Last updated 8/11/2024
Blanket content warning for racism, objectification, and dehumanization. Many of these posts discuss colonialism, slavery, and various types of sexual violence.
1. General and various
Various commentary
Writing With Color has tags for ”hypersexualization” and ”fetishization”
Avoiding Hypersexualizing POC Characters | Writing With Color (August 2014, mentions sexualization of children)
You Could Be Fetishizing Your Dates Without Even Knowing It by Tayi Sanusi | Elite Daily (June 2020)
The Jasmine Diaries Part I: Colonial Legacies and Modern Dilemmas | Irresistible Revolution (September 2011)
Racial Fetishization Is A Big Problem Online. Here's What Dating Apps & Users Can Do. by Griffin Wynne | Bustle (July 2020)
Is it possible for someone to fetishize their own race? | This Is Not Japan (August 2015)
The Jasmine Diaries Part II: 'Exotic' is not a Compliment | Irresistible Revolution (September 2011, mentions rape, abuse, and slavery)
Fetishization's negative effects on women of color by Annya Loya | The Daily Lobo (February 2022)
Sexual Harassment and Women of Color (Blog Post) by Katherine Giscombe, PhD | Catalyst (February 2018)
Praising Beauty Without Fetishizing PoC | Writing With Color (July 2016)
What Is Fetishization And How Does It Contribute To Racism? by Janice Gassam Asare | Forbes (February 2021)
Black Jewish Boyfriend, Fetishized and Othered | Writing With Color (December 2014)
What are some red flags for someone fetishizing me? | This Is Not Japan (August 2015)
Pet Names for Characters Of Color | Writing With Color (April 2015)
Appreciating Accents: Avoiding Exotifying and Othering | Writing With Color (March 2015)
How Queer Men of Color Deal with Being Fetishized by Naveen Kumar | Vice (October 2017)
Fat Black Women Stereotypes and Sexualized Asian Women | Writing With Color (January 2015, discusses patriarchy, heteronormativity, and rape culture)
Interracial Relationships & Avoiding Fetishizing | Writing With Color (August 2014)
Racist + Sexist "Adult Novelties" | Aida Manduley (July 2012, NSFW, product descriptions include creepy rape fantasies, plus transmisogynist and intersexantagonistic slurs)
Sexualized Vodounista And Human Voodoo Doll Powers | Writing With Color (November 2015, mentions sex trafficking and self-harm)
5 Signs You're About to Be Racially Fetishized by Maiysha Kai | The Root (January 2016)
Erotic race play reveals how white supremacy is a perversion of unmatched proportions by Sherronda J. Brown | Black Youth Project (October 2017, discusses Nazis and the alt-right)
"We're Not Here For White People's Pleasure." On Race, Fetish and Objectification. by Stella Harris | Willamette Week (November 2017, mentions sexual assault)
The Semiotics of Race, or: Walks on the Wild Side by Aaminah Khan | Black Girl Dangerous (April 2014)
Stop comparing it to legitimate sexualities | Dear White Friends (November 2016)
The Problem With Racial Fetishization by Sarah Gladstone | Ravishly (June 2014)
[”i want x to punch me in the face”], x = | Tumblr thread (December 2016, discusses slavery and colonialism, mentions transmisogyny)
Calling me ethnic/spicy is not a compliment | Dear White Friends (September 2016)
Opinion: Purity culture disproportionately affects women of color by Logan Anderson | Reveille (February 2015, mentions abortion and rape)
Walking the Tightrope: Good Indian Girls, Race, and Bad Sexuality by Chaya Babu | The Feminist Wire (May 2013)
”You're So Exotic”: A Brief History of Racial Fetishization by Alex Reaves | Affinity Magazine (August 2018)
Calling people ”exotic”
Post the Sixty-Ninth or On Why Exotic is NOT a Compliment | A Trip to the ”Morg” (April 2012)
On Why Calling PoC ”Exotic” is Offensive | Writing With Color (July 2016)
Why I Hate Being Called an "Exotic Beauty" by Beth Shapouri | Glamour (March 2017, mentions racist immigration policies)
What Is "Exotic" Beauty? Part I by Goali Saedi Bocci Ph.D. | Psychology Today (April 2011)
The Issue With ”Exotic” Beauty by Sable Yong | Teen Vogue (September 2016)
