From Exotic to a Dime a Dozen

“We're the Show at the Circus”: Racially Dissecting the Multiracial Body

“…Newman (2017) and Waring (2013) similarly illustrate how mixed-race women and men are understood as exotic because of how their bodies seem to disrupt observers' expectations of a "homogenously racialized body" (Newman 2017:5). Multiracial women specifically feel that others' perception of them as "exotic" provides them greater attention while dating, but they are also acutely aware how a seemingly complementary status it is often couched in misogyny and racial fetishization (Root 2004;Waring 2013).…”

“…Multiracial women respondents were particularly attuned to how men might be especially interested in them, given their "unique" or "interesting" looks displayed on their profiles. However, while some respondents did not describe unease with the process of multiracial dissection, the majority of multiracial women respondents perceived men's assignation of the label "exotic" to their bodies as an objectifying microaggression that only values their physical appearance (Johnston and Nadal 2010;Root 2004). Indeed, the fetishization of multiraciality, as experienced by women respondents, occurs within an online interactional order where hegemonic masculinity performances rationalize sexual harassment (Hayes and Dragiewicz 2018).…”