Fashionable racism?
Yesterday, I was flipping through the Brooks Brothers fall catalogue. The catalog tells a story, in which all the models are part of one multi-generational (super-rich, super-WASPy) family.
Except for the two black models. These two — one man and woman — seem to be married to each another (see page 112, for example). Perhaps they fell in love because of their shared passion for dressing up like WASPs (which I completely approve of, as a Brooks-loving semite myself.)
But seriously, why are interracial relationships taboo in clothing catalogs? And by interracial, I mean a relationship involving one white person and one black person. (White and Asian is old news. White and Hispanic? No way to tell who’s Hispanic.)
I haven’t done a scientific survey, but in a lifetime of flipping through LL Bean, Land’s End and other catalogs, I feel like interracial couples are invisible. The same applies to television commercials, as well as mainstream television shows and films.
Everyone is against racism, but we’ve all got a long way to go in being honest about interracial relationships.
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3 Comments - add your own
Ridwell — October 28, 2009 at 2:35 pm
The taboo of inter-racial coupling is the epitome of racism in all its ugly, malignant glory. And it is rampant; if not as much in general society, it still lingers in all sorts of entertainment and advertising. This is one of the most pernicious and persistent legacies of multicultural eugeniceparatism.
Perhaps, this long-established trend is only due to broadcasters and advertisers thinking America is full of prudish racists; and so they are therefore merely being cautious not to offend people’s bigoted sensibilities.
However, racist or not, consistently honoring racist prejudices and boundaries is pro-racism.
Always following the same old rules of how to present the official, distinct, and segregated colors of the human rainbow as happily coexisting but only as members of exclusive cultural societies perpetuates and compounds the cancer of racism.
When the ‘black couple’ is included in shows, movies, ads, but always only as capable of wanting or belonging with each other or other blacks, there seems to be a sort of unspoken code that some things are just too scandalous to consider or depict and must be pretty bad or perverse if they are so taboo or unpresentable in fancy catalogues or hollywood productions.
Only in the last ten years or so have I noticed some of this blatant deference to racist boundaries casually ignored in a few mainstream shows and ads in which blacks and whites are depicted as compatible and desirous of each other. This is a huge step.
Mass ‘miscegenation’ still is this country’s best hope and strength.
David Adesnik — October 29, 2009 at 6:59 am
Are interracial relationships more acceptable in outerspace? Not a silly question. I’ve been watching Battlestar Galactica over the past few weeks, in which Dee (who is black and female) has had relationships with Billy and Apollo (both white males).
However, I’m not sure that racial identity exists in the Battlestar universe, so I’m not sure we can call this interracial.
Ridwell — October 29, 2009 at 10:30 am
Race is never mentioned (of course since ‘race’ is just an accident of geography, it’s curious they’d even have races that correspond to those we know) but that show broke some major barriers by depicting, and even celebrating human-cylon love. Very brave indeed.