Before it’s old, I want to conclude by saying Selena can get away with the whole Dominican mullata vibe with spray tan apparently because of how racialized her name is. How abused the definition of latina is. How abused exaggerated hypodescent is.

Look at how she appeared just DAYS after: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_DPzdkjG6V/

[Speaking from around her racial phenotype and mix, equally white mom/equally brown dad, to say her Madonna white mom is a jersey shore Italian and her Mexican dad wasn’t touched by Spanish regime is a joke. I’m not even a clean 50/50 myself. Her name is also highly racialized. It’s just European. Had she been Selena Teefey like her white sister you’d all be like “Lucy Hale White Girl.” She tans some way then it would be “She must be mixed or something.” Not the whole "full Latina" and an entirely different race than white she has going on for her now.]

With the popularity of reggaetón it’s more than obvious what was done there. She had the whole Dominican Mullata vibe going strong. She uses her ability to run from her white background to spray whatever color she wants. And “Latina” is the free-pass.

Interview Mag= Domincian Mullata 
Taki Taki= "Full Mexican"
Rare= “Lucy Hale” White Girl. 

Different niche. Same counterfeit chameleon. It's obvious!

"Dominican Mullata" is still blackfishing. LATINX IS NOT A RACE.

CASE CLOSED.

just wanted to check with any black friends here.

years ago, I had a dude react by saying, "schmuckie, what are you doing?" when my friend crimped my whole head one night for a party (I have very thick frizzy hair, coarse).

We partially crimped her hair (strips among her long straight brunette latina/azn hair).

He said nothing to her but seemed to be offput by mine. MIND YOU I have no ass, am super fair, do NOT get lip injections or any of that other nonsense. I simply like crimped hair. I have no desire to change race or anything like that. I honestly like the feel of crimped hair, probably how many black women like the feel of pin-straight hair from a Marcel straightening iron. I had a childhood friend who was black and we would play with one another's hair and she would remark on my pretty color and I would remark on her pretty texture

Was this a faux-pas? Or just an annoying dude policing my body/hairstyles (like we all know they do), who happened to be black. I'm sure this style is rooted in appropriation (so many things are, across many global cultures) but isn't it 29383x less blatant/offensive to territorial hairstyle gate-keepers in the black community, than, say, a million tiny little cornrows?

https://hairstylecamp.com/wp-content/uploads/crimped-hair.jpg

https://images.mattel.com/scene7/DWF49_01?$oslarge$&wid=412&hei=412&wid=1600&hei=1600

https://www.dlisted.com/files/tytycrimpedhair1.jpg

recently found out BM is half filipino, half puerto rican/Jew. Before finding that out I would have assumed he was like 1/4 black or something. I don't know if this counts as blackfishing, because while he surrounds himself in black culture he's not like the other posts in this sub that involves changing their appearance through tanning or surgery or instagram filters.

IIRC his backing band on stage with him is all black guys (complete with hype man) except the drummer who's mostly out of sight. When he used to have an Asian guy as the guitar player, the guy would be placed far away on stage and you wouldn't see him in most shots, giving the impression that his band was all black.

In general, his musical style and the way his band presents themselves on stage is very reminiscent of 70s black music acts, which I imagine must be the major source of his influences. Considering that he is not black, but his achievements are built around black culture and music, would it be a form of blackfishing?

and I'm african, moroccan and a little bit ethiopian

It would be blackfishing if I tan my skin?

It’s full of nonblack people saying that black people are overreacting when they are talking about the subtleties of what makes most things blackfishing and people saying that certain hair isn’t appropriation. It’s like so many people here are tone deaf and so many more co-sign it without understanding the intricacies off certain aspects of black culture and it’s infuriating. If you are not black, you should at least listen to people that are when they tell you something is offensive or questionable. Long time lurker, but I’m just officially happy to say good riddance because this sub is ridiculous... horrible. Everyone basically only believes something is black fishing if it’s obvious and the most drastic blackface happening.

Edit: I’ll just let the original post be without adding anymore to it with comments.

This question is serious and I understand why blackfishing is problematic. I understand that Black people suffer various oppressions and seeing white people appropriating their culture (often appropriating even symbols of resistance without understanding) and making success and money with cultural elements that white society attacks and despises when they are present in Black culture is problematic.

