> 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.

You won't believe how true this still holds in India. Skin lightning creams are a huge deal here (and I'm guessing almost all of Asia like Malaysia, Thailand, etc where I've seen this marketed heavily too). These creams contain stuff like Hydroquinone which is a known carcinogen. I'm sure they contain many other chemicals too.

But people still use it. It's a huge industry. Recently, there have been lightning creams for private parts. It'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 :)