It’s clearly been two and a half centuries since the last time we had a chat, and honestly, it’s another conversation in and of itself as to why things like is are so hard maintain. However, someone made a joke other day in reference to something I posted on Facebook, saying I was only causing a commotion in order to inspire new material for my blog. So, I thought for a while and concluded, why the fuck not.
Firstly, anyone that knows me for more than 45 seconds knows that I hold the position that there may be a problem with an individuals who choose to discriminate against people, romantically and physically, based on race. One needn’t look further than some pricks Grindr profile with the proclamation “NO BLACKS, NO ASIANS” as proof of my thesis about this problem, and the rhetoric/behavior that surround it.
But, like, it’s my preference
By now you’re probably thinking, that’s their right/preference. While you’d be absolutely correct, we’re not debating his right to have the preference. We’re debating the preference and why it’s a problem.
I think we need to start where the conversation generally shuts down, “you’re racist if you don’t date black men”. No one is saying that. In fact, it’d be a whole easier to explain if you were. What we’re saying is that you have racial biases, and that you have placed negative connotations on certain races based on really prejudice ideals.
Why is this a Problem? You have a preference that is based on race. The literal definition of prejudice. Oh my God, I know, who would’ve guessed it. Once again. That doesn’t make you inherently racist. It just means that you’re a product of a society that places white-ness at the center of literally everything good. Examples? The image of Jesus.
Go on, Tell It
To elaborate more, name me one mainstream television show that features an Asian man portrayed as the teen heart throb of his high school. Oh, nothing? How about a black man playing the ladies man,who’s low key terrible, has a heart of gold, and everyone still wants him. Still nada? Not to mention most American indie, gay films are incredibly light on melanin rich actors.
What we’re trying to bring to your attention is that Eurocentric beauty is the beauty standard of most of the civilized world. You’d think that white people were the most dominant population on the globe, right? Wrong. A superb example of the effects of this standard on the western world is the Clark Doll experiment. First conducted in 1939 by an African American couple (Kenneth and Mamie Clark). The experiment features two identical dolls, the only feature separating them being skin color (black and white), being placed in front of children of all ethnicities. The children were to do one thing, decide which doll was most beautiful. In almost all responses, the white doll was chosen, regardless of the skin color of the child choosing the doll. The experiment was reconducted in 2009, with outstandingly similar results. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG7U1QsUd1g) (https://www.nps.gov/brvb/learn/historyculture/clarkdoll.htm)
WHY DOES THIS MATTER?!
You’re probably wondering by now how all this relates to your non-interest in Arab men.
Why it’s unbelievably important for you to understand the concept of whiteness dominating all of western civilization and much of the rest of the world. Can be summed up by this quote from the incredible piece of work sponsored by the Harvard Review Board called the Skin Color Paradox and the American Racial Order by Jen Hochschild. “Color preference is a cousin of racial prejudice, and like prejudice, it is linked with the subconscious urge to obtain and keep power over others.”
(Jennifer L. Hochschild, Professor of Government and African American Studies, Harvard University) –https://scholar.harvard.edu/jlhochschild/publications/skin-color-paradox-and-american-racial-order
My interpretation of that quote is that people subconsciously enjoy having the ability to swerve entire races.
Given that skin color has been undeniably linked to attitudes and life outcomes in myriad ways, one could only gather that they are also associated with physical and romantic attraction. To say that things like Zac Efron, Brad Pitt, Jake Gyllenhaal, or Leo DiCaprio starring as every heart throb, covering magazine, and gracing every billboard doesn’t permeate your subconscious, is to say that marketing and advertisement are ineffective. Being constantly berated with images glorifying Eurocentric beauty can devastate the ability to see objectively. So devastating, that many minorities in America have turned to trying to mimic those standards through skin bleaching and dramatic surgeries. Not to mention those same minorities no longer seeing value in dating members of the same race.
Why we gotta fight. Por que no las dos?! (why not have both)
Ya Lost Me
The point that is being made is that your “preference” is really coming from a negative perspective on whatever race in question. And whether or not you acknowledge that or are aware of it, does nothing to devalue the thesis. But it doesn’t excuse you from examining and evaluating your perspective. And deciding whether it’s time to rethink it, or admit to yourself and others that you may be a little racist and don’t care to do anything about it.
That Flag
It’s comically ironic to watch, listen, and speak to people who created a symbol of inclusion for themselves because they didn’t feel represented in the original, would then turn around to criticize those who choose to do so within their own group. Like, y’all really can’t tell me that in 2017 that you don’t know that there’s literally a flag for like every subculture in the gay community. And if you don’t, you’re using the internet wrong. And if you don’t understand that black, gay culture and white, gay culture are definitely different things, again, you’re using it wrong.
Hey hey hey, New Orleans (Gays), you may have noticed the last time that clip played at the Pub, there were 3 black guys in the building. Not mention, -4 Asians, 2 Latinos, 1 Mexican, and a Rabbi. There is a divide in the community and much like racism in America. People of color didn’t put it there. So reconsider your position when we point it out and it makes you a little uncomfortable.
Just make an active to broaden your horizons, folks. Also. Beyoncé is not the most talented woman out there doing it, and we know that. But she is queen. Accept it. Love it. Fear it.
#thereshopeforchange #butyougottagetoveryourhurtfeelings #queenbey #nola #nolagaysunite