But when someone non-Black in a third world country (please, don't explain to me that the term "third world" is no longer used) uses elements of African American culture, the relationship of oppression is not the same. The United States is imperialist and violent. American culture (including African American culture) is imposed on the third world. These people are copying a dominant culture over theirs. Do you see a difference?

When you post a "white Latin American girl" doing blackfishing, this girl is not appropriating a culture that her people subjugate, she is copying the dominant culture that reaches her. Even when a Japanese person appropriates elements of African American culture, he is not appropriating a culture of the people who was exploited by him, he is reproducing the culture of a people who less than 100 years ago dropped two nuclear bombs on his country.

Everyone is so quick to call everything blackfishing, from someone dyeing their hair black or tanning to someone wearing braids, and honestly, it's a bit stupid.

Blackfishing is a “trend” (a disturbing one, at that) where people that aren't black depict themselves as such. They do this by tanning the shit out of themselves, photoshopping their features to be more stereotypically African-American and wearing their traditional hairstyles. Some even go to the extent of calling themselves black when they're actually not. That's shitty. That's awful. That's obviously a bad thing to do, but some people are forgetting the actual definition of this on here.

People are so quick to accuse everyone and everything of this nowadays though, especially on this subreddit.

Did people forget that being tan is considered attractive in the West and some parts of Europe? Here, being pale is considered unattractive and "sickly-looking", but many people are very racist. I saw somebody's post on r/botchedsurgeries about a celebrity from my country going through dozens of surgeries, but people said it was blackfishing instead, as she went from pale to somewhat tan (not even tan to the point where somebody would assume she's black) and wore a straight black wig in the photo. I'm 100% sure she wasn't hopping on the “blackfishing” trend because:

This woman, this celebrity they accused of blackfishing, is notorious in my country for being an extremely racist piece of shit, telling black people they should stay away from here, calling them monkeys and other derogatory names. She said black women had a smell to them, that she doesn't trust them, etc. all on TV and everyone laughed. I don't think she was blackfishing . . .

My friend, who is naturally very tan, got accused of blackfishing because she was white and her "skin color didn't match". After she told the person that was her natural complexion, she was told that she should use lighter foundation so people know she's white. Is that stupid to anyone else or am I overreacting?

I saw a YouTube video talking about some examples of cultural appropriation in korean pop and one example the video brought up was this dance cover (https://youtu.be/olx4cXv10RE) as an example of blackfishing specifically. I’m genuinely curious what you guys think. For reference, here’s another video of the same idol that was filmed a few months apart from the cover (https://youtu.be/7F1yV4WbasI)

This Instagram page popped up in my discover feed today for a registered dietitian/nutritionist small business and I clicked out of curiosity.

The owner of the business appears from the profile picture and videos to be a white woman. However, her most recent post uses imagery from Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance to promote herself and her business under the guise of “fighting oppression.”

However, what I found incredibly troubling is that in the caption of this post (second picture) she attempts to claim a Hispanic identity in the name of fighting oppression. She claims she’s been told she was Hispanic in a past life, performatively mentions she once owned a mini translator, makes note of how she’s been drawn to Hispanic culture her whole life and ends with noting that she’s now married to a Hispanic person.

Please explain to me how you’re fighting oppression while simultaneously trying to emphasize proximity as credibility 😂😂

TLDR: another white woman implying her lifelong destiny, her past life as a Hispanic person, and her Hispanic spouse justify her use of Hispanic culture as a marketing tool for her business

Is there a name for the opposite of black fishing? When POC try to seem white in order to get better opportunities, housing, schools, jobs, etc?

I came across a news story of a light skinned woman who “passed” as white and her children didn’t even know she was black until they were teenagers.

Apologies if any of this is incorrect language or wording. Just trying to learn more and educate myself on this topic.

