Race, Gender, and the Politics of Skin Tone

In Race, Gender, and the Politics of Skin Tone, Margaret L. Hunter describes how colorism leads to discrimination against dark-skinned African American and Mexican American women, resulting in their lower levels of education, lower incomes, and lower status husbands. Analyzing survey data and drawing on extensive quotes from women of color, Hunter describes the personal, and often private, pain of colorism in women's lives. This book demonstrates how light-skinned women gain advantages in terms of beauty status and romantic relationships while dark-skinned women are typically viewed as more authentic members of their own racial/ethnic groups. Book jacket.