A little history: until the 1920s, in Western society, high-status women protected their skin from the sun because only women who worked outside, in the fields, were suntanned. Only low-status women had tans. Even the upper-class women who rode horses covered themselves up with hats, gloves, long sleeves, etc. Fast forward to an industrial society in Western Europe and the United States. By the 1920s, the vast majority of women who worked, worked inside and away from the sun. So the leisured classes, the high-status women, from that time on have tanned themselves to a crisp as an indicator of their access to boats, beaches, tennis courts, and other leisure activities only available to middle- and upper class women. Pale, untanned skin became a working-class indicator. For more detail about how this all works, I heartily recommend Thorstein Veblen’s “The Theory of the Leisure Class.”
La Lydia,
Thank you so much for that information. I really appreciate it. Not having known about it I missed a great piece of history.
I am saving your post to me. I’ll read it again several times and send it on.
Again, I thank you for sharing.
P.S.
And thank you for directing me to “The Theory of the Leisure Class.” I will study that too.