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Nonamenoonenowhere t1_it7i4la wrote

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

POC know what words are used to describe us and what words are used for white people. Talk, dark, and handsome is always a white man with brown eyes and dark hair.

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SloightlyOnTheHuh t1_it7j410 wrote

Seriously? That's really sad. Surely if asked to identify a talk dark handsom man you would think first of a POC. If an author is not specific I interpret how I see fit. Try so Olivia E Butler. She doesn't always describe her characters a black but a lot of them are clearly POC. There are undoubtedly some racist authors out there. They are people too but there are a lot who just write a good story.

Edit octavia rather than Olivia?

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mongreldogchild t1_it7s4bf wrote

OP gives an example of this. White is the default in media. It's how our society runs. Look at the OP, they gave an example of how people lashed out when their perception ran counter to reality because they assumed the default.

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Bubbagumpredditor t1_it7s8h4 wrote

>That's really sad.

Yeah, it is. That's decades/centuries of exclusion working. Shit goes deep in the culture

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joemoorcarz t1_it7sa0b wrote

Not always. In fact talk dark and handsome normally indicates that the person is not white.

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Nonamenoonenowhere t1_it8rmj5 wrote

It really does mean a man with fair skin and dark hair. It was a term coined during the romantic period to describe men with fair skin and dark hair. During this era men with this combination started to be considered swoon worthy. All male leads in Jan Austin fit this description. The specific term was first used in writing at some point in the 1830s.

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