What does it mean to be a sexy or desirable woman? Is sexual preference purely in the eyes of the beholder? As a cultural anthropologist, I studied aesthetics and power and taught a popular course entitled “Politics of Ugly” at the University of Pennsylvania. I’ve always been deeply interested in the cultural aspect of desirability.
Online dating is rough on everyone, but particularly Black women and Asian men. OkCupid app data revealed certain racial biases in online attractiveness (measured by likes and response rates). Dataclysm is an assessment of how people date in the modern age, and what they found was that Black women and Asian men were the least responded to in their data. That Black women and Asian men carry less sexual capital in these digital cultures was a prevailing truth I wanted to counter in the least digital way possible. Classical literature. Classic heroes and heroines are often archetypes of desire. But gendered racial hierarchies of desirability are as socially constructed as other racial hierarchies. Seemingly, personal preferences and choices in modern romance are profoundly shaped by larger social forces.
You may be thinking, What does it matter what I think is beautiful? It’s personal, and it matters only to me. But beauty and goodness are interlinked. Think of the Puritan witch trials; Old women, spinsters and widows lived on the fringes of society. Their age and appearance played a heavy part in their sentencing and trials. A psychological concept called “the halo effect” has strong ties to beauty, and it indicates that attractive people are presumed by others to have a variety of positive personality traits, such as altruism, stability, and intelligence. People seen as less desirable people are looked upon as less intelligent, unhappy, withdrawn, and even unhealthy. So, what does it actually mean for a certain gender or racial class of people to be seen as less attractive? It often means they are less deserving of care- less deserving of love. More likely to receive harsher sentences in the judicial system. Less likely to be believed in a court. Desirability is social acceptance.
These characters in Pride and Protest are raced and gendered in the way they are in my story on purpose. Making Dorsey a hot Asian male savior and Liza a hot vulnerable, delicate woman in need of care is an act of reclamation. I see it as a subtle counter to the overarching narrative of desirability while also managing to be funny and exciting to read. Next time you swipe left on a potential mate, think deeply about why.
Pride and Protest is available from Amazon and Bookshop.
Read an excerpt from Pride and Protest.