A month ago, I was scrolling through the Instagram of one of my favorite fan accounts (I have since unfollowed their account because I don’t deal with racist people). I came across a video with many comments, their comment being “yes exotic af I love exotic boys”. Something about that comment seemed off to me. Why was that actor being called exotic? As far as I could tell, he was a person, not a plant or spice. And many people agreed with them! I couldn’t believe that no one was thinking exotic is an insult to POC.

     I tried to reason with the owner of the account and everyone supporting them, but no one seemed to agree with me. Being Indian, I have been called exotic many times. I’m not exotic because of my brown skin. I’m a normal person, just like you. The definition of exotic according to Merriam-Webster is, “very different, strange, or unusual of a plant or animal : not living or growing naturally in a particular area : from another part of the world”. This definition is talking about plants. Not humans. But trying to reason with these people was like talking to a brick wall. 

     They kept saying that they don’t mean it as an insult, but connotation and denotation are different things. You may mean to say I’m pretty, but what most POC hear is, “You don’t have white skin and you don’t look like me, therefore you're unusual.” It isn’t a good feeling. The most annoying thing about what all these users were saying was that they, “would love to be called exotic!” Well, Instagram users who can’t relate to me at all, that’s problematic and let me tell you why. You’re white. You won’t be facing the problems my fellow POC’s and I face. You won’t be killed because you’re wearing a bindi (you’ll be applauded for looking like an “indie singer” or a “hipster”), you won’t be shot by police for being black (but you may be applauded for having the courage to do black face), and you won't be hyper-sexualized like Latinas (but you may be applauded for not having a care in the world about what other people think of your body). So please, don’t call me exotic. I’m not different from you because of my skin tone. I’m not a plant from India that doesn’t grow in America. Calling me (and other POC) exotic is an insult, and that isn’t up for discussion.

     By the way, there are more Asian people than there are white people so statistically speaking, you're the “exotic” one.