Black woman with shockingly dark eyes and impossible features - is this exotification?
@pretend-this-username-is-funny asked:
Okay so I'm writing a superhero story and one of my main characters is from Ethiopia. I know it's really frowned upon to give black characters "exotic" features, especially things like light eyes and perfectly straight natural hair. My character is described as having very dark skin but she also has some features that are meant to show her powers. For instance, her eyes are very dark but they're described as being like oil in that they're very shiny and reflect a lot of color, and she has specks of shiny green and blue on her cheeks which are described as freckles.
She also has really long bright green hair but I want to make it clear that it's really thick and not at all straight. It's not really curly though either, but I don't know any words for hair like that. Are there any adjectives I can use to describe the texture?
These features are supposed to reflect her powers which are basically colorful blasts of energy but I don't know if they could come off as trying to make the character exotic. I have a bunch of white characters who also have unusual or otherwise impossible features (one is a girl with white hair and unnaturally pale skin and there's also a boy with cat like pupils and fangs). Having unusual physical traits is normal for superpowered people in this world but I don't know if this could be potentially harmful.
"Exotic" features on Black people
I know it's really frowned upon to give black characters "exotic" features, especially things like light eyes and perfectly straight natural hair.
I wouldn't say it's frowned upon to give Black people light eyes and straight, natural hair in itself. It’s when creators choose these features for Black people time and time again over those with darker features and those more commonly associated to their heritage.
It's also a problem when characters with these "special" traits are exalted, either by the narrative, fate, or other characters, while the other "non-special" Black people aren't given favorable treatment, if they even exist in the story at all. Books tend to represent Black people with light skin or stand-out features first, especially Black women (Black men are more often allowed to be dark and still be seen as attractive, although not always).
When you do have characters with these extra-special traits, it's nice to avoid the pitfalls mentioned above. Also, adding important Black characters without these traits helps to balance out the special snowflake syndrome.
This applies to your character as well. The oil-dark eyes doesn't read as exotifying to me. The shiny green and blue freckles are adding some more "main character syndrome" to the mix, but i'm not too concerned. You have characters of other races with unusual and impossible features. This helps to avoid implications of her only deserving to be there because she's not like the others.
As for her hair Thick, not quite curly, but not straight at all? I think you're looking for the word wavy. Check out our hair guide for more words that may help with texture words, but I think wavy works fine.
~Mod Colette
