Why Fake Tan Is Blackfishing

And why you should stop using it.

So, you want to use fake tan. Here’s why that is problematic and a microaggression:

There is yet another problem that is raging completely unchecked in the white community. It may seem completely harmless and is even seen as no different than putting on makeup or any other casual cosmetic improvement. This is NOT the case. Some may even see using it as bettering themselves and develop an unhealthy mindset of relating their beauty to whether they’ve used it or not. This is wrong on many levels, but is by far the most harmful to BIPOCs. If you haven’t guessed the problem by now, it is the use of fake tan.

I first noticed this severely alarming practice a few years ago on a trip with my husband Leonard to the United Kingdom and Ireland, areas not fortunate enough to get as much sun as we are in Frogtown, Los Angeles. We took bus tours, ate at some fantastic restaurants, and enjoyed the pubs and club life at night. It was a beautiful trip filled with many memorable sights, but was almost overshadowed by one shocking revelation. The white people, specifically the women, just weren’t exactly white. At first I thought I could chalk it up to a few bad tan jobs, clearly temporary mistakes soon to be washed away with shame and a “I’m never trying that again” to themselves. My first experience in a nightclub proved me horribly wrong. I was incredibly shocked and horrified to a sea of light mocha to, in some cases, a dark mahogany or walnut. I came to find out the reason for this is self applied fake tan, often coming in bottles easily purchased at any pharmacy.

How is this acceptable? Surely the new wave of brave heroes willing to take to the keyboard righting all society’s wrongs has made it to these isles. There has to have been SOMEONE who has raised concern for this. I suppose the responsibility falls upon me to say this. GUESS WHAT WHITE PEOPLE, THIS IS RACISM AND MICROAGGRESSION.

You may be asking yourself at this point, “How is this in any way wrong? Surely you’re overreacting.”. This train of thought perfectly exemplifies how systematically oppressive the white brain is. The quicker you realise as a white person you are inherently racist and your mere existence is privileged, the quicker you can adjust your life and become a better person overall. We have publicly shamed figures for blackfishing before such as Bhad Baby, and this is in no way different. In the current political climate, it would be wildly inappropriate for an employer to question an interviewees race or ethnicity. Wearing fake tan to a job interview could cause a mistaken race identity, which could lead to you taking away a job from a BIPOC, who definitely deserves it way more than you. Not only is this wrong for the obvious reasons, but it could lead to the cultural appropriation of dark skin itself if it does not go unchecked. I mean come ON, whites have copied their hair, tried to emulate AAVE with little to no education on it, even copied all of their best music and claimed it as their own. If we let this continue, whites will end up taking dark skin and then gaslighting BIPOC into believing that it was never theirs to start with. How typical. Next thing you know they’re blaming these brave, poor tortured souls for horrific acts like 9/11.

Women need to stick together if we will ever truly topple the patriarchy, and trying to assume the cultural identity of others and piggybacking on their tragic histories and oppression is not the way to do it. White women, listen closely: YOU ARE NOT OPPRESSED AND YOUR FETISH TO BE OPPRESSED HAS NOT GONE UNNOTICED.

But what makes me able to call this out? What differentiates me from a normal white woman? Here’s the answer for you: I’m Jewish. If anyone can know and relate to the plight of these modern heroes that walk among us, beautiful BIPOCs who struggle every day with a system set up against them, it’s me. I struggle every day with the exact same problems as them, sisters and brothers in my eyes.

I hope my message has truly reached at least some of you. Please, for the love of god, try to look at this serious issue from the shoes of someone who truly has to work harder than you for everything. Someone who is better than you in every way but is systematically told that they’re not. Imagine the frustration, and try to understand how the use of fake tan is blackfishing and using it is actively participating in oppression.