[video] 3 Reasons Being Called Exotic is NOT a Compliment | MTV Decoded (December 2018, mentions multiple types of sexual violence)
Dear White Boys | Dear White Friends (February 2015)
Comparing non-white people's skin to food
Writing With Color: Description Guide – Skin Color Part 1:POC And Food Comparisons (August 2014, mentions slavery and human trafficking)
Writing with Color: Description Guide – Skin Color Part 2:Words for Skin Tone (September 2014)
So you want to describe a POC character... | The random musings of a 1973 Original (May 2016)
Making Food Comparisons within Black Characters' Circles | Writing With Color (February 2015)
Chocolate Comparisons and Pick-up Lines | Writing With Color (October 2014)
rind of a butternut squash tho | Writing With Color (September 2014)
hypersexualization and asexuals of color
Asexual People of Color On Their Experiences by Anais Rivero | Affinity Magazine (June 2017, discusses aceantagonism)
There's this thing about being brown and being Asexual | I'm Ace Enough (July 2015, discusses aceantagonism in general and racism specifically among asexuals)
The Colonized Asexual – a response to racial trauma by Katie | The Asexual Agenda (May 2014)
race and sex work
Stripping as sex work, stripping as "race-work" | Civil Undressed (January 2010, requires a Google log-in to verify your age)
Avoiding Hypersexualization with Sex Workers | Writing With Color (August 2017)
Korean Sex Worker: Intersection of Race and Sex Work for East Asians | Writing With Color (March 2021, discusses stigma against sex workers)
u>Sex Workers, Exotification & Intersectionality | Writing With Color (January 2015)
2. specific to Black people
assorted commentary
An Essay on the Fetishization of black men in white Heterosexuality and Heterosexual Pornography | sensitiveblackboy (July 2014)
White Man Love Interest, Black Woman Fetishization | Writing With Color (December 2014)
As a black woman, I'm tired of being fetishized by Charlene Haparimwi | HelloGiggles (May 2016)
[video] "The Black Girl Fetish": Let's Talk. | Tee Noir (January 2021, makes a brief ableist comment)
Avoiding Fetishizing Descriptions: Skin Color and Black Men | Writing With Color (March 2015)
How The Colonial History of Hypersexualization Obscures the Possibility of Black Asexuality by Sherronda J. Brown | Wear Your Voice Mag (October 2019, mentions sexual violence, slavery, sexualization of children, and heteronormativity)
Rebellion-Based Interracial Relationship in the 1950s (BWWM) | Writing With Color (February 2015)
"White sexuality is a breeding ground for racial violence" or "the sexual violence of white supremacists fetishizing & seeking out black romantic partners" by Sherronda Brown | Available on Black Youth Project and Afropunk (October 2017, content warnings at link are ”racialized sexual violence, Jeffrey Dahmer, dismemberment, necrophilia, cannibalism, hebephilia”, also uses racial slurs)
Don't Conflate The Fetishization of Black Bodies With The Care For Black Lives by Sherronda J. Brown | Wear Your Voice Mag (June 2020, discusses white supremacy and mentions other forms of oppression)
descriptions of white women versus descriptions of Black women | Tumblr thread (December 2016)
Battling stereotypes and finding love as a queer black man | Xtra* (November 2016)
Your Assumptions About Black, Queer Masculinity Are Erasing My Asexual Identity by Timinepre Cole | Autostraddle (April 2022, mentions laws and violence against LGBTQ+ people, as well as negative attitudes towards asexuals)
Sexual Objectification of Black Men, From Mapplethorpe to Calvin Klein by Charles Stephens | Advocate (May 2017)
Luke Cage – Looks Like A Cinnamon Roll... | Stitch's Media Mix (September 2017)
Popular sex comic under fire for glossing over cuckolding's racist past by Ana Valens | Cashmere Magazine (April 2017)
Big Black Cock
The negative side of 'positive' stereotypes | Crommunist (August 2011, discusses slavery, rape, and predujiced attitudes towards Africa)
Not Funny. | Seriously?!? (September 2016, discusses rape and lynching, uses racial slurs to make a point)
