Featurism-Narrow Noses & Ambiguity

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[@gerberpuff4500]

Agree so much with your point that ambiguity doesn’t mean looking white. Especially with examples like Tyla who clearly looks ambiguous cause her father is of Indian decent.

[@ExoticalsUnited]

Right! Since when does ambiguity have to be centered around looking as white as possible? Thats disingenuous. There are plenty of people who look ambiguous whether they lean white, black, native, Asian, etc. for example chili from TLC has always looked ambiguous to me . And she doesn’t look white

[@abbysands9510]

@@ExoticalsUnited Agreed.

[@abbysands9510]

True

[@IndigenousExotical]

I hate how monoracials think that ambiguity means white. It literally means ambiguous - open to more than one interpretation. Why do monoracials only interpret ambiguity as Black/White at 50/50? That’s literally ONE way to be ambiguous

[@ExoticalsUnited]

Right

[@abidaby4659]

Fulanis of African descent generally have smaller features and oily hair. Africa is the most ethnically diverse continent. There are different variations of black people. Smaller features don’t have to come from another europeans or asian ethic.

[@youuknow4670]

Actually Black Americans are AMERICAN INDIANS

[@iris7301]

@@youuknow4670Delulu

[@VivSees]

Fulanis are mixed with Arabs. “Ethnically diverse” has nothing to do with physical features.

[@VivSees]

@@youuknow4670😂 ok then so no reparations for you Native American person. BTW what native traditions do you adhere to, what native dishes do you eat, what native history do you know, what native spiritual practices do you follow? 🤔

[@youuknow4670]

@@VivSees all of them, my Profile picture is of an AMERICAN INDIAN, if you don't look like this you are not AMERICAN INDIAN

[@Tay.rarebreed]

I used to get teased growing up because my nose didn't look black enough. One girl told me I had a white girl nose, so mean!! Now there's ppl getting surgery to make their nose look smaller.

[@Elias_Truth]

I was teased and called “Somali” for my features growing up now everyone wants to be East African 😂

[@Muriellara-kp2zx]

Saaaaame , some girls used to tell me: your mom probably massaged your nose, white girl nose … .people in my country ask me where I’m from in my own country, or you don’t look fully black.

[@caramellocs3]

I got bullied for my “white girl” lips

[@abbysands9510]

Same here, my nose is very pointy, and I too was teased growing up. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, while I was on the train, a brother and sister, along with their mum (all black, , skin tone like Lupita Nyong'o) got on. They were sitting right in front of me, but then the mum took one look at me then moved to the far side of the train with the kids about 15 feet. A few minutes later the brother and sister (7-9 years old) started making fun of my nose, calling me an elf, how pointy it was, etc, and how they wouldn't want a nose like mine. In my head, I kept thinking, 'First, see how the hate trickles down.' The mum didn't even bother trying to stop them; she was laughing along with them, loud enough so that I can hear, in fact a couple of people on the train were laughing at the kids' comments. Second, I bet the mum signalled the kids (since they all had phones in their hands, a simple text message to them would have done it) to say it because she wanted to say it herself, but couldn't say it because she wasn't sure she wouldn't receive a reaction from me, show everyone how jealous she was without looking like a fool in front of strangers, etc however she could get the kids to say it because she knew I wouldn't clap back, and she was right, I am not going to clap back at kids age seven and nine even if the kids are stupid. However, we all know who teaching the kids this.

[@caramellocs3]

@@c0deinebrxt thank you beautiful!!

[@vanessarichardson110]

Tip: if anyone wants a smaller/slimmer nose, loosing weight, if you are overweight helps a lot. At my lowest weight people started asking me if my nose was real

[@zippy3253]

I noticed this too. When I eat very salty/sugary foods my nose swells up

[@vanessarichardson110]

@@zippy3253 oh yeah that too. A lot of time if our face is round and poofy and fingers look like sausages, it's because we're consuming something that doesn't work with our body or too much of something. For me it's carbs and gluten.

