#skin color discrimination

[colorism-project]

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[writingwithcolor]

Dark features/people as blessed, white and light people as sick

ladyoftheseastuff asked:

I'm writing a fantasy story where the world is permanently covered in snow & ice. The people share a common culture & are loyal to their city states, but they are not homogeneous in appearance; there will be many, many characters coded as PoC. The main religion centers on the sun, & those with dark features are 'favoured' by the sun god, while pale people or anyone who has white/blonde hair are thought vulnerable to "snow sickness", a disease caused by environmental factors (1/2) & have other rules and customs to gain religious approval. It's dangerous & infectious but not well understood. It affects social standing and opportunities, but it's meant to be tied with ideas of youth, vitality, & fear of aging & sickness: it's not limited to those coded as white. This is a cultural detail and not part of the main conflict, but I want to avoid unintentional allegories/parallels & fetishization. Is this a concept that's too close to crossing any of those lines? (2/2)

This feels less like a means to show dark skinned people in an empowering light and more like a weak attempt at subversion. My primary concern (which you have not specified) is how do the "blessed" class treat the "sickly" so to speak. We have fantasy stories like The Grisha Trilogy and Girls of Paper and Fire, which deal with magical ability/feature-based segregation and conflict.

In both cases there is a sense of entitlement which comes with hailing from the "favoured" class, quite obvious, since there will always be an inherent othering metaphor whenever you create such a division, whether it was meant to be a source of conflict or not.

However, the two mentioned series use the "magical people are blessed, non magical people are to be pitied" arc which is somewhat more subtle than divisions created just on the basis of skin colour.

Disclaimer as I do not have albinism or vitiligo: The latter can be extremely harmful, and not just in a racial context, but in cases of albinism, vitiligo etc.

~Mod Mimi

The pitfalls of subversions

While it is always lovely to see dark features considered in a favorable way, there are some issues you may come across. Such a story could easily end up dressing those you wished to uphold as bad guys in the readers' eyes, even if the story's society and the sun god etc. thinks they're amazing, and white and light people as the victims of dark people, deserving reader sympathy. This may especially be the case based on how these groups get treated in the story.

These sort of subversions lean dangerously into "reverse discrimination" plots which are not overall accurate or favorable allegories for your real, human audience. There being diversity on both sides doesn't necessary fix this issue or remove racial or ethnic implications. On that note, and as Mimi mentioned, being demonized and ostracized particularly for skin and genetic disorders like albinism is already a thing. What does your concept say of them?

I think Dark/Black as good and Light/white as bad is a doable concept. Your concept differs a bit from simply subverting black/white tropes. This is not just Black good guys and night skies being peaceful or neutral. It's not just white/light villains (as opposed to victims) or snow symbolling death or sickness.

White and light people are quite blatantly being declared as sick and unfavored and they may very well be victims in the reader's eye with the dark people being the villainous, unsympathetic bunch. Is this your intention?

More to consider

Such a concept requires thoughtful, careful planning and intentional writing. You should have an understanding of what your story implies to the readers and the real-life takeaways.

I think it's possible to make dark skin the favored skin of the sun god without it meaning white/light people stand in a negative light and are sick or unworthy.

Consider what it is that you like about the concept of your story. Can you keep the essence of whatever it is that excites you about your ideas, without denying a whole group of people favor? If not, how will you go about telling such a tale that is not meant to symbolize a sort of reversal of roles discrimination?

Why does the sun god get to determine what is good?

Are there other gods that might have different strong opinions? Perhaps who is favored varies by time of day, season, region, culture, god?

Can dark skin get its favor without white and light features being deemed unfavorable as a whole?

How big of a deal does this favor have to be? I advise reconsidering it being the point of discrimination to white/light people for all the reasons already described.

No matter the directions you go, please research and get the appropriate beta-readers for feedback on the in-depth concepts and story.

~Mod Colette

[crismakesstuff]

I’m really sick and tired of seeing people reduce nolan down to:

1. He’s actually hitler, he’s a racist and sexist and hates every minority + viltrum is magakkk /srs

2. He’s an UwU wife guy babygirl guys!! He said he misses his wife so this clears him of all bad he’s done !!

All of you are wrong and I’m taking him away from everyone until y’all learn how to do media literacy correctly, you people treat nolan the way you should fucking treat homelander the actual canon racist and sexist pig! some of you r even deluded enough to think they would be homeboys ! NO

[spaciebabie]

hey so im not white

[finrays]

Hilarious to me that all of the tribes we’ve met so far in Horizon have their various societal flaws, but NONE of them are homophobic.