What being a gay black man has taught me about the sexual objectification of women by Jeremy Helligar | 9honey (January 2017)
Black Is Bigger in Bed | TV Tropes (lists examples in pop culture, the opener addresses some of the implications of the stereotype and discusses the history of racist violence tied to it)
Jezebel stereotype
The Jezebel Stereotype - Jim Crow Museum | Ferris State University (July 2002, contains racist images to contextualize the history of the stereotype, also discusses slavery, rape, and sexualization of children)
The Historical Roots of the Sexualization of Black Women and Girls | Blackburn Center (February 2019, discusses slavery, rape, and sexualization of children)
Study suggests Black women are more sexually objectified than White women by Eric W. Dolan | PsyPost (November 2018)
Black Woman Mistress | Writing With Color (October 2016)
Gender, race, and the cult of true womanhood, cont. | Are Women Human? (November 2011)
White Men and the Sexual Fetishization of Black Women by Rebecca Stevens A. | Medium (September 2020, mentions sexual harassment of a 10-year-old, as well as white supremacy, abuse, slavery, and rape)
reclaiming what it means to be a sexual Black woman | Afrosexology (mentions colonialism and sexualization of children)
I hate... | theunfairlady (December 2016)
Dating While Black: I'm No Jezebel by Adiba Nelson | Ravishly (February 2016, mentions slavery and rape)
The Tragic Story Of Sarah Baartman And The Enduring Objectification Of Black Women by Natasha Mwansa | The Establishment (June 2018, discusses an enslaved Black woman being sexually exploited)
Adultification of Black girls (warning for sexualization of children)
"Adultification" refers to the tendendacy to perceive Black children as being older than they actually are. For Black girls, this is usually a subset of the Jezebel archetype that treats them as hypersexual when they are still children.
Black Girls Aren't Fast You've Just Been Taught to Sexualize Them by Jatella Jordan | King Of Reads (September 2017)
[video] Are "black girls less innocent"? Adultification explained | Khadija Mbowe (June 2021, discusses slavery, child predators, and police violence)
[video] she's fast: the adultification of hey arnold. | harriyanna hook (June 2021, discusses pedophilia and victim blaming)
Why Do We View Black Girls as Sex Objects? by Anissa Durham | Word In Black (March 2023, discusses sexualization of children, sexual harassment, and the harmful effects they have on young girls; mentions incest, suicide, and self-harm)
[video] Hypersexualization and Adultification Of Black Girls in The Proud Family | Video Essay | Pixie Academy (September 2021)
3. specific to Latine people
various commentary
Mexican Male Character Stereotypes | Writing With Color (March 2015)
with Oscar Isaac and Diego Luna becoming fandom faves, I think it's important to take a moment to re-evaluate the way you talk about your latinx faves | sspock (December 2016)
Latina Women on Screen: A Realistic Portrayal? by Alicia Perez | Feminspire (November 2014)
The Hypersexualization of Latino Boys by Gwen Sharp, PhD | | Sociological Images (June 2010, discusses a 12-year old being sexually abused by an adult woman and how stereotypes about teen boys and Latino men were used to blame him for his abuse)
I'm Latinx — & I'm Fed Up With Being Called "Exotic" by Kelsey Castañon | Refinery 29 (May 2018, mentions homoantagonism, slavery, dictatorships, and genocide)
calling a latino character your "papi" is not a compliment | Tumblr thread (February 2017)
Sexist Depictions Of Latinas Aren't Just A Hollywood Thing by Daisy Hernandez | National Public Radio (August 2014)
Spicy Latinas
Va-Va-Bullshit: How Latina 'Spicy & Sexy' Stereotypes Affect Asexual Latinas by Raquel Reichard | latina.com (November 2014, mentions rape and aceantagonism)
I'm Not Your Spicy Latina by Shantyana C. Lledin | The Feminist Wire (April 2012, mentions rape and eugenics)
4. specific to Asian people and Pacific Islanders
This is mostly about East Asian people.
