In Australia, a 22-year old Black woman describes how skin whitening creams are widely used by girls as young as 14 in her Melbourne community. She says African mothers encourage their daughters to use such creams "to become more beautiful".

A young African woman is concerned about her friends using skin-whitening creams.

An African Australian woman says skin-whitening creams are widely used by girls as young as 14 in her Melbourne community. The 22-year-old woman says African mothers encourage their daughters to use such creams “to become more beautiful”.

“One mother I know is using skin-bleaching cream on her two year-old daughter”, she says.

Jennifer Forson, the Secretary of the African Community and Cultural Association of Victoria, says many African Australian women and men use these products mostlydue to the social pressures created by the media and advertising. “Even if you look at TV shows, you won’t see many dark women. You might see some dark men, but the women are always lighter than men,” she told SBS.

Extracts from an SBS article (read original).