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hater_first OP t1_it7fm7i wrote

Reply to comment by SloightlyOnTheHuh in Why are black people inexistant in the fantasy/sci-fi genre by hater_first

I'm sorry but if the character is described as blond hair, olive skin or blue eyes they are coded as white.

You can imagine them however you want, but they are still white

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SloightlyOnTheHuh t1_it7fras wrote

And if they are described a dark with brown eyes? Are the automatically white too?

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hater_first OP t1_it7gsg3 wrote

No, but dark often refer to white people. As a black person, I have rarely heard people describe someone as dark. Darkskin ? Yes. Dark ? Almost never

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SloightlyOnTheHuh t1_it7ie6j wrote

So it's the way you read and interpret. If I see a character described as dark I assume they're black. I'm currently reading A Time of Dread by John Wynne. He describes a character as darker of skin than his southern neighbours...or similar words. I immediately see him as a black man. You might interpret that differently but nowhere in the book is anyone described as black or white. And why should they be? It's not racist to ignore race. Its quite clear the author sees a wide rainbow of skin colour if you interpret that as binary black and not black I would politely suggest the problem may be with you.

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elEyendS t1_it7v3jo wrote

Where I’m from people use it to mean brown or tanned skin. But I’m guessing that’s the difference between native and non-native english speakers. We’re much more literal in translations.

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Faulty_english t1_it7lj4h wrote

I remember when I thought olive skin meant black (like olives)

I thought Katniss from The Hunger Games was black 🤣

I honestly think that the authors personal experiences affect their writing. They may not even notice that they are excluding other races.

Maybe they also feel like they can’t write those characters because they feel like they can’t represent them well.

I honestly don’t know why though, a group of real authors would need to let you know…

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quantumfall9 t1_it8f77n wrote

Olive does not mean white tho. When read ASOIAF, the Dornish were described as having Olive skin, and Dorne is based on the Middle East.

Edit: lol some knob downvoted me.

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NefariousnessOne1859 t1_it7htp7 wrote

Olive skin is not directly white to me….unless the white person has been on holiday and gotten a nice tan.

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thisizmypornburner t1_it81uf1 wrote

Olive skin almost exclusively refers to a sort of European Mediterranean look... so yes, white

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Ealinguser t1_it8w6mh wrote

or Latino

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thisizmypornburner t1_it8yrju wrote

Descendents of white Mediterranean Europeans would also have olive skin yes

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Ealinguser t1_itco8jl wrote

Merely pointing out that in the US, the Latin look is commonly considered not to be white, unlike in Europe. And of course many people of mixed race have olive skin, and are definitely not considered white there either.

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