Omorose Panya
Back from a loonngg hiatus! Vixianna suggested that I post this to Gaia, and I figured, hey, why not? So here goes throwing my post to the wolves!
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So. You're one of
those people, huh? Someone who is not attracted to black women ***. Well, guess what? I'm going to tell you straight up and to your face: That's racist. What's that? "It's just a preference!" you cry in face-saving desperation? Well, yes, kind person, it is "just" a preference. But guess what? Preferences can be, and often are, racist.
Of course it's prejudice. Just as preferring large breasts or asses is prejudice.
We're all sexually prejudice, in at least some way or another. That's how Natural Selection works.
It's not something to be ashamed of.
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How is it racist, you ask? You're anticipating some kumbaya PC mumbo jumbo about equal opportunities and loving and being nice to everyone, aren't you? Or some Major Butthurt from me (a black woman) because I'm super ugly, no? At the end of the day, I'm just pissed because I can't get a date,
right?
I wouldn't say any of that. But then again, I've never seen what you look like, either. So I couldn't, anyway.
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Wrong. I'm not here to tell you that you need to broaden your horizons and date black women. Really, if you think that we are unattractive, then
please do us a favor and don't date us. No, s**t, okay? We have enough to deal with without having to add you and your egregious quest to prove to yourself that you're Not Racist to our list of daily to-do's. No, I'm here only to explain to you how your "just a preference" is racist and will leave it at that. Promise.
So, how exactly is it racist? *drumroll* Because it relies on the sentiment that all black women (and black people, really), look the same—
Nah. I don't buy that. There's a lot of people of many different varieties that I don't personally find attractive. Doesn't mean I think they all look the same. In fact, the people I
DO like, don't even look all the same. It's just that some features work well to my interest, and others don't. And there's no real formula to "what works", either. Just...some things work well for some, and aren't so flattering to others.
*shrug* I like whatever I happen to like.
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typically the asexual/desexualized,
mammy caricature that was mainstreamed during slavery and to this day remains one of the top caricatures black women are portrayed as (alongside
jezebel and
sapphire), among others).
In reality, whiteness has the most stringent physical criteria: out of all the races, it is the most difficult to be considered white because a smaller combination of physical characteristics grants one whiteness. Contrast that with blackness: One can have any trait and be considered black. One can have any skin tone and be considered black—but not white; any hair texture and be considered black—but not white; any eye shape and be considered black—but not white; any nose shape and be considered black—but not white. At most, one might be considered “mixed” (in a
tragic mulatto kind of way) if one has “attractive” traits, because all fully black women look the same, and that look is socially understood as the pinnacle of ugliness. If a black woman has a "valued" trait—e.g. blue eyes, angular nose, naturally straight hair, blonde hair—and, really, if she is not that pinnacle of ugliness, then she
must have “white blood” in there
somewhere or it just doesn’t work. It is simply beyond comprehension.
I...don't know anyone who looks at it like that.
neutral
I've seen black women with blue eyes. I never thought "wow, she must be part white". Just "Wow...that really stands out."
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Our understanding of race is not mere happenstance;
we as a society have spent centuries constructing the concept of race around “whiteness”— around who gets to be perceived and treated by greater society as full human beings and citizens. Part of that involves allowing white people to be recognised as a diverse set of unique individuals, despite being the least physically diverse by design; and not as clones, which is how we tend to perceive and treat black people, despite being the most physically diverse by design, and other racial minorities. That is how people are able to both think and say that they are not attracted to black women without social strife, and that is why society does not catch that it is inherently racist.
And make no mistake: it
is racist.
Just as being non-bisexual is technically sexist. Any sense of preference is by nature prejudice. But not necessarily conscious, or specifically harmful.
And by the way, while I'm not shy about the fact that I don't find many black girls that would qualify as "my type" (I don't think they're "ugly" specifically. Just don't generally turn me on), I'm almost equally turned off by the vast majority of WHITE women that I see. My standards are shamelessly strict, and I'm not shy to admit that. Like I said, I just like whatever the hell actually does the trick, with no specific formula. Although I have noticed a tendency to lean more toward Asian women, for some strange reason I doubt I'll ever actually understand.
However, he vast majority of people, even Asian, don't fit the bill. I have never really figured out why that is.