# White skin on a black person. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 17, 2005, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-skin-on-a-black-person/336100 "2005-12-17T21:40:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-skin-on-a-black-person/336100/21 "2005-12-19T16:06:52Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > 😕 Male gentials are more heavily pigmented than the rest of the body. They are certainly not white on black men. > > Female genitals are also often more heavily pigmented though it’s not as noticable for obvious reasons and not as universally true. Move some of the foreskin or labia away and take a closer look. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-skin-on-a-black-person/336100/22 "2005-12-20T04:02:19Z")
> [@The Controvert](#): > > Move some of the foreskin or labia away and take a closer look. Nope, you’re still making no sense. Care to spell this out for us? The skin on the genitals is darker than the skin elsewhere. The mucous membranes of the penis or vagina are pink, as are the mucous membranes of the mouth. But mucous membrane isn’t skin. So what exactly was your point? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-skin-on-a-black-person/336100/23 "2005-12-20T05:34:48Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > Wondering: why do “black” babies arrive such a lighter color than they become? Ever seen a really knew baby of a black couple? It looks like they’re faking the relation, like on the Cosby show and such, where a family is a whole palette of colors. But then the baby becomes more like the parents. Is it all tanning? I wouldn’t think most parents allow their baby to become tanned on its butt. IANAD but I believe sunlight is needed in the chemical process to make melanin. The phenomenon you describe is similar to that of babies having light eye color that darkens over time. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-skin-on-a-black-person/336100/24 "2005-12-20T07:00:30Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Nope, you’re still making no sense. Care to spell this out for us? The skin on the genitals is darker than the skin elsewhere. The mucous membranes of the penis or vagina are pink, as are the mucous membranes of the mouth. But mucous membrane isn’t skin. > > So what exactly was your point? Oh… that’s not skin? (my point was that part of the outer layer of the body is similar in appearance between different races) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-skin-on-a-black-person/336100/25 "2005-12-20T17:41:26Z")
And then there are black albinos, who probably still identify as Black. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-skin-on-a-black-person/336100/26 "2005-12-20T21:24:28Z")
> [@The Controvert](#): > > Oh… that’s not skin? (my point was that part of the outer layer of the body is similar in appearance between different races) No, that’s not [skin](http://www.healthscout.com/ency/1/002264.html), it’s [mucosa](http://www.healthscout.com/ency/1/002264.html). It has a completely different set of properties and functions. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-skin-on-a-black-person/336100/27 "2005-12-20T21:58:37Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Most black families that I know _are_ composed of a whole palette of colors. I have two nieces–both sisters with the same parents. One is the shade of “Denice”. The other is the shade darker than “Rudy”. Thank you. I’d like to find who started this idea (I swear I remember it as some black stand-up’s bit, but I could be wrong) that the Cosby family was obviously fake because two brown people like Cliff and Clair couldn’t have had children who were so many different complexions. Our four boys run the gamut of lovely colors from vanilla to caramel to tea with no cream. And they’re all my husband’s and mine. ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-skin-on-a-black-person/336100/28 "2005-12-20T23:48:57Z")
> [@Avarie537](#): > > No, that’s not [skin](http://www.healthscout.com/ency/1/002264.html), it’s [mucosa](http://www.healthscout.com/ency/1/002264.html). It has a completely different set of properties and functions. I’m confused as to what parts we are talking about. Personally (TMI Warning: Objects in mirror are closer than they appear) The shaft skin is heavily pigmented, then comes the circumcision scar, no pigment there, then a membrane below the glans, is that the mucosa to which you refer? Because if it is then, ok, no melanin there (no visable mucous either), but if it is not and the glans is refered then there is definately melanin there. All of this is from personal experience with a tanning bed, the glans and shaft get darker while the scar/membrane area stays the same, your mileage may vary. However, I also played football in high school, I have seen some pretty dark circumcision scars and membranes. I did not take too close a look though as IANA homosexual (Come on, everyone looks, like everyone wanks it, not everyone is man enough to admit it though) but I did not notice the same pinkness on any units the same as pinkness on the palms or soles. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2005, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-skin-on-a-black-person/336100/29 "2005-12-20T23:59:51Z")
> [@nd\_n8](#): > > I’m confused as to what parts we are talking about. The mucosal reference is to female genitalia and anyone who has that shouldn’t have a circumcision scar on them. (Though I understand that is a common practice in many places where I wouldn’t want to have a daughter.) **nd\_n8** , you made me think of Kindergarten Cop and the line about ‘Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.’ ‘Tanks for da tip.’ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-skin-on-a-black-person/336100.md?page=1)