History Main / ButNotTooWhite

Today, the extent of this trope varies from country to country. In most of Asia [[RavenHairIvorySkin paler is better]], but in the general western world, a light tan is a sign of healthy physical activity. Pale skin is often associated with being a [[HollywoodNerd nerd]], {{goth}}, [[LonersAreFreaks shut-in]], or invalid. People who rarely venture into the sun will often be unwilling to wear shorts or take off their shirts in public for fear of revealing a "pasty" complexion beneath their standard clothing. Even people who lack the ability to tan will often be ashamed of their white skin tone.

* ''Series/OneDayAtATime'': The fairskinned Elena despairs when she realizes her skin tone doesn't make her look as Latino as her darker family members.

* ''Series/DearWhitePeople'': A lot of black people dislike Sam because she is mixed race, judging by her comments about being called things like "half breed" or "Zebra". She possibly overcompensates in reaction by being a militant activist about all issues which affect black people.

* The Literature/NoughtsAndCrosses series runs with this. It takes place in an alternate universe where whites (the noughts) were subjugated by the blacks (crosses). In this world, having any coloured skin that's paler than a chocolate brown will not do you any favors.

Throughout the pre-1950s world, fair and un-calloused skin was a sign of having the money not to need to do outdoor work or manual labour. Great lengths were taken to maintain pale and dainty skin, including [[MakeUpIsEvil using lead and arsenic based makeup]] and, during certain fashion cycles, [[ParasolOfPrettiness ladies carrying parasols whenever going outside]]. There's a reason that in pre-modern times the word "fair" came to be a synonym of "beautiful."

Tanned skin was one of the new "beauty standards" promoted by UsefulNotes/CocoChanel in the early 20th century, but it didn't quite take off until the '50s and '60s, when people actually had the money and the means to do this kind of thing. Tanned skin was a sign that you had both the money and the free time to visit nice places with fresh air and sun, something just not possible for Europe's middle classes in the [[TheRoaringTwenties twenties]] and [[TheThirties thirties]].

Tanning reached an apex in TheSeventies, and again in TheNineties and the TurnOfTheMillennium, when every actress and model had to have a dark orange tan in order to be considered attractive. TanLines from swimsuits were not considered unattractive, but a "farmer's tan"--the kind you get by actually working outdoors--is still considered a sign of low social class. This has also led to the rise of tanning salons, sunbeds and hours of sun-exposure without any form of UV protection, which consequently led to a rise in skin cancer, particularly in young people.

* Wrestling/MsChif was still getting jeered for her pale complexion even in 2002, after she had been with Gateway Championship Wrestling for a year. It appears wrestling fans ''did'' get used to it eventually though, as she was voted "sexiest" at Missouri Wrestling Revival in 2012. Sean Vincent and Ryan Ash never seemed to get past it though, while Billy [=McNeil=] seemed to get a free pass for being redheaded and Irish.
* Wrestling/BryanDanielson has taken a lot of heat for his paleness over the years, and addressed the issue in a promo during his [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/roh-h.html ROH World Heavyweight Title]] reign. As usual for Bryan, he [[RealMenWearPink turned a trait perceived as unmanly]] into TestosteronePoisoning in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu6KQx6ibsY this video]]:

* Subverted with Wrestling/{{Aksana}} who is a pale skinned Lithuanian. Old photos from her Fitness competition days show her tanned and looking rather unnatural compared to how she looks now. Next to all the other girls on the roster she's quite pale but the announcers don't acknowledge this and talk up how attractive she is. Photos from her fitness competition days will make her look unnatural. Because of the incredibly harsh lighting (and the fact that darker skin highlights muscle tone better) most fitness athletes use several layers of a very dark sunless tanner (like Pro-Tan or Dream-Tan) to darken their skin to bizarre levels. They'll look normal on stage but backstage will look like they're covered in rust. Look up photos of any fitness model or bodybuilder, and there will be a mix of onstage, backstage, and off-season photos that will show this. There are pictures of her from her modeling days as a blonde, though.
* It's a staple of Pro Wrestling that many wrestlers will have to tan when competing on shows as the lights in the arenas will make them appear more pale than they actually are, as Sheamus demonstrates. This is especially glaring (no pun intended) in larger arenas where high intensity lights are needed and are thus not flattering to those with pale skin. According to Wrestling/MariaKanellis, the wrestlers in WWE previously just used fake tan but when they switched to HD they had to start tanning naturally. Wrestling/RandyOrton [[InJoke mocked]] Wrestling/{{Christian}} for continuing to use fake tanner in the HD era, as it makes his skin appear yellow.

