The mortality rate for malignant melanoma may have more than doubled among UK men in the past 30 years, there may be 2000 deaths each year, but actually that is not all that many. When the link between lung cancer & smoking was established most people knew someone who had a member of their family die from this.
The belief that pale is best (for anything) also sits uneasily on a generation which believes so fervently that the darkness of skin tone does not correlate with any undesirable human characteristic.
But most of all the medics are up against that those fickle twins, status & fashion.
When I was a child a really deep tan was a bit suspect, though a light lady like tan was a coveted indicator that you were the sort of person who had summer holidays.
I suspect that the shift away from regarding paleness as a mark of the true English beauty began when the railways brought the French Riviera within reach of the English middle classes. Then came post war prosperity & package holidays & we could all show off. I even heard a lively debate on RTE Radio 1 recently in which women were bemoaning their possession of a classic Irish combination of red hair & white skin - what to do now they understand that sunbeds are not the answer?
The odd thing is that people in hot countries take care to shade themselves from the sun. Especially their heads - I used to get really ticked off for daring to go out without a hat.
Or an umbrella - perfectly acceptable as a sunshade in the midst of the dry season, no rain for months. Well, I would always rather be comfortable than fashionable, but even I would not dare walk round with my umbrella up on a sunny day in England.
Bring back the parasol as a fashion item, I say. Much less messy than Factor XXXX.
