I think that “being able to tan well enough to not get sunburned in Australia while walking around shirtless a lot” is not physically possible for a lot of people. Possibly most Caucasians. It might actually be darker than the skin tone of the average African-American. I vaguely remember getting minor sunburns while roughly that dark at one point. I think that Australia-level skin cancer rates imply that people are going outside and getting sunburned regularly and just not caring. Beyond a certain point though, sun burns actually become debilitating, and this plus other things like sun sickness prevent the really extreme levels of UV exposure. Still, most people in Australia do in fact get skin cancer.
Everyone agrees sunburns are bad, and so if someone is in a situation where the only way they can avoid sunburns is sunscreen, then they should obviously use sunscreen. That’s what I had in mind when I wrote my post, but maybe I’ll tweak the wording to make it clearer Update: I have now added a little addendum making that explicit:
ADDENDUM APRIL 16: I should clarify that for some people in some situations (apparently white people in Australia are often in this category), it might be the case that your body is simply incapable of developing enough of a tan to avoid getting a sunburn. If so, then you should obviously wear sunscreen! At the end of the day, if you’re getting sunburns, then whatever you’re doing is the wrong thing to do, and you should do something different. Sunburns are bad.
I think that “being able to tan well enough to not get sunburned in Australia while walking around shirtless a lot” is not physically possible for a lot of people. Possibly most Caucasians. It might actually be darker than the skin tone of the average African-American. I vaguely remember getting minor sunburns while roughly that dark at one point. I think that Australia-level skin cancer rates imply that people are going outside and getting sunburned regularly and just not caring. Beyond a certain point though, sun burns actually become debilitating, and this plus other things like sun sickness prevent the really extreme levels of UV exposure. Still, most people in Australia do in fact get skin cancer.
Everyone agrees sunburns are bad, and so if someone is in a situation where the only way they can avoid sunburns is sunscreen, then they should obviously use sunscreen. That’s what I had in mind when I wrote my post,
but maybe I’ll tweak the wording to make it clearerUpdate: I have now added a little addendum making that explicit: