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Am I racist? (lemm.ee)
submitted 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) by Droechai@lemm.ee to c/yepowertrippinbastards@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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Got quite confused by this ban

Edit: context https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/pictrs/image/98196510-49ce-40ee-8db5-a8914f7ad0b1.webp

And the comment I responded to:

I don't know how to see who banned me, but I guess the mod thought that my response to the"normal woman" having a body type that is far more idealized than normal was racist since I said the body type probably was a minority among body types? English as second language so I might be in the wrong

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[-] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

It seems like a gross conversation all around. No sympathy for any of y'all.

[-] FelixCress@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

PBT although I think he simply misunderstood your comment.

[-] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 12 points 16 hours ago

Odd that everyone associating "minority" here as racial minority and not the body type that op mentioned beforehand. Is this a US thing?

[-] PonyOfWar@pawb.social 33 points 20 hours ago

"Her body type is minority" is a bit of a strange thing to say, like "minority" is a body type. From your explanation, you meant to say "Her body type is in the minority", so I guess it was a misunderstanding.

[-] Droechai@lemm.ee 15 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

Is the word minority so attached to race that it's not used to talk about relative sizes in groups without clarification (if you understand what I mean)?

In that case I will not use it like that in the future, thank you for explaining, and try to be more clear about what I mean

Edit: clearing up and expanding on sentences

[-] masquenox@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 hours ago

The term "minority" is a politicised word in the US, where the term "minority" is essentially liberal media-speak for "everybody who isn't white and/or cis."

[-] Telorand@reddthat.com 18 points 19 hours ago

Is the word minority so attached to race that it's not used to talk about relative sizes in groups without clarification (if you understand what I mean)?

Yes, but it's contextual. If someone is a minority, it's usually referring to being a part of a minority class, often one that's either protected or used by bigots as a point of hatred.

Being in the minority, however, can refer to having relative uniqueness.

English is hard. I'm sorry it has such stupid rules, but here we are.

[-] Droechai@lemm.ee 14 points 19 hours ago

Yeah, I'm happy that there are so many in this post that helps me grasp why the post got misinterpreted and helpful tips on how to avoid (some) pitfalls in the future :)

[-] Flatworm7591@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 18 hours ago

I guess you could also say something like, "her body type is atypical" to avoid confusion. From your other comments here it's pretty clear that's what you meant. And I agree with you that video game representations of women in particular are often problematic, as they are mostly unrealistic, highly sexualised, and created that way for the primary purpose of being objectified by men.

In this case I think CLM is the closest assessment, because I think it's obvious to a native English speaker that it could be interpreted both ways, so it should have been clarified before mod action was taken.

[-] ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 4 points 19 hours ago

Hmm, I remember the post and thought the lady was fitter than most. The race thing would be the less likely interpretation, especially considering that the post was a screenshot of a reply to someone calling her a "fat Puerto Rican".

🤷

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 5 points 14 hours ago

Definitely clueless mod.

Not that I can't understand the confusion if you don't pay attention, but that's kinda the work part of being a modk taking a look past the initial reaction.

If my presbyopic, dyslexic ass can parse what you threat meant on the second pass, anyone can if they take the time

[-] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 13 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

You meant 'in the minority' but it sounded like 'of a minority' because racist stereotypes include muscular minority women. 'Muscular with a healthy fat layer' fits some hispanic/latina stereotypes similar to the big booty stereotype for black women.

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 16 points 19 hours ago

It sounds like you're saying "the body type of a minority race" instead of "the body type that most people don't have".

[-] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 14 points 20 hours ago

I initially took your comment to mean "I bet she has the body of a black woman; baby got back".

Couldn't decide whether racist or misogynist.

[-] technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 hour ago

There's no question that this whole situation is extremely misogynist.

[-] Droechai@lemm.ee 9 points 20 hours ago

Yeah, that sentence really sound backwards from what I meant, if its interpreted that way I'm in the wrong

[-] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 1 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

I just realized English is a second language for you.

