walks, talks, and acts Black(very Afrocentric) may have inner turmoil (self-hate) when his orher interior world is explored clinically. One cannot tell how a per-son feels about himself or herself by how he or she feels about his orher in-group.

The studies of the 1960s and the 1970s that dealt with highschool students’ evaluation of their self-worth did not realize thatRGO and PI are not correlated. The studies assumed that the Blackstudents had low self-worth because they stated that they had lessstatus and importance than the brown students. These studies werenot clear on whether the students were strategically recognizing the




color and status distinctions that existed as a survival strategy orwhether they accepted it or whether they internalized it. If theyaccepted it, some might have been expressing low racial/group self-esteem. Reflecting the preference for another color or racial groupover the in-group does not tell us if the person has internalized thenegatives about his or her in-group (self-hate) that are taught by thedominant out-groups. It also does not tell whether it is a case ofmiseducation about the achievements, culture, and history of thein-group. Black mothers in Jamaica who tell their children thattheir hair is “bad” and that White is better than Black are one of theprimary sources of this miseducation. Therefore, a clear distinctionneeds to be made between the miseducation about the in-group andthe internalization of the negative stereotypes about it. It is the lattercase acting in that causes low self-esteem.

Because low self-esteem has been ruled out as a causal factor forskin beaching, it is important to explore the reasons given in theparticipants’ self-reports. With the verbal backlash in Jamaicaagainst the bleachers, some of them might not have given the truereasons why they bleach their faces. Interestingly, 8 of the 9 partici-pants in the bleaching group gave reasons that indicated that theyare “keeping up appearances.” In other words, they want to lookbeautiful. The other participant, a teenager, gave peer pressure asthe reason. It is not surprising that the majority gave some beauty-related reason. In a color-coded society in which the Anglo-Saxonfeatures are the ideal standards of beauty, those who have beenmiseducated about their in-group’s concept of beauty will strive tolook like the dominant out-group. Some of the letter writers to thenewspaper editors were correct in their assumption that the bleach-ing phenomenon was related to the issue of beauty. This small con-venience sample has not shown that people bleach for economicreasons, or because of self-hate, or low racial self-esteem. Furtherresearch using a larger sample is needed to determine the range ofreasons for the bleaching phenomenon in Jamaica.

Peer pressure is one reason that was not cited by those writingabout the bleaching issue in the newspapers. However, it is a plausi-ble explanation for a teenager to want to change his or her complex-ion. This is the critical period of identity development when he or




she has to answer the questions, Who am I, and How do I fit into theadult world? In the search for answers, an adolescent can be easilyinfluenced by his or her friends as he or she grapples with identitydevelopment. The other 5 high school students in the bleachinggroup could also be grappling with these critical identity questions.They may be easily influenced by what their peers and some adultsare doing, bleaching for beauty. A related reason for bleaching isthat some members of the opposite sex find it attractive. Therefore,the persons that keep up appearances as dictated by the so-calledideal standard of beauty will attract suitors who also subscribe tothis ideal.

As noted earlier, each person possesses several identities basedon various RGOs.

Race and color are just two of the categories that people use toconstruct their identity in Jamaica. The proponents of the self-hatethesis see identity from an Afrocentric perspective. Any Black per-son who takes on brownness or Whiteness, irrespective of thedegree or the reasons, is viewed as rejecting Blackness. There is nosense that there is a plurality of Black identities or shades of Black.There are persons who are Black, and they recognize this fact.However, Blackness has less salience in the construction of theiridentities. In other words, they have a nominal Black identity. Thisdoes not necessarily mean that they are anti-Black or, for that mat-ter, pro-White. They have been nominated or defined by others andplaced in a category because of their physical characteristics. How-ever, they have incorporated the values, norms, and symbols ofother groups that transcend their physical characteristics or nomi-nal category. Their self-affirmed identity is with the group orgroups whose values, norms, and symbols they have incorporated.Some people that place little emphasis on their nominal identitycategory will affirm themselves based on their religion or profes-sion or some other category that they give prominence and impor-tance to in their lives. The Jamaican Whites, Chinese, and Indiansthat take on a Black identity are classic examples. It does not neces-sarily mean they hate their nominal status or themselves. In fact,they are not seen in the society as suffering from self-hate.




One expects to find self-hate in a postcolonial color-coded soci-ety. However, not everyone will bear the marks of oppression.Some Jamaican Blacks use Whiteness or brownness (or partsthereof) strategically, not because they feel inferior but becausethey have incorporated all the values in a multiethnic society. Thesevalues and the related identities are integrated and used based onthe situation. This switching is used to navigate the multiculturalJamaican landscape. So, in essence, there is no correct Black iden-tity in Jamaica. Each Jamaican coauthors a life story with the envi-ronment. An integrated self is achieved after the crucial identityquestions have been addressed. This leads to a range of Blackidentities.

In the Creole Jamaican society, there is cross-fertilization of allthe cultures. The Black identities reflect variations of this hybrid.These are the persons mentioned above who can effectively navi-gate the Jamaican cultural landscape. Some will reflect moreBlackness than others such as those who take on an Afrocentricidentity. These Afrocentric Jamaicans have affirmed themselves intheir nominal identity category. Still, there are others who willreflect more Whiteness than Blackness. This is inevitable in a mul-tiethnic society in which there is a constant struggle and accommo-dation between the different cultural segments. Those who sufferfrom self-hate have not addressed the questions, Who am I? andHow do I fit into the adult world? They have not successfully inte-grated the life choices they made about the self in Jamaica. Theirbiographies of the self have been thwarted by inner conflicts. Thesociety needs to respond caringly to help them reach optimal men-tal health. These persons should not be confused with those whohave successfully constructed their variety of Black identity thatgives meaning and purpose to their lives.

CONCLUSION

There is no association between self-hate and bleaching in thesmall convenience sample of the bleachers because none of themfall below the median. They have self-esteem comparable to the




control group. Further research needs to be done to determine if thiswill hold in a larger representative sample. The advocates of theself-hate thesis in Jamaica and the researchers in the United Statesdid not realize that RGO and PI are not correlated. You cannot tellhow a person feels about himself or herself based on how he or shefeels about the in-group. The results of this preliminary researchindicate that wanting to look beautiful, wanting to attract membersof the opposite sex, and peer pressure are some of the reasons forthe bleaching phenomenon in Jamaica. With further research, Iexpect that other reasons will be uncovered.

The debate about the bleaching issue indicates that there is arange of Black identities (shades of Black) in Jamaica, and there isno correct one. In a racialized society in which color distinctionsare important, people will incorporate varying degrees of White-ness/Blackness/brownness as they address the crucial identityquestions to give meaning and purpose to their lives. People whoconstruct their identities in this way should be distinguished fromthose people who fail to adequately address the crucial identityquestions because of the lingering psychological scars of slavery.However, it is important to remember that self-hate created bytrauma in the postslavery environment can also thwart optimalidentity construction. The bleaching group certainly does not sufferfrom self-hate. However, they have been miseducated into believ-ing that the only standard of beauty is the one defined by Europeanideals. This problem can be addressed by reeducation.

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Beckford, G. (1972). Persistent poverty. Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies.Boyne, I. (2000, July 30). Emancipation without leadership? Retrieved from www.

jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20000730/Cleisure/Cleisure5.html




Brewer, M. (2001). The many faces of social identity: Implications for political psychology.Political Psychology, 22, 115-126.

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Christopher A. D. Charles is a doctoral student in social and personality psychologyat the Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York. He isalso a part time lecturer in political psychology at the University of the West Indies.His email is [email protected].




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