Mixing it up
6 March 06
The good people at Mixed Media Watch are (mildly) up in arms over a LiveJournal community called Guess My Mixture, wherein nubile camwhores spam glammy photographs of themselves, inviting commenters to guess their racial/ethnic backgrounds:
Riiiight. It’s all about taking back the power from the people who ask “what are you.” Or is this really an excuse for these mixed folks to indulge in some self-fetishizing?
I can’t say I disagree with this sentiment—I’ve always been a little skeptical of the postmodern vanity-as-empowerment model of political discourse. The community founder’s response isn’t terribly convincing either:
I realize if you look at this community from a superficial level, yes, it will seem like self-festishizing “camwhoring.” However, I beg of you to look at it from a much deeper level and realize that we are attempting to defy stereotypes through having people guess what ethnicities people are simply by looking at pictures.
Then again, I’m not one to argue with cute chicks posting pictures of themselves on the internets. Bold political statement or mere camwhoring? I suppose that’s for you to decide.
[Via Mixed Media Watch]
More: Photography, Babes, Stereotypes, Camwhores, Multiracial, Controversy
