Skin color is one of the first features that people notice the most. Therefore, it plays a vital role in the process of choosing a partner and assessing the attractiveness of others. It is also the same with skin color preferences in the Yali tribe of West Papua. Men and women have an interest in specific criteria for physical appearance. Here’s the information.
Characteristics of the Yali Tribe
The Yali is a semi-independent local community in the province of Indonesia. In this case, they inhabit the mountainous area east of the Baliem Valley. The residence of this tribe has a mountainous tropical climate. With very high solar radiation, the population that inhabits Papua has dark skin color (but lighter than in some parts of Africa).
In other words, the Yali is one of the many indigenous tribes in Papua who still apply their culture. Although Christianity is present in the region, the Yali have maintained a traditional lifestyle, such as dress and polygamy. However, it undergoes constant changes along with the times. They cultivate plots, hunt, and raise pigs (which are markers of wealth and social status).
Attractive Skin Color Perception
Not only does wealth make a person attractive, there is ample evidence that skin color also influences Yali’s attraction. Research has found that the preferred skin tone is lighter than average for Yali men and Yali women. Therefore, despite the high solar radiation in this region, pale skin tones are more preferred for some people in Yali Tribe West Papua.
At the same time, there are other reasons why men’s and women’s preferences differ. In addition, this is also associated with a significant correlation between acculturation indicators and skin color preferences. However, this vital aspect is only found in men. Some argue that pale skin can be associated with fertility and youth levels in women.
However, in the Yali Tribe, no such preference is found. In general, the fact that sex differs in preference for male and female faces supports the relationship between light skin and social status. A lighter skin tone can also be a significant cultural sign. It shows that someone with pale skin can have more free time.
Those with pale skin don’t have to do strenuous work outdoors. On the other hand, social status is significant in shaping preference for lighter skin color because social groups tend to be dominant for male attractiveness than females. This could be one of the reasons why the Yali tribe in West Papua prefers relatively lighter skin tones in men.
Reasons for Choosing Different Skin Tone Preferences
In general, preferences for lighter skin tones can change relatively quickly. As a result, this gives rise to migration to new cultural contexts. Yali men who have more contact with Westerners and Indonesians in other regions are more likely to prefer lighter skin. This contrasts to Yali men who rarely have contact with different cultures and live far from Wamena.
This suggests that culture influences the perception of skin color. In other words, choice of skin color and contact with people more broadly correlated with higher status than representatives of different cultures. It is an exciting issue due to the fact that the correlation is accurate among Yali males. However, there is a reason why this is significant.
The first possibility is that Yali women have always preferred lighter skin tones in men. That is why preferences do not change under the influence of encounters with other cultures. A second explanation impact that they may have adopted selections from men, whose preferences have emerged and changed recently in West Papua.
As a matter of fact, it seems that in the Yali tribe, men are more traditional and conservative—for example, many young men wear traditional Koteka. In comparison, almost no young women wear traditional skirts made of grass anymore. However, the Yali tribe chooses an average of slightly lighter skin tone for women’s faces and slightly darker men’s faces.
Even so, differences between skin tones should not lead to an aversion to darker skin tones. In addition, there are many reasons why people in the Yali tribe have different perceptions of skin color attraction. It happens because the people in this tribe are not entirely isolated. They are influenced by Western culture (such as missionaries, anthropologists, administrators, and tourists).
However, when compared significantly, the Yali don’t consider skin color and are relatively unaffected. It is due to the fact that several marriages between these tribes are arranged o by their parents. It is possible that Yali men in West Papua may prefer lighter-skinned women for aesthetic reasons, but this preference has not yet been applied to mate choice.
Overall, some Yali tribes show a lighter preference for dark-skinned indigenous people. At the same time, these preferences may be affected by contact with other cultures. Women in this tribe may be more likely to adopt Western standards of attractiveness than men. It has a significant impact on for preferences of each other in that tribe.