[@VivSees]

OK really is that observation just for black peoples? Or do noses of other races get slimmer or fatter too depending on their weight? 🙄

[@user-bx2wl7we5k]

I’m going to be honest and idc who’s offended. The way the BC is now, I’m going to do whatever I can to look more “other” than I already do with my French Creole self. I’m an expatriate of BC.

[@CreoleLadyMarmalade]

Girl, take me with you 😂 being African American was the sh*t in the 70s-90s… now, they can have it back. I’m good. Leaving when the going gets tough? Why yes, yes I am 🤣🤣🤣 Taking my Creole self back to where we should’ve been at the whole time anyway if they wouldn’t have been forcing us into an ethnic group that’s not even our own in the first place.

[@hawkrose2698]

I h8t to say it, but the association with the BC is now just problematic. Too much division, too much drama. There especially is no sisterhood and it seems like jealousy, humiliation and gaslighting is the norm. I can see at this point why so many want out of it , if possible.

[@GoldenCommentary]

I agree, lol…and honestly I thought that having a traditional black American phenotype would lessen negative experiences and make me more palatable and less of a target. Like sis, “we have the same nose, full lips, 4c hair, why are you mad?”

[@ExoticalsUnited]

Right. That triggers them even more 😂ice spice for example

[@jordyn.24]

As someone who benefits some texturism and colorism but not necessarily featurism, I love when you talk about this. It’s doing wonders for my self esteem.

[@ExoticalsUnited]

Yes! We are acknowledging our “privilege” lol and we need to talk about these things! And not just colorism because there are other (even bigger) isms in my opinion

[@mrfotns]

Brown and Dark skin African peoples are phenotypically diverse depending on nation and tribal backrounds. I don't know where americans get this idea of thinking that all African blooded people have to look like stereotypical bantu peoples

[@ExoticalsUnited]

It’s because in America , African Americans with those “unambiguous” features are the standard. If you don’t possess those features you’ll be stereotyped as either mixed race or an immigrant .

[@mashona518]

The crazy thing is Bantus do not have a stereotypical look.Bantu are a linguistic not a racial/ethnic classification & they predominantly are talking about Western/Central & Southern regions of Africa, which includes 400 different ethnic groups.

[@eenchantress5113]

@@mashona518exactly your right. Slight correction west Africans are not Bantu. It’s only through out central ,east, and south.

[@VivSees]

African Americans are primarily descendants of enslaved people who came from WEST Africa. Unbleached, unmixed and unaltered West Africans ARE primarily dark skinned, with wider noses, thick lips and afro textured hair. That’s the fact. Same way we know that unaltered, untanned, or unmixed europeans are primarily pale skinned with narrow noses, thin lips and straight-loose curled hair.

[@BreaneNic]

Everything you said is spot on. It’s seems like there are a lot of people who fetishized features and hair textures more so. It’s truly interesting. I really do enjoy your content.

[@Kias_Cam]

I’ve had to pull up pictures of East African women to shut down arguments of me having “white people features.” I find featurism to be annoying at times.

[@Shush379]

I had an aunt who had freckles and she was so beautiful and sweet to me. I spent a summer with her. She was a model back in her day ❤ I have a special place in my heart for gorgeous freckle faces 😆

[@koi5154]

My nose! My nose! My nose! I have a very straight nose with a distinctive hump in it, and when people comments on my face it’s usually my nose. My mom is MGM and she says I get my nose from her white and directly mixed family but my black family also has a pretty straight nose and small lips. I have had a guy I was seeing pull my lips and just kept saying that they are so small over and over, I’ve had my auntie who has wider nostrils go into a whole conversation comparing our noses, people think I’m Ethiopian all the time.

[@ExoticalsUnited]

Yes! people need to talk more about featurism and the obsession with noses

[@aaname]

what’s MGM? i can’t find it on urban dictionary

[@emmaaime8685]

​@@aanamecould it be multigenerationnal mixed people ?

[@honeybee19892]

I notice they are more critical of mixed women with more African facial features like Ice Spice..

[@ExoticalsUnited]

Yes !

