[CW: Fetishization on the Basis of Identity (Race, Transness, Etc.)]
I'm mainly talking about this in the context of race, but it applies to other categories such as trans people as well. My main issue with this is that this type of openness to accepting fetishization on the basis of identity enables toxic tendencies.
What I mean is that, for example, I'll sometimes see black men play into disturbing tropes like the "BBC" shit and this idea that they can tie their race into the notion of being some kind of sex god. And it's worse when you get white women who unironically identify as "snow bunnies" as a way to entertain this trope (which is just racist), and these black men who don't realize the problem with this will eat it up.
This isn't pleasant; it's just dehumanizing. This isn't just a problem for straight people either. Gay men, for instance, can have this toxic shit going on too. I understand that, especially when you're a part of a marginalized group, it can seem tempting to celebrate what seems to translate to you being a desirable person, even if it's on the basis of a creepy fetish, but that will ultimately do more harm than good.
I just hope these people come to realize that they're not taken as being a desirable "person" in these circumstances, but rather, a desirable object. These fetishists do not care about their humanity, and it is, first and foremost, their fault that this is a problem to begin with.
I knew a black guy once who said the problem with the well-endowed black man stereotype is that if you take it out for a girl and it doesn’t hit the floor, she’s disappointed.
Which, besides the dehumanizing of marginalized groups, devalues earnest interracial couples. Like it makes it look like the relationship must be about fetishizing and not, oh hey maybe these people actually care about each other and love each other.
Having spent a brief stint living in a ski town, everybody always used "snow bunny" to mean "white woman who can't really ski, but goes to the ski lodge to hook up with the cute rich white guys."
But in recent years, I guess The Youths have decided it means "white woman who exclusively dates black dudes." Language is weird.
Yeah this is the moment i had to update my internal urban dictionary too. Im having a bit less trouble than with the asl update (at least that one made sense) but its like how come we can't just make a new name for this? Dagum kids ruinnnnnnnin
American... Sign Language??
oh are you a 10k'r? Lucky! Besides sign language (lol) ASL was age/sex/location for early chat rooms but is now used to mean "as hell" like "i'm mad asl right now".
At first i was mad at the change (yaarghlebargle hell doesn't start with L) but then i thought the original A/S/L was truly obsolete and ready to be appropriated. Go youts!
I remember a/s/l being used on Omegle as a teenager, but I've never seen "asl" being used to mean "as hell".
"hostiae non ostiae"
But yeah that reminds me of how I'd make my mom mad as a kid, when I would make this one TTS program say "bloody L"
Uh... I followed your link and didn't understand a thing in there. Can you explain like I'm an idiot?
Try scrolling to the top of the page.
In any case I was just making sort of a "the more things change" type joke, that even Romans in the days of Late Latin were complaining about the ways that youngsters would speak and write.
Oh, thanks! That's cool
Snow bunny has had the "white woman who only likes black men" meaning for at least 30 years or so. I'm 40 and recall hearing it as a kid, but it was in Alabama
Fair enough. I guess it's taken a few decades to spread to places that actually have snow.