Kanye West’s comments — calling biracial people “mutts” and saying they make good models for rap videos — have been a bit overshadowed by Michael Richards’s. The use of the term “mutt” is obviously a problem, but I think this brings up two issues I can shed some light on:
(A) There is evidence people really do find biracial folks more attractive.
(B) Within the black community there is a preference for lighter skin, so bi-racial models will be the most attractive ones “black enough” for BET. You don’t see too many flat-out white girls in rap videos.
The first has been shown by science. There’s even a book making some evolutionary arguments about it, but I haven’t read it and can’t comment. Steve Sailer disagrees with some points here; the debate is over why the biracial are so sexy, however, not if.
The second came as a real surprises to me; a black woman I worked with told me about one of her lighter-skinned friends who married a darker-skinned man. The girl’s mother, evidently, was not happy.
It turns out “colorism” even pre-dated European invasions, though arguably in a different form. I suspect — based on nothing, really — that people are attracted to a tan-ish look between pale Caucasian and dark African. This would explain why (A) white people like tans, (B) black people like their lighter-skinned folks and (C) biracial people are hot.
None of this excuses use of the term “mutt,” but I think it’s important to note his seemingly absurd comments are based in reality.
Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.
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6 users commented in " Kanye West: “Mutt” women make good rap video models "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackI read this particular blog and was wondering why it was written in such an educational format, when there was no educational information in it. Just say that you think what he said was wrong and that you think bi-racial people are hot.
A) the reason why African Americans have such issues with color is a direct result of years of being taught, by whites and by blacks that your color dictates how far you go in society. Slaves were separated by color and the lighter ones were kept in the house and treated better. (Mostly because they were often the children of the slave owners). This made the darker slaves feel resentful. This feeling was perpetuated throughout the years during the civil rights movement. Lighter skinned people got better opportunities because they look closer to white. And the rest is history. It is still being done done today. The standard of beauty is based on Caucasian characteristics.
B) Not all blacks prefer lighter skin tones. Today there is a strong trend that blacks are looking to darker skin tones as beautiful. The white controlled media has not caught up with that yet. But they consider bi-racial people to be less than black (the darker the berry the sweeter the juice) The modeling industry is catching up, with some of there top models being dark skin. (Alec Wek, Naomi Campbell, Roshumba) But the overwhelming majority of the entertainment industry is still stuck in the 50s and 60s, with there distorted view of what is to be considered beautiful and what is not.
Furthermore, the term “mutt” has been used for ages, Kanye west is not the first to use it and won’t be the last. It’s outdated, but older Blacks use it a lot, and not just from the city. I heard this more in the country and my mother uses it to describe herself. It’s being taken out of context, mostly by whites and non-blacks.
I don’t know what could be more “educational,” in a blog post anyway, than citing a combination of scientific studies, historical facts and personal experiences. If you want more “education,” click the links and read the source books and articles.
I didn’t say I “think biracial people are hot” because it doesn’t matter what I think; what matters is whether, demographically, biracial people are considered hot by the population at large. That was the whole point of the post.
By the way, if you’d bothered to read the post, and in particular the “educational” parts, you’d know that colorism pre-dated European imperialism and therefore can’t completely be a consequence thereof.
Kanye West
Is it really a matter of what was said or who it is that said it?
He has a right to call a group a certain name just like that group can name itself.kanye said they are mutts he probaly refers to him self as a genius too…… are you going to let him get away with that?
I’m black and light(yellow)skin.I had lived in Philadelphia for many years.In Philly(7th poorest US city, blacks are the majority)many brown and dark skin black young adults prefer and marry only brown and dark skinned blacks.I lived in cities that weren’t like this.My light(yellow)skin cousin and my brown skin cousin lived in some zipcodes in Philly that have many sex offenders and none of the black men would date my light skin cousin and many black men wanted to date my brown skin cousin.There are few light(yellow)skin and brown or darker skinned young black adult couples in Philly.
Kanye West should not use the word mutt.
Kayne West was born in Atlanta,GA (blacks are the majority in Atlanta)and raised in Chicago,IL (blacks are the majority in Chicago).
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