[@rabbit0.023]

Sad cuz ice spice and other women are so beautiful with their features. Just as beautiful as other women with different features

[@PinterestIncognito]

i get so happy everytime i see one of your videos.

[@ExoticalsUnited]

Yay! 😀 thank you for coming to this pretty girl meeting aka my KZbin video 🤓

[@xbjrrtc]

I've heard all kinds of euphemisms for "exotic", but the most subtle was when someone said I look like I'm from "the islands" 😆

[@ExoticalsUnited]

Omg yes! One time a random white guy at work asked me if I was from the carribean (he was comparing me to Rihanna.) I didn’t know what he meant back then but he was exotifying me

[@exoticchocolatecaribbean_q5624]

Well I'm from the Caribbean & people would look at me automatically & sat where are you from? I had blk American women ask if I was mixed with white b/c my hair long. I also have light hazel eyes get asked if I wear contacts. I had a dark-skinned american female walk up to me & say you're darker than me....I was like o.k. when she put her hand next to mines. She was darker she got pissed walked off & never said nothing to me ever again.😂😂

[@cynthiapickett7403]

I have a round face with a small button nose and flat face (I'm part Mongolian and other NE Asian myself); I can definitely relate.

[@lalaland2107]

Featurism is waaaaayyy bigger than colorism!!!

[@majesticjourneys7080]

Ethiopians mistake me often for being apart of their community. Other Monoracial black women always call out my nose😂😂 like let me look like a bird, I love birds. White & Asian people always compare me to Tia & Tamara.

[@ExoticalsUnited]

Same ! 😂

[@AprilHarmony9]

I hide my freckled on my upper cheeks with makeup (its just an insecurity of mine b/c I don't like how they look) I have a big nose (but my bridge is a little weird) and I have big eyes too but they are slanted. Basically I have bk features but I still have ppl asking, "what are you?" So I understand what you mean about having noticeable bk features but still being ambiguous. When I keep my hair pulled back into a bun, I can get away w/ being a bk girl without question. When my hair is longer and I wear it down, I get A TON of questions. When I discovered how to got 'back and forth', that's when I realized what I would need to do in order to navigate in society (for better or for worse).

[@ExoticalsUnited]

Right. It means there’s something else ambiguous about you like maybe your hair or skin tone

[@TraXs.]

@1:19 My nose looks the same as the lady on the right. The funny thing is, nobody has the same nose in my family. My parents have two different versions of what you can call an "African" nose. My mother's side is very light-skinned and Arabic-passing, and my father's side looks like darker Sudanese bedouins. My brothers have long noses that resemble the ones Indian or Middle Eastern people have. As you see, people from the same ethnicity in the same family can have a different mixture of features. We're all treated "differently" based on the community that tries to claim us as their own. Ps : For anyone wondering, I'm 100% Somali

[@saralibby4686]

Indians and Middle Easterns don’t have good noses. They have a nose bridge. Arabs are well know for plastic surgery/nose job.

[@Sesen111]

I’m East African, people always mistaken me Indian or Spanish. sometimes mixed.

[@Orlanzepol123]

I have a caramel complexion, type 3B hair. My nose points slightly down and I have a high and narrow nose bridge. I never considered my nose to look white because it isn’t that narrow at the bottom. However I was asked by an Indian girl if I was Indian. I said I was Puerto Rican and she said many Indians have my likeness . Not sure if it was because of my hair, nose or complexion. A BW once told me while at church that my nose looked straight like her white boyfriend’s. I thought she was delusional because I never considered my nose to hardly resemble a Caucasian nose. I have been also told I can pass as a dark Italian. I guess my nose is one of the features which makes me ambiguous. Looking back I’ve realized that most of the people who have complimented me on my hair have been dark skinned mono-racial BM & BW.

[@lalaland2107]

I always thought ambiguous meant what you described! I still think it!

[@ExoticalSauce]

Speaking of Chilli, did anyone notice that when TLC is being discussed on social media, the commenters will just talk about T-boz and Left eye and ignore Chilli altogether 🤔

[@creoleladisallthatjazznblu6952]

Nigerian Igbos too. They are 100% African. Yet they get called different races etc.