Do you understand what I mean by the idiom "baby got back"? (Lyrics)

Contrast with this parody of the song, (Lyrics)

[-] lvxferre@mander.xyz 8 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

PTB.

Sometimes, people express themselves poorly. And sometimes they hit some association they weren't aware of. That's clearly your case here; you were calling ChatGPT "she" instead of "it", this screams "L2+" from a distance, and a quick glance at your profile shows you're from Sweden.

So why the bloody hell is the mod in question assuming racism, due to some association native English speakers in USA do???

In that situation, they should've clarified that the association is seen as racist by some people. And then watch closely how you answered it; if you said something "ops, I wasn't aware of that, my bad", you're probably not a racist.

(The association between minority groups in USA and "their women is masculine" was new for me too - I'm not from USA either. Thanks ratboy@hexbear for explaining it.)

[-] Skiluros@sh.itjust.works 9 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

No, I don't think you are racist for that comment alone (even if this is not a mere translation misunderstanding).

That being said TechTakes (awful.system) has lots of interesting content, but sometimes poor moderation principles.

I've seen them delete people's comments on TechTakes for not fully agreeing with orthodoxy on a completely different instance. This was in context of a discussion side-thread about whether trans community in non-english-speaking countries would agree with every single initiative from the english-speaking trans community.

[-] grillgamesh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 19 hours ago

here's a hotlink, for any Lemmy client:

!TechTakes@awful.system

[-] ratboy@hexbear.net 5 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

This is coming from a person living in the US, so keep that in mind as i give this explanation, I'm also assuming this is a good faith question: oftentimes women of color are called masculine or manly in order to strip them of their femininity and insinuate that they are ugly because they dont fit very narrow, white beauty standards. It's considered misogynistic and racist. Also in the US "minorities" usually refers to people of color, so someone reading your comment could read it to mean "yeah, this person is puerto Rican so she has a masculine body type". I think the way your comment is worded looks a bit strange as well, like youre objectifying her on top of all that.

You saying that English is not your first language leads me to believe that those things weren't your intention and can even make your comment look like you are being complimentary, but if someone didnt know that it definitely looks questionable/racist

[-] Droechai@lemm.ee 4 points 19 hours ago

Yeah, I understand that its easy to interpret my comment in that way now. I'll try to be more clear in the future and try to use a language that is less "loaded" (haven't got a better word for it). I didn't know that the word used in that manner was so improper.

As my comment is interpreted I am in the wrong here :)

[-] ratboy@hexbear.net 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

Yeah, it can be hard to figure out just what to say when it comes to topics like this. It's great that you're trying to be sensitive and do better, though! I think when talking about women's bodies especially its best to stay away from saying things like "masculine" or "skinny" or "fat", even if youre not attaching negative meaning to it.

[-] arudesalad@sh.itjust.works 4 points 19 hours ago

Not PTB or YDI. If I was a mod and saw that comment I would be torn between you being discriminatory and being unfamiliar with parts of English (it can be strange sometimes). I would have probably messaged you to clarify what you meant but the mod was being completely rational.

[-] lvxferre@mander.xyz 3 points 17 hours ago

I agree with 90% of what you said, so I'll focus only on the disagreement.

What you are proposing (to message OP to clarify what they meant) is the rational thing to do. Not what the mod did - they basically assumed why OP said it, assumptions are not rational.

[-] UniversalMonk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 15 hours ago

CLM - Clueless Mod. He had no idea what you actually meant.

[-] Nakoichi@hexbear.net -3 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

Well if you have to ask then maybe. I can also definitely see how that could be read as racist at a glance.

And I just looked at the context. Yes. You definitely are.

[-] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world -4 points 20 hours ago

Yeah YDI.

[-] Droechai@lemm.ee 5 points 20 hours ago

How come? Wouldn't a normal body type be what the majority of women have, while the idealized depiction is a minority of women? I wouldn't say that Astarion or Cloud looks like a normal man

this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2025
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