* Back in the day, after the circulation of media footage of UsefulNotes/BillClinton jogging, Creator/DavidLetterman for awhile poked fun at Bill's "pasty white thighs", and even tried to foster its MemeticMutation. Music/LucianoPavarotti declined to sing the words on the show.

This wasn't always so [[ButNotTooBlack (and still isn't for many)]]. Throughout the pre-1950s world, fair and un-calloused skin was a sign of having the money not to need to do outdoor work or manual labour. Great lengths were taken to maintain pale and dainty skin, including [[MakeUpIsEvil using lead and arsenic based makeup]] and, during certain fashion cycles, [[ParasolOfPrettiness ladies carrying parasols whenever going outside]]. There's a reason that in pre-modern times the word "fair" came to be a synonym of "beautiful."

** When her debut single "Everybody" was released in 1982, she actually had to fight the record execs to be featured in her own music video. The song was heavily influenced by early 80's R&B, and the execs thought viewers wouldn't take Madonna seriously if they knew she was white.

* Both averted and played straight by Music/{{Madonna}} in her video for "Express Yourself", where Madonna herself is lit brightly enough that her super-pale skin seems whiter than the bedsheets she clings to (only the vital parts of) herself, while her lover has darkly tan skin by contrast.

* In ''Toys/TheGrosseryGang'' webseries arc "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous", Meathead, while coaching the newly-rich Ricardo on how to look the part, says he's too pale and needs a tan, because "rich people love their fake tans", though it ends up a real tan in Ricardo's case...and a very streaky one at that.

Also see EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette, EvilAlbino, UndeathlyPallor. Contrast ButNotTooBlack - despite the name, mind, this trope is not strictly its opposite. Compare ButNotTooForeign.

Tanning reached its apex between UsefulNotes/TheSeventies and UsefulNotes/The2000s (sans for TheEighties), where every actress and model had to have a dark orange tan in order to be considered attractive. TanLines from swimsuits were not considered unattractive, but a "farmer's tan"--the kind you get by actually working outdoors--is still considered a sign of low social class. This has also led to the rise of tanning salons, sunbeds and hours of sun-exposure without any form of UV protection, which consequently led to a rise in skin cancer, particularly in young people.

Tanning reached its apex between UsefulNotes/TheSeventies and UsefulNotes/TheTwoThousands (sans for TheEighties), where every actress and model had to have a dark orange tan in order to be considered attractive. TanLines from swimsuits were not considered unattractive, but a "farmer's tan"--the kind you get by actually working outdoors--is still considered a sign of low social class. This has also led to the rise of tanning salons, sunbeds and hours of sun-exposure without any form of UV protection, which consequently led to a rise in skin cancer, particularly in young people.

* ''Series/BurnNotice'' features Gabrielle Anwar [[FakeNationality playing]] a tanned, sun-worshipping ''Irishwoman'' living in Miami. The odds are [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Irish#Hair.2C_skin_and_eye_colour_statistics_in_Ireland pretty good]] that any ''real'' Irishwoman living in sun-soaked Miami and wearing the clothes she wears would look like [[http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Irish-skin-cancer-rates-surge-from-foreign-sun-vacations-93356114.html an overgrown lobster]].

