Tanorexia

I just read this article on MSN called “Dying to be Tan”. Yes, it’s sort of a dramatic title, but the main point of the article is that there is a high percentage of teens who tan on a regular basis and that most people who develop melanomas experienced the sun damage by the time they were 18. I’ve had my share of sunburns. The worse being a direct result of feeling like a giant, white, insecure cow of a girl amongst the tan, tan, thin girls (though I later find out most of those I envied starved or barfed). Nonetheless, boys liked those girls and boys didn’t like me. That mentality led me to put baby oil on my FACE during a beach vacation in Florida. Dad had said, “You should go in, you look really red.” “Whatever, daaaad.” Cut to the next morning. My face feels a little puffy and tight, and my brother looks at me and bursts out laughing. I run to the mirror and see that my face was swollen to three times it size. My eyes were swelled shut. My lips looked like (well quite a few collagen victims of late) and underneath my eyes was totally purple. My insecure 13 year old mind was devastated and humiliated. I wore 30 sun block and a sun visor (horrific all on it’s own) and the swelling was down by the evening. As I got older the SPF in my lotion got higher. By the time I’d reached high school, I didn’t care that I was white. Aside from the 4 trips a year to the tanning bed for formal dances, I didn’t sun myself anymore. Part of the change was an increase level of security in myself. Granted, I had plenty of other issues, tanning just wasn’t one of them. Part of it was, honestly, getting sick at looking at the dumb ass chicks (and several guys) colored burnt sienna all year long. I knew people who tanned everyday from the age of 12 until graduation and probably beyond. An interesting poll popped up next to this article asking if you thought tanning parlors should ask for parental permission for anyone under 18. 76% of respondents (myself included) said yes. Back in 1986 I’d hear the tan girls on the pay phone during lunch making appointments at the tanning joint near our area. It was a social thing amongst these popular girls. These girls were 12. I don’t know how they paid or if their parents knew or the dangers of tanning beds wasn’t known or what. Of course these were the same girls who got drunk at 12, sucked cock at 13 and got fucked at 14. Hmm, it’s now making sense after all these years why they were so popular with the boys. That, and their parent’s money.
We lived in Seattle, where, face it, no one gets tan. I’m sure that that was a factor in me accepting my fair Irish skin. I do believe that a healthy glow, or a little color is nice to have in the summer. I just got back from Jamaica and prior to that Vegas and thoroughly enjoyed the sun. Covered head to toe in 30 SPF, a hat and some really awesome self tanner that doesn’t make you look orange. I’m not claiming to be better than someone who is a “tanorexic”, we’ve all got our issues. I just find it sort of funny that after hundreds of years of tanning being seen as a sign of low status (just read a Shakespeare comedy), it has become a sign of high status. Particularly being in Seattle, where, like I said, you don’t get a tan. If you were tan, you purchased it or you went skiing in Sun Valley or to Hawaii, etc. Poor people can’t afford to tan. I blame beach movies. Hollywood and beach movies. God, Hollywood’s about the perfect scapegoat for many societal ailments, including drugs, violence, eating disorders, alcoholism, rampant consumer-ism, and of course, tanning, just to name a few. Thanks Hilton. Thanks Lohan. Thanks to you, and thousands like you, government forms now can ask if you are African American, Asian, Eskimo, Native American, Hispanic, Caucasian non-Hispanic, or Caucasian Burnt Sienna. I’m reaching. I know. Tan isn’t a race, but it is a cultural epidemic. Uh-oh, my soap box is getting crushed beneath the weight of my rant. I’ll just get off.