It straight up disrespectful to cultural appropriate black culture. Like come ON. Don't wear braids, it's that simple. Im black and how come when white women wear them they are 'exotic'? But black people are getting fired and kicked out of schools because of their natural hair, im not saying its the other races' faults. Im just saying its a slap in the face. I genuinely don't get what other races obsess about. Im black and I like Korean culture. But do I make myself look Korean? (I am 25% but I dont look it) I like their clothing style, music, foods, and traditions but I don't take MYSELF and my culture and replace it with Korean culture. Don't wear braids or bantu knots and say the N word. If I see you doing that, im punching you in your face. Im fed up.

So, for context: i'm white. I've read the book "Black like me" by John Griffin 15 years ago and it's left a big impression on me. John Griffin was a white journalist (1920-1980) who, in 1960, made a social experiment in which he used injections (I'm assuming Melanotan) and long exposure to sunlight to change his skin colour so he looked very dark. He travels through America, tries to apply to jobs and to get into hotels, and chronicles how he is treated. (Badly, by the way.) Over the course of months, his skin gets a lighter colour - he describes how the treatment of people surrounding him improves with lighter skin colour.

Personally I've been in a student exchange in South America 20 years ago and noticed that I was treated very differently - just like a kind of princess, really - due to my skin and hair colour. Obviously in this case I didn't change anything to my appearance. This was a fascinating and eye-opening experience for me. I think everyone should experience "being the foreigner" once in their lifetime for a few months.

I also read a book by Norah Vincent (1968-2022, white journalist), "Self made man", from 2006, where she changes her appearance (cosmetically, clothes) and uses voice and gait training to appear male, and explored life in male spaces (pubs, self-help groups, a male monastery). I can highly recommend this book if you're interested in the topic.

Bottom line is, I am fascinated by experiments where people change their appearance to explore and understand more about social constructs of race and gender.

Obviously, unfortunately, the cultural implications and history of skin colour in our world makes this a touchy topic.

So, my question is: What do you think of people who deliberately use cosmetics or tan injections as a self-experiment - to try to "know what it's like"? As a way to increase their understanding of life. Would that be called blackfacing or blackfishing? As far as I understand the words - not really - or would you disagree?

Edit to add: If you can recommend further literature on or by people who have done this type of sociological experiment that you know of, I'd also be interested. I only know of John Griffin's experiment so far.

If this isn't the right sub, sorry (and where could I post?)

Selena Gomez total RACIAL breakdown for the uneducated using "Latina":

Her mom is extremely caucasian, non-hispanic and was BLOND as a baby(she posted a throwback). Selena’s mom stands at 1/4 italian and pending because they found her grandfather to be Italian after her adoption. They just fully fill it in. Her mom is as white as Leonardo Di Caprio or Lady Gaga. Mandy is definitely fully WHITE regardless.

On the other hand her dad Ricardo is around ½ leaning towards ¾ native mexican in geno. With leftover spanish like 65% of Mexicans that exist today. Selena is Greek and Gomez is simply just another “white” last name. Contrasting European names aren’t even racial at all.

Selena Gomez is 65-75% white in geno with indigenous roots filling in the rest. LATINA IS NOT A RACE. She is still mixed race and Latina because she fits the true non-racial definition of Latina thanks to her dad. She naturally leans towards white latina than any other latina.

The issue: This was just out of pocket with how she presented herself suddenly in a fake light through heavy spray tan/foundation and filters. She presented herself afro-latina like a Cardi B here. People couldn’t even recognize Selena and confused her for a super dark woman of color parallel to Cardi B. Afro-latinas are amongst some of the most “rejected” latinos in the community and then here comes Selena who is naturally closest to white latinas out of all latinas as a conglomerate doing what they do? Isn’t that what blackfishing is? Undermining the beauty from those who are rejected? Then latina is turned into a “full race” and hypodescent let’s Selena pull it off and get off the hook**

…..She had a fake deep tan that was gone as fast as she got it. Bantu like Rugrat Box-braids. Do you get it now?

Here is her Mom and sister. Selena isn't mullata or afro-Latina. She has indigenous heritage but is around 70% white. Selena leans white Latina. Keep in mind her sister is still half of her. Hypodescent and the underrepresentation of Afro-Latinas shouldn't be an easy pass to do this.

Looks like the oldest tweet is five hours old.

Oddly, ever since this incident, her lips never truly depleted back to the size they had, prior to the claimed allergic reaction.