[@ExoticalsUnited]

Yes my grandfather is Ebo on the DNA test (my dad’s dad. He also happens to be light skinned)

[@creoleladisallthatjazznblu6952]

@@ExoticalsUnited Lol! Igbos and Fulanis always are accused of being mixed.

[@shaniahpaster12]

thx for speaking out

[@deeluxe]

I’m a light skin monoracial black woman and I think it’s my features and hair that make me look ambiguous. People often ask if I’m Dominican or Puerto Rican. It’s very interesting.

[@sianifeliciano462]

I grew up with a friend who was the same thing as me (Puerto Rican and Black) however we looked completely different. I am light skinned but I have an afro, bigger nose and lips. My friend brown skin, but straight hair and euro centric features. Throughout school I was always singled out from other blk ppl or talked down to bc I had “light skin privilege “ yet my other features were always talked down. My friend was always praised and blk would never say anything to her despite her doing nothing for our community. She is also very famous now so it cracks me up how the blk community really picks and chooses

[@HoneySnowflake]

I'm a lsbw with broader features. From time to time I will get mistaken for East African (ppl have said its my forehead and skin tone 😅) or as an afro-latina from the Caribbean. Whenever I wear a silk press people assume I'm biracial or multiracial because of length and texture of my hair. I've never really received featurism comments before, more like colorism. Thanks for clarifying that, I never thought about it that way.

[@BrocksJellyFilledDoughnuts]

A lot of Latinos see me as one of them. I'm brown-skinned with long type 3 hair, a button nose, and some faint freckling but nothing noticeable. My face is also round. I think high cheek bones are another unambiguous black feature. My celebrity comparisons are Chaka Khan and more recently Sza.

[@colochossalvajes]

Ambiguity wise, I think what makes me ambiguous is my features. I have small eyes, small lips, and i would say my nose is bulbous at the tip, but it's not that wide or big. I have 3c/4a hair and I have an oval face shape. And skin tone wise, I've been told my skin color is like a milk and coffee/chocolate mix. People from my country amd from other places usually assume im from Brazil, Dominican or from the USA. Im from Puerto Rico and i have people that see a a¹nother black person and they see me and they say they look like me just because of skin color or hair even though I look nothing like them 😅

[@ExoticalsUnited]

Yes, people love approximating themselves to any non white passing mixed people

[@_komiichan9509]

My complexion is anywhere from Fenty 390 to 420, so to me I look blk. But, after learning about texturism and featurism my ambiguity comes from my hair 3C, button nose, and round lips. For years I thought these people were weird for bringing up my looks all the time. And people randomly come up to me a speaking Spanish and I’m like 😳. Now, I understand.

[@abbysands9510]

I agree with you, if you have keen features then people will start asking you where you from, etc because you can dip into both world. I often being referred to by white people as a light skinned Caucasian, and just the other day, one white woman literally said that I have the best of both worlds when I was passing her down the street whatever that means.

[@ernestinewilson6209]

Powerful Video

[@vanessarichardson110]

Bow wow, lil mama and Glorilla all have light eyes lol

[@sonisaidso2542]

Agree with everything said 💯

[@BakigaQueen]

Good video ❤ just to let you know , Bantu’s aren’t the same as modern day pwest Africans . They’re two separate groups although they do share facial similarities. Bantu = ethnolinguistic group consisting of over 300 ethnicities and they’re mostly found in central , east and Southern Africa .

[@ExoticalsUnited]

ok well when i say unambiguous im talking about the girl with the fuller features in the thumbnail.

[@sarahbrown3938]

Random bt I think a good example of a wide button nose would be Rihanna like she has a big wider African type nose bt still button shaped… idk 😅

[@ExoticalsUnited]

I consider Rihanna’s nose to look fully African like the unambiguous woman’s nose in the photo

[@sarahbrown3938]

@@ExoticalsUnited yesss ur right I think she def has a typical African wide nose bt she def manipulates it with makeup that’s prob why I thought that cuz without makeup hers is like the woman in thr photo to the left

[@AFocusedLiving]

I get told a lot I look African American but I know they mean ambiguous black American.

