Today I learnt: What Is Exoticisation And How It Is Reflected In Popular Culture?

Exoticisation is a term used to describe the portrayal of women of colour, specifically women of African descent, as primitive, hypersexual, and animalistic. This often includes portraying them as wild, untamed and uncivilized. The objectification of these women is seen around the world within media such as films and fashion magazines, often being used as props that exist only to please white men. 

It is a culture that sexualises and objectifies women of colour and also exoticises them. This is a negative form in which people of colour are compared to animals or objects. It generally means white men sexualizing brown bodies because they see these women as unavailable, or too exotically beautiful for their tastes.

What Is Exoticisation?

The word is used mostly in relation to the depiction of black women in the media. This representation of black women has been used since slavery and the early days of American cinema when black female bodies were displayed as both "mammy" figures that were seen as sexually available, but also depicted as Sapphic figures because they were not exclusively heterosexual. It has been argued that this type of imagery has caused many black women to feel alienated from mainstream culture and thus created alternative cultures based on shared experiences with other black people.

How Is It Reflected In Popular Culture?

Latin-Americans have become a hot commodity, with the expectations of following the media’s image of a Latin American. Sofia Vergara’s portrayal of Gloria in Modern Family is completely built upon false and offensive stereotypes. In reality, Latinas are more than just sexualised dresses, high heeled shoes, and hot-headedness. They also include single mothers, hard workers and confident women that are not trying to be someone else. The exoticism of ethnic minorities in the process of representing or depicting a person or group as exotic or different, especially when it is stereotyping based on cultural differences and involves prejudice. The aspects that are different are often enhanced to attract interest or arouse desire but can be exaggerated, offensive and harmful to people.

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Do Westerners Exoticise Because They Are Insecure?

• In the early 2000s, an increasing number of Indian English writers received international praise for their work. Though the vast majority chose not to abandon their practice of writing in a colonial language, their growing acceptance in the West brought with it a sense of unease. Beyond questions of authenticity arose doubts over whether writers like Kiran Desai and Salman Rushdie could be considered authentically Indian, or if they could still be cast aside as sellouts to Western audiences. 
• Exoticisation is a double-edged sword. It makes a culture immediately attractive in a specific way. It makes Indians feel good because they're considered to be good and peaceful people who live in harmony with nature, but it also contributes to a feeling of superiority based on the assumption that Westerners are rational, scientific beings while Indians are spiritually advanced.
• Exoticisation is also closely linked with orientalism, the inaccurate stereotype depicting "orientals" as exotic sexpots. People who see themselves or their peers as exoticised may express feelings ranging from enjoyment and pride to frustration or anger that they are being perceived as "exotic" due to their race or ethnicity, rather than on an individual basis, leading to a sense that they are being treated unfairly.