various commentary
This Is Not Japan has the tag ”fetishization”
Please anon,,, please listen carefully | This Is Not Japan (November 2015)
The Issue With Fetishization: Asian American Acceptance by Gabrielle Choi | Medium (March 2021, mentions racist murders)
Avoiding Fetishizing East Asian Men | Writing With Color thread (October 2020, mentioned homoantagonism and real-person shippers)
Victoria's Secret Does It Again: When Racism Meets Fashion by Nina Jacinto | Racialicious (September 2012, archived here and here)
I'm sorry that happened to you but I'm glad you got yourself out of that situation | This Is Not Japan (October 2015, contains a racial slur)
When "Going East" Is Code for "CHERRY BLOSSOM RACISM" | Aida Manduley (September 2012, mentions racist violence and uses some derogatory terms for sex workers)
I've found recently that posting photographs of my face seem to gain unwanted attention of both kpop obsessed fans...and anime obsessed people | This Is Not Japan (December 2015)
how do you respond to people who say that the Japanese are perverse | This Is Not Japan (July 2014, mentions bestiality and child rape)
for the person asking if asians can fetishize asians... | This Is Not China (April 2014, discusses of misogyny)
A gay man of colour seeks his place in a white gay world by Al Boyo | Xtra* (June 2015, mentions homoantagonism)
[video] TikTok and Asian Fetishization | Elliot Sang (March 2022, discusses Western imperialism and how gendered sexual stereotypes affect Asian people, references slavery, quotes some derogatory terms for sex workers)
Models Describe Anti-Asian Racism in the Fashion Industry by Shivani Persad | Teen Vogue (October 2021, discusses racist violence)
Purity Culture is Also About National Purity: Anti-Asian Hate and Purity Culture [Audio] by Bradley Onishi | Religion Dispatches (March 2021, discusses white supremacy, as well as racist and misogynist violence)
[video] Where Did The "Asian Fetish" Come From? | PBS Voices (May 2021, discusses violence against women)
One Wicked Winter Night by Mary Jo Putney (book review by Aarya) | Smart Bitches, Trashy Books (September 2019)
seeing people erase the racialised sexualisation that Sessue Hayakawa faced in Hollywood | stardust-rain (reblooged version from April 2017)
Reflections on Eleanor and Park: What it Means for White Authors Writing White-East Asian Interracial Couples | Writing With Color (April 2023)
My thoughts on koreaboos | lostintrafficlights (December 2012)
Asian women being sexualized and treated as a fetish
Yellow Fever: Dating As An Asian Woman by Lauren Smash | Persephone Magazine (January 2012)
The Madame Butterfly Effect by Patricia Park | Bitch Media (mentions a fictional suicide and a real-life sex crime)
White Sexual Imperialism: A Theory of Asian Feminist Jurisprudence by Sunny Woan | SSRN (March 2008, discusses rape, misogyny, and violence against women)
Asian women: Rape And Hate Crimes by Jaemin Kim | HuffPost (March 2009, contains somewhat graphic descriptions of rape)
What Is Exotic Beauty? Part II: The Case of the Asian Fetish by Goali Saedi Bocci Ph.D. | Psychology Today (April 2011)
The Exploitation of Asian Girlz by Scot Nakagawa | Race Files (August 2013, discusses sexualization of teens, domestic and sexual violence, and sex trafficking)
Stop fetishizing me: Why being an Asian woman in the dating world has never been harder by Paula Young Lee | Salon (August 2014)
Yellow Fever: The Exotification of Asian Women by Ravi Chandra M.D. | Psychology Today (April 2013)
A Sociologist's View On The Hyper-Sexualization Of Asian Women In American Society by Ailsa Chang and Nancy Wang Yuen | National Public Radio (March 2021, discusses racist murders)