[@ExoticalsUnited]

right. we have become so popularized in the media that we represent the face of blackness.

[@sussybaka2.026]

I took a raw dna from my ancestry and I got different results from my raw dna than my ancestry dna bc I didn’t choose the option to keep my dna sample so I don’t get updates on my dna and my mother doesn’t want to do an ancestry dna test either so I wouldn’t know if that raw dna test is the truth or not.

[@maenad1231]

I also feel like if you have a nose considered to look not-ambiguously black you can benefit from featurism even if you don’t have a “white looking” one. Bridge is visible and higher than average for black person but lower/flatter than a white person’s, a don’t have a wide alar base like the typical black woman but it’s wider than a white persons. I’ve been told multiple times it looks like a small east Asians nose by whites and blacks _(I have a neotenous baby face. Without makeup no one besides me can detect a single feature that appears visibly different than when I was a senior in HS/freshman in college - I’m 29.)_ My tip IS rounded but smaller and kinda like a button nose because it’s _just_ visibly upturned. _(Girls in HS have admitted they hate that they don’t have my nose but they aren’t trying to make me feel bad so I played it down even though I do like it)_ I’ve also been called exotic looking by a lot of people (interestingly more white people.) Along with the above mentioned attributes I have • a small face, petite body frame, petite height (159cm) small chest, and a bum that isn’t wide/fat nor protruding. It’s a “fuller” size small from fitness. (Used to hate that it was small but I just like that it’s perky ish if that makes sense) •i often straighten my long raven black hair (then wave it sometimes) OR put more time, effort and money into using hair styling products with particular effects (ex: anti shrinkage, curl loosening, anti frizz, hydrating+conditioning serum & sprays and popular oils to prevent breakage) which makes it hold a 3B or even 3AB (3A-? 3B+?) curl pattern • Semi-full lips but with petite/shorter mouth width _(lips don’t take up as much horizontal room in my face) •Light skin with yellow (cold seasons) to golden ish (hot seasons) undertones. •Brown eyes lighter than average. Probably like that girl in the video you described - a lot of people call it “amber” even though I feel like it’s just a rarer brown and not its own category. Either way it stands out and pale brown, hazel brown, hazel green, medium green snd light green contacts (and oddly non opaque pink circle lenses) look SUPER NATURAL on this eye color. Everyone who is a stranger assumes it’s natural EVEN WITH ALL OF THAT people still point out my obvious non-white phenotype (not keen as we call it) nose as part of what makes me the “exotic looking” black girl (I’m ABW, just the only ambiguous and light one in my family)

[@ExoticalsUnited]

correct. there are other types of featurism other than nose. however this video mainly focused on noses. ive seen people benefit from featurism in terms of having freckles, maybe monolid eyes etc

[@jay-555]

My nose and eyes always get pointed out for some reason

[@shaniahpaster12]

i think i have 2 hair and features not so much of my nose but i have a mixture

[@brandyjacob5926]

I remember when I was young other kids would make fun of my eyes. They would pull their eyes like they do to make fun of Asians. And I was always asked if I was Asian. Mind you, I have 4c hair, brown skin (wouldn't say dark, but not light skin either), big lips and a wide button-ish nose. Even today people ask if I'm part Asian, but my family is black. My eyes aren't even another color, just dark brown. And I suppose I have a slender face, and pointed chin, with a small skinny body. Not an African curvy body shape. So I guess that adds to my Blasian look because of my size. People say I look young or doll-like or something. Though I don't think I look that mixed, but whatever they say.

[@TokyoCrow]

Can someone tell me who the woman at 17:19 is?

[@munirayussuf8558]

Keri hilson

[@shrifamudondo1081]

Trevor Noah too i saw his mom black woman with a small noise i think Trevor looks like his mom

[@FortifiedLife]

I live in Pennsylvania in the suburbs and have been here my whole life. I’m not sure if I assimilated naturally through evolution over the years. But my features have naturally gotten smaller over the years. Also my skin has gotten lighter and I got freckles that I never used to have. I’ve never gotten plastic surgery or anything like that. But I think because I’ve lived around white people all my life I started looking like them. It’s crazy what DNA gets activated depending on your lifestyle.

