Wednesday, May 26, 2004

• When biracial girls are "gateway" girls
  CVK
  An excellent column on Africana.com by Bethany M. Allen explores how men view biracial women as "gateway" girls, the same way marijuana is a "gateway drug." A few excerpts:

  But I, being mixed, seemed to be a “safe” alternative. I was like a gateway drug for those guys who really wished to date a black girl but who didn’t have the nerve. I was black-girl-lite. One guy in particular was relentless in pursing me, even unscrupulously embezzling a kiss from me in the laundry room of the girls’ dorm. I remember giving him a look like he was crazy, and asking him, “WHY do you like me so much?” To which he replied, “I dunno...you’re just so exotic.”…

  
  These days, it’s almost funny when I realize someone is attracted to me because my light, bright, damn near white exterior makes them think they know me, but I’ve worked too hard to become the person I am for someone, especially anyone I’m going to date, not to notice. In the 15 years since I left high school, I’ve run up on many men, both black and white, who have wanted to characterize me as not that black, based on my looks. The joke’s on all of them, though; many a brotha with a penchant for white women has tried to step to me, only to end up fleeing after finding me “too black.”

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