Not Your "Geisha Doll": Why We Need To Stop Skirting Around Racist Sexual Violence by Aiko Fukuchi | The Body Is Not An Apology (September 2019)
How Rape Culture And Racism Combine To Hurt Asian Women by Rachel Kuo | Available on Everyday Feminism and Huff Post (January 2017, has the warning ”rape culture, racist slurs” at link; discusses imperialism, sexually-motivated murders, and domestic violence, mentions torture)
East Asian Women Say Fetishization and Stereotypes Affect How They Date by Steffi Cao | Teen Vogue (June 2021, uses a slur, discusses racist violence)
Why Yellow Fever Isn't Flattering: A Case Against Racial Fetishes by Robin Zheng | Journal of the American Philosophical Association (2016, mentions segregation, other racism towards Black and brown people, misogyny, and issues regarding LGBTQ+ people, which includes a transmisogynist slur)
The Roots of the Atlanta Shooting Go Back to the First Law Restricting Immigration by Mari Uyehara | The Nation (March 2021, discusses racist/misogynist violence and the history of racist stereotypes directed at Asian-American immigrants)
Why Yellow Fever Is Different From "Having A Type" by Chin Lu | The Bold Italic (June 2013, discusses misogyny, mentions a rapist celebrity)
5 Ways Racist Fetishes Put Asian Women in Serious Danger by Rachel Kuo | Available on Everyday Feminism and The Body Is Not An Apology (December 2015, discusses colonialism, sex trafficking, rape, fictional suicide, and war)
White Sexual Imperialism | A & M (May 2016, discusses sexual violence and racist violence in some detail, contains a racist historical image as part of contextualizing the imperialism in play)
Fetishized, sexualized and marginalized, Asian women are uniquely vulnerable to violence by Harmeet Kaur | CNN (March 2021, discusses racist murders, violence against women, and sex workers being murdered)
Exotification – I'm Not Your Pretty Little Lotus Flower | Crates and Ribbons (July 2013, discusses misogyny)
The Alt-Right's Asian Fetish by Audrea Lim | New York Times (January 2018, discusses white supremacy and associated violence)
I Was Taught to Be Proud of My Tight Asian "Kiki" – Here's Why I Wish I Hadn't Been by Anis Gisele | Available on <Everyday Feminism and The Body Is Not An Apology (July 2016, warns for ”eating disorders, rape, forced prostitution, minor attraction, violence against transgender women” at the links, also talks about pain during sex and feeling pressured to keep going to please a partner)
Asian Women, American GIs, and Modern Rape Culture by Miz Jenkins | Persephone Magazine (May 2011, discusses sexual violence through imperialism)<
I Give Up On Trying To Explain Why The Fetishization Of Asian Women Is Bad by Kristina Wong | Huffington Post (January 2018, mentions Nazis, the KKK, antisemitism, racist violence, incest, and pedophilia)
Don't Discount Evangelicalism as a Factor in Racist Murder of Asian Spa Workers in Georgia by Chrissy Stroop | Religion Dispatches (March 2021, discusses a mass shooting, harmful Christian teachings regarding sexuality and how such beliefs are tied to rape culture and violence against women)
Dear Asian American Girls, Let Yourselves Be Angry by Rachel Simon | HelloGiggles (March 2021, discusses racist murders, violence against women, and victim blaming)
Hollywood Played a Role in Hypersexualizing Asian Women by India Roby | Teen Vogue (March 2021, discusses racist murders, hate crimes, sexual violence, and domestic violence; mentions suicide)
"Ugh, well he only dates Asian girls. You're so lucky you're Asian." | Tumblr Thread (November 2012)
Fetishized and Shamed—As an Asian American Woman, I'm Doubly Hurt By Body Standards by Pia Velasco | HelloGiggles (April 2021, discusses fatantagonism and disordered eating, mentions sex trafficking)
