It’s not a well-kept secret that colored people are susceptible to skin cancer, but some do tan.
According to the National Cancer Institute: “Although dark skin does not burn in the sun as easily as fair skin, everyone is at risk for skin cancer. Even people who don’t burn are at risk for skin cancer. It doesn’t matter whether you consider your skin light, dark, or somewhere in between. You are at risk for skin cancer. Being in the sun can damage your skin. Sunlight causes damage through ultraviolet, or UV rays.”
Tanning is big in the college population, 59 percent of college students report having used a tanning bed according to Liz Szabo of USA Today.
Some students take the alternative route by laying in the sun or walking outside.
Jasmyne Reese, of Orlando, a senior interdisciplinary studies major at UCF, is a black female who says she does tan naturally.
“Yes [I do tan], by the sun when I go to the beach,” said Reese. “I like the contrast between the exposed skin and the more sensitive parts…instead of wearing tanning lotion I wear sunscreen.”
“It’s proven with a lot of exposure to the sun, that even with more melanin, you can still get skin cancer,” said Reese.
Zaid Tahir, a health science major at the University of Central Florida, who is from Pakistan and a man of color says he does not tan, but does get darker when exposed to a great deal of sun.
“No [I don’t tan], I get enough tanning just walking around campus…I’m already dark,” said Tahir. Your body can only take so much sun, your cells will turn on you.”
A majority of people are afraid of contracting skin cancer. According to JAMA Dermatology: “In 2004, the estimated direct medical cost for treating skin cancer, primarily non-melanoma skin cancer, was approximately $1.7 billion, and the indirect cost attributable to lost productivity was approximately $3.8 billion.”
It is expensive to treat skin cancer and it very well can be deadly if not caught and treated early. But tanning is part of the American culture and it has become an appealing aesthetic to have a tan.
Corinna Bayocot, 25, from the Philippines, says in her country women do not think it is fair that they are not born a lighter complexion and she does not tan.
“I’m brown already,” said Bayocot. “In the Philippines it’s a different culture. The girls there would like to be white, they use cosmetics to be lighter.”
