When referring to light-skinned, curly-haired, mixed women, there is no word thrown around more than the word “exotic.” I absolutely cannot stand the word “exotic” and it has absolutely nothing to do with me being a brown skin sista myself.
Let’s start with the obvious thing that disturbs me about the word exotic and how it’s used, MEN! Men misuse this word more than anyone I have ever encountered. Men use the word exotic to describe women who are mixed and have “good” hair. Usually, women who are or seem to have some type of Spanish in their blood and are, in a sense, racially ambiguous. These are the women that men claim “have hair like the weave that regular black women have to buy” and are way prettier than regular black women, especially without makeup. Now, I don’t want to be Miss Debbie Downer, but to all the men who think this ignorant “fact” is true, allow me to bust that foolish bubble of yours. First and foremost, these exotic ladies with this exotic hair you love so much are wearing the same Indian Remi as I am…and yes, they bought it at the same store I did too! In fact, she’s not an ounce of Latino; she’s just light skin with a fresh perm who lived in a Spanish neighborhood. What is it that our black men think is so spectacular about a girl whose race they can’t pinpoint that a “regular ol” black girl isn’t worth it anymore. Oh yeah, it’s the word EXOTIC!
First and foremost, let’s understand what exotic really means. Exotic is used to describe things that come from places other than the country you’re in. Cars, flowers, and foods are exotic. Your homegirl mixed with Mexican and Black is NOT! There is not a country called “Mexican & Black,” and you can find a Mexican and Black, Black and White or Asian and Black girl around any corner of any hood. Guess what, they’re not exotic or even rare. The brown skin girl from a country you can’t pronounce in Africa, however, would be considered exotic.
This blog is not to put down any race or mix of races but rather to spotlight the blatant misuse of a word. People use the word “exotic” in a way to mean that anything not “exotic” is bland and “regular.” The problem with that thought is what or who we’re calling exotic. The women who are truly exotic (Iman, Naomi Campbell, etc) are not considered exotic, why is that? I suggest we stop using the word exotic to describe human beings. We should use exotic to describe foreign objects, not people. Women aren’t a fancy car, we’re what makes the world go round.
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I see what you are saying. But the issue here is far, far more deep than just the misnomer of a word.
The fact is, that most Black people have a long standing colorism issue, originating from being brainwashed ever since slavery that all things Black is bad and ugly.
It’s a crying shame that we as a people haven’t been able to break these mental shackles so many years after the physical shackles of slavery have been removed.
It is not only with Black men but heavily with Black women as well. e. g. WNBA star Brittney Griner handpicked a white blond hair blue eyed male to provide the sperm to create the twins for she and her wife.
So tell me. What made her choose blond hair, blue eyes when both of these mom’s are Black?
It’s that same self-hating mindset that has been beaten into slaves 350 years ago and now just perpetuated over and over in this generation of freedom.
What’s the solution? Can’t see one. Back in the early 70s there was a push to get Black people to embrace their dark skin and love it. Black is Beautiful even became a popular saying!
Then the 80s came back with light brights is right feelings and (Michael Jackson and Prince, Debarge and many others quickly erased that 70s sentiment completely).
In the 90s there was an attempt to get back that 70s vibe. The young Black youth wore African medallions and groups like X Clan, Arrested Development and others tried to get people more unashamed of being dark, but the self hate was too engrained. The biggest rap artists, Lil Wayne, Kanye, Rick Ross, Murs and a plethora of others kept brainwashing the youth to prefer light skin over dark skin. Even though the main culprits almost always are dark skinned brothers themselves , they go out of their way to say how much they adore and desire light skin. So the word they choose to use in this era is nothing, compared to the mindset of it all embodies. I think we should despise the self hate. Not one of the words used in conjunction with the self hate. You know?
But anyways that’s all I have to say.
Peace.