Hm, I was born in the philippines but live in canada now. Anyways, I find it odd when people have problems with skin lightening, but have no issues with tanning. Both procedures could be considered "trying to change who you are." and tanning can also cause a ton of problems down the road (e.G. Cancer).

I've found that, with my friends anyways, light-skinned people want to be tanned, and darker-skinned people want to be lighter. People's ideas of beauty tend to be different in each country.