While this wasn’t the first time I’d been called exotic, it hadn’t occurred in enough years that I thought it wouldn’t happen again. A request for an exotic model meant they wanted someone who wasn’t white but wasn’t necessarily of any specific ethnicity. I hated being called exotic, but I never said anything about it because I didn’t want to be difficult and potentially lose work. The most challenging part of being called exotic now is that comments like these are racist microaggressions, but they are proffered as compliments. But dictionaries suggest usage of the word “exotic” should be mostly limited to plants and animals or inanimate objects.

Source: Huffington Post October 28, 2020 20:26 UTC