By Justine Patton

At the beginning of the summer after seventh grade, I set a goal for myself: this would be the summer I got a tan. Each morning I would wake up around 11 a.m., set up a beach towel in the middle of my driveway, and lay there, patiently waiting for the sun to kiss my pasty white skin. Then, an hour later, I would return inside, my skin glistening with sweat. This continued each sunny day for three months, and at the end of the summer, after watching my friends achieve golden, beachy exteriors, I had nothing but a sunburn and peeling skin to show for it. That’s when I discovered the curse of being a Patton: we’re fair-skinned — and we stay that way.

I wasn’t the only teenager in history to yearn for darker skin. According to research published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, around 2.3 million teenagers use tanning beds a year in the United States. This trend doesn’t seem to fade with age. The research stated a total of 30 million people in the United States visit a tanning bed each year. If you glance around KU’s campus at all the bronze college students in the middle of winter, that fact isn’t so hard to believe.

But why do we want to be tan so badly? A recent study by Emory University suggests people associate being tan with being sexy. Researchers used HotorNot.com to see whether “hotness ratings” would change when the same woman was shown with her natural skin tone and then again with a tan. The researchers found that the tanner version of the woman got rated more attractive twice as often. Individuals often report that tan people look healthier than pale people as well.

But here’s a news flash: there’s nothing healthy about a tan. A recent report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) states that exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV rays) can cause skin cancer, skin burns, premature skin aging and eye damage. The risk of melanoma increases by 75 percent if people use tanning beds before they turn 35. In other words, tanning in a tanning bed (or outside for that matter) isn’t good for you at all.

So, is being tan during your 20s really worth skin cancer in your 40s?

I’m here to say that it’s not. Having a golden tan for spring break while you’re in college isn’t worth missing a vacation with your children down the road because you’re in chemotherapy instead. I say embrace your skin’s natural complexion — whether it is white, olive, tan or black — and forget about society’s standards for “outer beauty.” It’s not worth the risk.