White Sexual Imperialism: "Me Love you long Time" by Sam Louie | AsAm News (August 2013, discusses colonialism and sex tourism)
The Dehumanizing Logic of All the 'Happy Ending' Jokes by Anne Anlin Cheng | The Atlantic (March 2021, discusses a mass shooting motivated by racialized misogyny and some of the awful ways people responded)
Dear White Guys: Your Asian Fetish Is Showing by Brittany Wong | HuffPost (May 2019)
[video] YIKES: Asian Fetishes | Not Even Emily (November 2021, mentions a mass shooting motivated by racialized misogyny)
Decontextualized and sexualized "Geisha" aesthetics
This Is Not Japan has the tag "This is not Geisha"
when you dress up yourself or your models as that "geisha" fantasy... | This Is Not Japan (March 2016, mentions white supremacy and violence against Asian women)
Sexy Japanese schoolgirls (blanket warning for sexualization of children)
[video] let's talk about the Japanese Schoolgirl | Mina Le (January 2021, contains warnings for non-graphic mentions of ”sexual assault, teenage prostitution/CSA, fetishization, orientalism”; also mentions incels)
Is it cultural appropriation to wear Japanese school uniforms as costumes or kinks? | This Is Not Japan (June 2013)
Sexualizing Japanese schoolgirls is not okay | This Is Not Japan (June 2013)
Weeaboos
This refers to (usually white) people who obsessively fetishize Japanese culture.
Weeaboos are offensive because... | This Is Not Japan (October 2014)
Don't Call Yourself a Weeaboo | knuckle
>so i'm chinese, and i used to be a huge weaboo... | This is Not Japan (August 2013)
whenever they find out i have japanese heritage...i would be treated like some rare diamond object or something... | This Is Not Japan (August 2016)
What do you think of white girls who glorify hentai? | This Is Not Japan (July 2013, mentions assorted sexual violence)
4. specific to Native American/First Nations people
Pocahontas Is Not a Sex Symbol by Abaki Beck | Bitch Media (November 2017)
Sexualization of Indigenous women through cultural appropriation and media by Neegahnii Madeline Chakasim | The Indigenous Foundation (discusses colonialism, pedophilia, other sexual violence, abuse, and murder, contains a NSFW image)
Why White Women Tried to Ban Native American Dances by Erin Blakemore | JSTOR Daily (March 2019)
Indian Women as Sex Objects | Blue Corn Comics (mentions slavery)
Nudie Neon Indians and the Sexualization of Native Women | Native Appropriations (June 2010)
Stereotype of the Month Entry (4/4/05) | Blue Corn Comics
It happens often on Facebook pages dedicated to Native American people | Tumblr thread (February 2017)
5. specific to Romani people
Romani Tropes 101: A Comprehensive Guide to Writing a Romani Character | rroja & ribbons (December 2016, uses slurs)
6. specific to mixed race people
Mixed Race Folks aren't here for you to fetishize | Dildo or Dildon't (August 2018, site is NSFW)
[video] The Many Problems With, "I Want Mixed Babies" | chescaleigh (October 2015, discusses slavery and rape)
Stop saying "Mixed babies are the cutest!" Or "I want mixed babies so bad." | Dear White Friends (January 2017)
UNPOPULAR OPINION: 6 Reasons Why Your Utopic Vision for a Mixed-Race Future is My Nightmare by Kristina Wong | xojane (December 2014, archived here and here, mentions genocide, slavery, and rape)
7. specific to Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) people
Veils, Harems & Belly Dancers | Reclaiming Identity: Dismantling Arab Stereotypes (also addresses sexualization of Muslim women, mentions different forms of violence against women)
Sexualization of belly dancing
The Women Fighting Sexist, Racist Stereotypes Around 'Belly Dancing' by Leila Ettachfini | Vice (July 2017, uses some derogatory words for sex workers)
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