[@tlan3906]

I am Biracial. My biggest haters have been wyt and east asian women as I've grown up in predominantly wyt neighbourhoods. I don't mean to cause offense when I say this but...there were a few east african type women in my school (ethiopian/somalian/musl1m), they were darker than me, a bit chubby, small nose but they have those kind of blended features idk how to describe it....I don't find certain north african + east african(eritrea/ethiopia) ppl very monoracial looking...they can look like a blend of things. These east african girls did not really like me for some reason which I found weird as I barely interacted with them. They had very young souls as well, very childish, immature + into drama which I wasn't expecting them to have granted they may have been born in the West and adopted a "western mindset" or "competing". I always thought they were naturally gorgeous women, I think habesha ppl in general are really gorgeous but they were terribly mean to me in high school. They know I'm not east african though as I am very different culturally. Also other mgm's and mixed women have been rude and said offensive things to me. I have never competed for men in my life + don't really see the benefits of being w' a man currently. I've kept a lot of peace by not dating + avoiding dating. To put my appearance into context: I have a slim more euro type nose or slim nose like a lot of east africans and full lips, my skin is very much redbone n yellow in winter (I mix 280 + 350 fenty cuz u already know bout them seasonal weather color fluctuations). Interestingly enough my interactions with uabw women have been more positive...not perfect but the engagements I've had with them have been decent for the most part. I know they may view me a certain way and may not like me bcuz I look like a classic biracial person but they have not been nasty to me like wyt, asian, habesha + mixed women. Latino women, caribbean, brazilians + certain uabw have been the most chill in my life have given me opportunities, been decent coworkers, given me good advice, genuinely engaged in healthy conversations, meetups and banter with me.... I wanted to share my unique perspective as we exoticals are all unique anyways. I hope not to cause offense to u or anyone when I say mixed, exotical, east african or monoracial wyt + asian can be just as rude or in some cases more rude than uabw. I'm not discounting anyone's experience with bad uabw. But this has just been the case in my life. I've learned to be my own best friends through the years. Ppl that aren't uabw can be just as colorist, weird + racist...even other mixed folk can do featurism/colorism + texturism on each other which imo should be more discussed. The wyt passing ppl can def gatekeep terms on who is mixed as well + be a certain way around darker mixed ppl. I've met hapa ppl who are basically wyt mixed w' asian. Their experience is completely different to mine; after my interactions with them, I wouldn't particularly view them as "allies" either lol.

[@GigaTyrone1]

12:22 I love her😩

[@corvettec526]

Keri Hilson God damn

[@oceans2415]

I was told I was pretty for a black girl years ago by a white lady

[@ExoticalsUnited]

Omg yes same I’ve been told I have “pretty features” etc . And I’m thinking ok pretty features compared to who? Lmao

[@oceans2415]

@@ExoticalsUnited I understand absolutely to who heard it all my life. 🙄🤣😂

[@honeybee19892]

Alicia Key's nose wasn't even wide to begin with but I do see some difference..

[@ExoticalsUnited]

Yeah she never had a big nose

[@nomanejane5766]

❤

[@TheFlower1234]

Mostly get asked if I'm mixed by dark skinned people--how ironic.

[@tw6873]

I'm part Native American, so the ambiguity is there, only not European. Other than the light eyes.

[@ExoticalsUnited]

right . the way i view ambiguity doesn't mean whiteness, it simply means you can look like you belong to multiple different groups (like asian, indigenous, etc)

[@kawaiigyal4318]

People are nosist more than anything ever ppl pinch their noses and put clothespin on nose to make euro nose

[@senorita-qh6bm]

What you’re saying is EXACTLY why they say black Latinos aren’t black specifically black Mexicans because Dominicans have blacker features but black Mexicans look more Asian/European despite having dark skin and being black mixed I know because I get confused for Asian and people have told me “you’re not black”