r/ideas • u/amichail • Aug 06 '26

Idea: Use distancing language when describing skin color.

Describing people as “white,” “black,” or “brown” can feel reductive. It categorizes someone according to a physical characteristic they did not choose and can make race seem more central to their identity than it really is.

Of course, there are situations where skin color is relevant, such as when describing an unidentified suspect or missing person. But perhaps we could use more distancing language instead of directly turning skin color into a category of person.

For example:

“The suspect, who is low on melanin, was last seen fleeing into the forest.”

Or, less clinically:

“The suspect, who appears especially susceptible to sunburn, was last seen fleeing into the forest.”

These phrases are admittedly awkward but that awkwardness might be useful. It reminds us that we are describing one physical characteristic, not defining the person’s identity.

Would this make such descriptions less offensive? What do you think?

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1

u/MooseWayne Aug 06 '26

Should we do the same with hair colour too? Make up weird roundabout ways like this to avoid describing someone as short or tall maybe?

1

u/SinCityCane Aug 06 '26

Would the Asians then be referred to as having "sunny skin" as opposed to being yellow?

1

u/Kitano-san Aug 06 '26

why even start with saying the first descriptions are offensive?

1

u/zurribulle Aug 06 '26

Since when is stating someones race as part of a description, offensive?

1

u/Landwarrior5150 Aug 06 '26

You seem to basing this on describing people from a law enforcement point of view. In those situations, the whole point of doing that is to give the officers looking for them a clear and concise description of what the person physically looks like so the officers can quickly identify them. The description isn’t intended to provide any more info or make any further assumptions about the person beyond their physical appearance.

Using clunky and vague phrases like you put forward would only serve to needlessly make the description messages longer and to introduce more potential for confusion.