17 Comments
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Olly's avatar

Yikes, this content genre hasn't yet reached my corner of TikTok and I hope it never does. Great article though; I was having a chat with my sister a while ago about people (in our experience, usually men) seeking/waiting for, society's "permission" to find POC attractive, especially those of us with more melanin. It's really weird and kind of morbidly fascinating

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Abha Ahad's avatar

Omg. You worded some of my latent thoughts perfectly.

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ds's avatar

As a latina fellow, i’m so tried of this. Most of the time when i have to dress i think some clothes looks vulgar on me because of the fetishisation of latina women. So when i see that clothes on a white woman i ask myself she looks amazing and normal because she is white and skinny or because is a nice clothe is just that in me looks different? I feel like i have to hide my body sometimes because i have curves and my friends no. Not only with clothes but piercings too, i always think looks good on white women, why people think i’m a criminal for having a piercing in my nose?

And don’t let me start with the clean look… Years of jokes about me having a dirty hair and now is the best discovered tiktok made

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Abha Ahad's avatar

I read a brilliant research piece about Latinas self-censoring because of media portrayal. Let me find that for you.

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ds's avatar

oh my god, i will love to read it! thank you in advance ❤️

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Abha Ahad's avatar

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269285914_Latina_Girls_Speak_Out_Stereotypes_Gender_and_Relationship_Dynamics

here you go. it's a larger paper on all problems of fetishizing Latinas but there is a portion of self-censoring as well.

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Zarah's avatar

This is an incredible article - expressed all of our (desi girls) thoughts perfectly. Well done.

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Syl's avatar

Phenomenal work. there was no better way to present this growing issue. ive always felt disgusted by the fact that indians seem the be the target of the most racism people seem to just brush under the rug. its insane.

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Paridhi Agrawal's avatar

You said it. Beautifully written

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yusra zakir 🪐's avatar

Thank you for highlighting such a frustrating issue, glad to be of help!🫂

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Abha Ahad's avatar

ty, yusra. it was a pleasure talking to you.

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harls's avatar

i love this 💗 thank you for letting me be part of it!

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Abha Ahad's avatar

ty, harleen. it was great talking to youuu.

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Sharnjit's avatar

this was a really great read! i barely use tiktok so i had no idea about this sorta thing going on fr, thanks for writing this!!

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Jayasri's avatar

I can't say much other than yikes! The divide you've mentioned based on eurocentric features are already prevalent in India. This is going to turn for the worse if this picks up momentum. Wonderfully written work 👌🏼

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Abha Ahad's avatar

Exactly. There already is so much colorism and featurism among us.

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Theano's avatar

Gross. I'm sorry, and thanks for highlighting this

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