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That's the point I was trying to make in my first post. Black women are often portrayed as "ghetto" and "loud", while black men are not really given any sort of label (except maybe broke). I was just comparing the sexes from a neutral point of view. I wouldn't consider that bisexual.
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<p>"Ghettoness" on a black man makes them look strong and masculine; the same thing on a black women makes them look low class and trashy. </p>
<p>Don't you see? In a Eurocentric world, everything is compared to a white standard; everything else is a deviance from the norm (white). If race were a PH scale, then whites would be a 7, or neutral, while there'd be Asian at one end, and blacks at the other.</p>
<p>The following is just my historical theory:</p>
<p>Human beings, except for a select few of truly freethinking individuals, are not good at understanding those that are different from them. Thus, they establish a binary way of thinking of "either/or", since it's a difficult concept to accept others as differing, yet the same. For example, George Bush's "You're with us or you're against us" rationale: it's much too disconcerting for his administration to think that there are those who are against terrorists but are not willing to go along with America blindly. Therefore, rather than admit that their plan or philosophy is faulty, they simply designate all dissidents or naysayers as "traitors", "weaklings", etc.</p>
<p>When it comes to race, the concept of race was only invented around the 16th century by Europeans. They characterized the white race as the proverbial "not too hot, not too cold" porridge of the human race, while the blacks were dim-witted beasts while the Asians were weak little brainiacs. These imposed traits reflect only the most superficial facades of the races. Blacks are big, intimidatingly dark-skinned, and lack a written history, so they must be strong but stupid. They cannot possibly be strong AND smart because only whites can be like that. As for the Asians, their communal societies and Confucianist ways make them appear to be passive, so they must be smart but wimpy. They cannot possibly be smart AND strong because only whites can be like that.</p>
<p>So our sexual images of the races can be attributed to the aforementioned images the Europeans imposed on other peoples. Blacks are the dumb and masculine people, which bodes much better for men than women. Asians are the smart and feminine people, which bodes much better for women than men. Whites, of course, are perfectly balanced, making them the envy of world. <em>puke</em></p>
<p>The problem with racism is that race is the ultimate lottery ticket in life. You never have to work for racial privilege, and you can never lose it. Despite the work of truly enlightened people, there are many more who are willing to defend the system that favours them so much. Not for merit or anything worthwhile, but for a certain combination of a few genetic phenotypes that define you as a member of a certain "race".</p>
<p>Also, realize that stereotypes only exist because they are self-fulfilling prophecies, not because they are true. Many experiments have been done where women have been told that they are naturally bad at math and science, and have subsequently "proved" that stereotype. However, when other groups of women were told the exact opposite, that they were naturally gifted, they did much better, eliminating the socially constructed gender barrier in the maths and sciences. Everywhere in American culture, it is telling black kids that they are infinitely better at sports and bad music than academics. It tells Asian kids that they're weak and unglamourous nerds and can never hope to be cool or get the girl, except for the desirable Asian girls who should escape the curse of Asianness by marrying into a white family.</p>