The perception that tanned skin signifies wealth, vitality, exoticism and adventure remains bizarrely dominant; having a tan and being thin are the twin totems of modern pulchritude. But while staying slim (as opposed to skinny) has obvious health benefits, there is no reason at all to tan your skin.
In fact, it is plainly stupid. The stats make this pretty clear. Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the US — an estimated one in five Americans will develop it in their lifetime. In Britain, skin cancer rates have gone up 45 per cent in the past decade.
Sunbathing today is a bit like smoking was 30 years ago. You know it's foolish, pernicious and basically pointless, but society still encourages it and deems it cool. It may not be conventionally addictive, but tanning becomes a powerful physical and psychological urge. Paleness begins to feel like a handicap. People build entire summers around this mindset.
And as with smoking, sunbathers must perform an act of prolonged dissonance: "I know this is dangerous, but it's perhaps not dangerous for me." This can't last; tanning will eventually go the way of smoking and become a niche activity. After all, it has only been popular for 100 years or so; the legend goes that tans became fashionable after Coco Chanel accidentally got sunburnt on the French Riviera in the 1920s. Before that, pale skin was the more aspirational look, a sure sign that you didn't engage in the desperately vulgar practice of working outside for a living.
For now, this recklessness is remarkably common. If aliens landed on the Costa del Sol today, they could reasonably assume that the British were committed sun-worshippers, much like the ancient Egyptians. They would note the ritualistic ceremony of slathering our bodies in oil and cream, before prostrating ourselves in front of the sun-god Ra for hours on end.
As we cut down on fatty foods, banish smoking, fight ever harder to prolong our lives through wellness, exercise and avoiding whatever is claimed to cause cancer this week, somehow we keep on sunbathing. It is society's last significant health blind spot and we can't even blame corporate greed or misinformation. Sure, plenty of adverts traffic in visions of bronzed beauty, but really that's a symptom rather than a cause. This one's on us.
So this summer I stopped sunbathing. Scared of cancer. Anxious about wrinkles. But also just over it. Increasingly I find proper leather-and-sizzle beach tans just look a bit tacky. Instead, I've discovered the joys of the parasol, of reading without squinting and of not devoting 10 minutes an hour to rubbing overpriced baby cream onto my skin. I still sit out occasionally and catch a few rays, but it is no longer the central focus of my holiday, as it once was. I just hope I'm not too late.
Written by: Josh Glancy
© The Times of London