Tanning reached its apex between UsefulNotes/TheSeventies and UsefulNotes/TheOughts (sans for TheEighties), where every actress and model had to have a dark orange tan in order to be considered attractive. TanLines from swimsuits were not considered unattractive, but a "farmer's tan"--the kind you get by actually working outdoors--is still considered a sign of low social class. This has also led to the rise of tanning salons, sunbeds and hours of sun-exposure without any form of UV protection, which consequently led to a rise in skin cancer, particularly in young people.

* Both averted and played straight by Madonna in her video for "Express Yourself", where Madonna herself is lit brightly enough that her super-pale skin seems whiter than the bedsheets she clings to (only the vital parts of) herself, while her lover has darkly tan skin by contrast.

Today, the extent of this trope varies from country to country. In most of Asia [[RavenHairIvorySkin paler is better]], but in the general western world, a light tan is a sign of healthy physical activity. Pale skin is often associated with being a [[HollywoodNerd nerd]], [[LonersAreFreaks shut-in]], or invalid. People who rarely venture into the sun will often be unwilling to wear shorts or take off their shirts in public for fear of revealing a "pasty" complexion beneath their standard clothing. Even people who lack the ability to tan will often be ashamed of their white skin tone.

[[caption-width-right:350: For fishes, being sun bleached is considered the "ultimate tan".]]

Tanning reached its apex between UsefulNotes/TheSeventies and UsefulNotes/TheOughts (sans for TheEighties), where every actress and model had to have a dark orange tan in order to be considered attractive. Tan lines from swimsuits were not considered unattractive, but a "farmer's tan"--the kind you get by actually working outdoors--is still considered a sign of low social class. This has also led to the rise of tanning salons, sunbeds and hours of sun-exposure without any form of UV protection, which consequently led to a rise in skin cancer, particularly in young people.

* Nicola Roberts of the British pop group Music/GirlsAloud was often derided as "[[HollywoodHomely the ugly one]]" in the press because her extremely pale skin and bright red hair made her stand out [[http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44933000/jpg/_44933710_pa_girlsaloud466.jpg in stark contrast]] to her bandmates' tanner complexions. It's mostly abated by now as she has used her paleness as the basis for starting and marketing a successful make up range for pale women.

* ''Series/DearWhitePeople'': The black nationalist group Shadow of the Crescent dislike seeing Elizabeth when she comes with Kurdy to forge links with them for Thunder Mountain, because she's light-skinned, of mixed race descent and has a "white" name. Kurdy calls them out on this soundly, noting how many leaders in black empowerment (including the nationalists like Malcolm X) were themselves of mixed race descent, and certainly didn't reject those who were.

Tanning reached its apex between TheSeventies and TheOughts (sans for TheEighties), where every actress and model had to have a dark orange tan in order to be considered attractive. Tan lines from swimsuits were not considered unattractive, but a "farmer's tan"--the kind you get by actually working outdoors--is still considered a sign of low social class. This has also led to the rise of tanning salons, sunbeds and hours of sun-exposure without any form of UV protection, which consequently led to a rise in skin cancer, particularly in young people.

* It's a staple of Pro Wrestling that many wrestlers will have to tan when competing on shows as the lights in the arenas will make them appear more pale than they actually are, as Sheamus demonstrates. This is especially glaring (no pun intended) in larger arenas where high intensity lights are needed and are thus not flattering to those with pale skin. According to Maria Kanellis, the wrestlers in WWE previously just used fake tan but when they switched to HD they had to start tanning naturally. Wrestling/RandyOrton [[InJoke mocked]] Wrestling/{{Christian}} for continuing to use fake tanner in the HD era, as it makes his skin appear yellow.

* In ''Toys/TheGrosseryGang'' webseries arc "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous", Meathead, while coaching the newly-rich Ricardo on how to look the part, says he's too pale and needs a tan, because "all rich people have fake tans", though it ends up a real tan in Ricardo's case...and a very streaky one at that.