@Virelai recently wondered about white people not using white emoji.
Like me, I guess.
Recently used emojis showing plenty of brown skin
I feel like the emojis reflect my tan. And I compare myself to my wife and my sister and they’re both much lighter. Also, when given the choice between two skin colours with different hair colour, I find myself picking a more accurate hair colour.
My point is that white people might not think about it too much. They feel that there are whiter people around them and they think of their own tan or their hair color, and they don’t necessarily want to show solidarity with black people, nor do they want to prove that they’re not racist, nor do they feel that white emojis are underlining their whiteness. I’m projecting here, based on myself, of course. It does remain an interesting phenomenon.
There’s also a deeper current here in that whiteness as a construct is something that many white people don’t automatically pick for themselves and so the problem arises when light skin color and whiteness are confused. Many light colored people don’t feel “white enough”; instead they feel “French” or “German” instead of “white”. It’s not that a white emoji would be “underlining their whiteness” but rather “underlining a whiteness they don’t feel.” So they pick something more “in the middle” – a tanned emoji.
There were plenty of essays to find online, but they’re all on sites where you’ll be tracked so I don’t feel like linking to them. You’ll find them if you search them.
#Racism
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This is brain pollution.
– Anonymous 2018-08-22 03:54 UTC
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A useless comment.
– Alex Schroeder 2018-08-22 07:51 UTC
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I can only speak for myself, but when I use an emoji I want to communicate my EMOTIONS not my race, my gender, or what ever. So I prefer my Emojis round, yellow, and sexless.
I thought it was a stupid move, when they started to publish emojis with “white” skin color, and attributes that signaled gender. But I guess, consistency is to follow even the wrong track to it’s end.
– DarkTigger 2018-08-23 13:44 UTC
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Yeah, I was also disappointed when they added skin colour, but then again...
Here’s from an NPR piece, White Skin, Black Emojis?
Before we could wave, clap and flip someone off in six different skin tones, emojis were just yellow. Simpsons yellow. This default, universal cartoon “skin” was based off of Caucasian skin tones. (And FYI, even on The Simpsons, black and brown characters were drawn black and brown.)
And furthermore (and I think this is exactly what I’m doing):
McGill writes that now that there are options, when white people send a high-five with white skin, it feels like sending a white high-five. For people who are used to thinking of their skin as the default, acknowledging whiteness in their digital hand gestures can feel deeply uncomfortable.
After all, what does it mean to send a white high-five? Or a white hang-loose sign? Or even a white raised fist?
Using certain white emojis might feel a little weird to your daughter. She probably doesn’t want to assert her whiteness in every text conversation.
I’m still not quite sure I agree with the conclusion:
But her discomfort is a product of her privilege, and that isn’t a good enough reason to try on someone else’s skin.
In the mean time, somebody on Mastodon recommended I read *White Fragility*. For the moment I’m reading a review: A Sociologist Examines the “White Fragility” That Prevents White Americans from Confronting Racism.
A Sociologist Examines the “White Fragility” That Prevents White Americans from Confronting Racism
– Alex Schroeder 2018-08-23 14:47 UTC
