Sammy Sosa...new skim regime or color complex?

Last week, pictures of Sammy Sosa, former Chicago Cubs player, from the Latin Grammy awards surfaced, showing his skin to be paler than usual for the Dominican Republican native.

While many people speculated that he had bleached his skin or was suffering from a medical condition, Sammy Sosa defended the pictures by saying his lighter skin color is caused by a European night cream he has been using, as well as camera lights. Former Chicago Cubs employee Rebecca Polihronis stated in Sosa’s defense:

“He's not trying to be Michael Jackson…He is going through a rejuvenation process for his skin. Women have it all of the time. He was surprised he came out looking so white. I thought it was a body double. Part of [the photo appearance] is just the lighting. He was doing a dermatological skin process after years and years [of playing baseball] in the sun.”

However, some dermatologists are skeptical of Polihronis’ explanation. Dr. Jonith Breadon, a practicing dermatologist in Chicago said it was unlikely that such a skin rejuvenation process (such as a chemical peel or laser treatment) would have lightened his skin evenly. While she describes that there can be accidental effects of such rejuvenation procedures, patients with darker skin would more likely end up with darker patches of skin. Other critics suggest that his lighter skin color could be the result of steroid use, since he tested positive in 2003.

In an interview with the Univision Spanish Network, Sammy Sosa himself states: "It's a bleaching cream that I apply before going to bed and whitens my skin some. It's a cream that I have, that I use to soften [my skin], but has bleached me some. I'm not a racist, I live my life happily.”

While both Sammy Sosa’s and Rebecca’s Polihronis explanations are possible, one must also consider that in these pictures Sammy Sosa is also wearing green colored contact lenses. Thus the question is, is Sammy Sosa really trying to improve his skin care regime, or is he suffering from what is called a “color complex?” A color complex is when those of color believe they will become more popular and more widely excepted if they adopt more “white” features. Dawn Turner Trice, of the Chicago Tribune’s Exploring Race blog, writes:

"The reason Sosa is in the spotlight is because he appears to be yet another brown person unhappy in his skin. He says that's not true. But in the photos, Sosa's eyes appear lighter and his hair straighter. It does make you wonder…."

This color complex has become an issue not just for the late Michael Jackson, or possibly for Sammy Sosa, but is a huge issue in India. In India, the cosmetic industry is making millions of dollars selling skin-whitening products to women. In addition, recently, such companies are targeting their product towards men as well, convincing men through its advertisements that light skin will make you more appealing and successful at work. This desire for whiter skin comes from their Hinduism’s complex social hierarchy, in which those in the upper class had paler skin than those in the lower class; it is thought that if you have a pale skin, you are from a family of higher class because they did not have to do any outside labor, in which the sun would have made your skin darker. Indian women take this drive to become paler to the extreme by even eating saffron or powdered gold when pregnant in hopes of it making their children lighter. Also, parents who are seeking brides for their sons in newspapers write in the description that they are looking for “fair” or “very fair-skinned” girls.

While it remains unclear the cause for Sammy Sosa’s lighter skin, it would be very unfortunate if it was because he was uncomfortable in his own skin.