Like, sure, the Nora are xenophobic zealots. The Carja have a massive superiority complex and a good dose of zealotry and sexism themselves. The Oseram are raging sexists. The Banuk are coldly meritocratic and don’t offer support unless it’s “earned.” The Utaru are overly passive wet noodles, the Tenakth are ableist warmongers, and the Quen are a LITERAL police state where information is heavily restricted and the populace is tightly controlled.

But NOT ONE of them are gonna hassle you about who you wanna sleep with.

[toytulini]

i feel like the makeup standards are not necessarily going to get Worse, just. stay the Same. "raised by sephora and ulta" christ alive yall act like this shit is new. as if this hasnt been the standard to blast young girls with makeup ads and shit via magazine and tv and imposed beauty standards anyway. the only real difference is like, idk, accessibility of tutorials for how to apply it well

[marblecakemix]

I watched a black man react to a video where people were asked how racist they were on a scale of 1-10. Most of the women (white and poc) picked 1 and the examples of racism they gave to the presenter (the person who asked the question) were going the other direction, going to the order part of the room, taking distance from so-called people (I think we all know they were talking about men).

The way he got mad that white women are cautious around him made me feel things. I'm not saying that some of them aren't doing so bc of racism, but I think the majority of them are just scared of men in general. I'm sure that if you asked the same women if they would act the same with black women, they would say no. But they are racist because they keep their distance from someone who seems threatening to them.

[iceyrukia]

posts that attract the “see reverse racism is real!!” crowd

[i-am-trans-gwender]

Imagine explaining racism to an alien species with no concept of racism

Me: So on Earth some humans have different amounts of melanin which makes there skin color lighter or darker. Some people discriminate against people because of there melanin.

The alien trying to give me an anal probe: Dkbt jjigdsq poyrxc hdyiheruhg? (I can't understand them but I can tell they are upset and confused)

[momentswithmani]

Black people + colorism.

black people have become so numb to racism, that they consider colorism a preference. knowing that preference is a “favorable option”, and colorism is “favoritism towards lighter complexions”, there isn’t much of a difference if both terms are synonymous to favoritism.

“Colorism is not just the negative or oppressive experiences dark-skinned people face, it’s also the positive and privileged experiences light skinned people face. Colorism can show up as prejudicial and preferential treatment.” —colorismhealing.com

when it comes to black men having LSBW as a favorable dating partner, where does that stem from? is it solely bc it’s just a “preference” (favorable option), and nothing more than that? what’s reason behind black men having favoritism towards LSBW when it comes to relationships?

light skin is deemed as “feminine”, and dark skin is deemed as “masculine”. if DSBM view LSBW as easier, prettier, better, etc., what does that say about how they view black women who look like them? what makes black women who look like them unappealing, in comparison to fairly complexioned women? do black men only date certain black women with a specific skin tone? does it translate to marriage, or does it stop at sexual affairs?

keep in mind, men date women based on looks, because they’re visual creatures who have admiration for the beauty a woman exudes physically.

[colorism-project]

2024 Ronald E. Hall Conference on Colorism

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[master-jarrus]

Why do I hate it when people call my family colonizers

Well you see on my mom’s side some of them were Irish slaves and/refugees and for sure 1 of them didn’t immigrate until 1960 and he was Swedish and Norwegian

And on my dad’s side it was 1910-1930 they were immigrating over and they Scottish

We didn’t colonize shit. We were white minorities escaping oppressive white peoples (British) and bad circumstances just like the rest of the people that weren’t colonizers

The only ones that could even make me consider a colonizer are the so many greats grandfather who married their Irish slaves and had kids with them but black people who’s so many greats grandfather were white slave owners aren’t considered colonizers

Sure my ancestors were able to pass as white enough to not get hate-crimed but they had to abandon everything. Family, culture, religion, even specific types of clothing which people now appropriate, like y’all we aren’t that different my family also has years of trauma and abuse from this shit my skin is just white instead

[bread-of-death]

huh.

I know nothing about Puerto Rico

[king-sassy08]

Google search queer summer wedding outfits

[Skinny white lesbian in a suit saying 'my friend who is nb said I look good']

[Skinny white person w beard in a skirt]

[Skinny white person w nail polish]

[Token skinny black person in a suit]

Where are the fat people and where are the brown people and WHY is everyone in six layers for a summer wedding

[horror-vampire]

you'll always find more love and acceptance in your local punk scene

[tipytap]

debating getting mobility aids again