What's the opposite of Fair? (Ghana)

If light skin is "fair" then what is dark skin? Language, images, ideologies, religion, culture etc...are all important in how we view ourselves.

So what exactly drives someone to bleach the melanin out of their skin? Sociological studies have shown that people with lighter skin have better access to jobs, are considered prettier, and is more likely to have better access to upward mobility.

Skin bleaching is prevalent in many ex-European colonies (Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados, India, Guyana, Ghana, Sudan, Mexico, parts of Asia etc...etc.) One thing we know from history is that oppressed people tend to take on characteristics of their current or past oppressors because those qualities are associated with prestige. Take for example the once used brown paper bag test or doll test in the United States.

When I was in Ghana, my travel mates and I were on our way back from a coco-cola bottling plant and at the side of the road; I saw for the first time in all my travels a billboard advertising skin bleaching cream. I immediately yelled "stop the bus!" everyone seemed a bit confused as to why I was yelling. I got off and took a snapshot.

I have seen examples of skin bleaching first hand in Guyana, Barbados, and Ghana. In the market place at Kumasi, Ghana; I met a woman whose face was discolored from bleach. When I enquired she proudly stated that she used skin bleach. I asked why and she said to become fair.