Racial Fetishism

Racial fetishism involves fetishizing a person or culture belonging to a race that is not one’s own--therefore it involves racial stereotyping and objectifying those bodies who are stereotyped, and oftentimes their cultural practices. This can include having strong racial preferences in dating, for example, fetishization of Asian women and men in North America is quite prevalent. Racial fetishism has been theorized in academic discourse in relation to Freudian sexual fetishism and Marx’s notion of commodity fetishism. The term has not been largely discussed in academia, however, because Freud’s theories of sexual fetishism have become so influential since the late 19th century. Some writers who have extensively discussed racial fetishism include Homi K. Bhabha, Anne McClintock, and Kobena Mercer.
Racial fetishism is also very prevalent in contemporary popular art and media. For example, Mercer wrote an essay in 1993 called “Reading Racial Fetishism: the Photographs of Robert Mapplethorpe,” where he criticizes Mapplethorpe’s photographs of black men for fetishizing their bodies, for portraying them as sexualized objects rather than human beings. More recently, Miley Cyrus has been heavily criticized on many social justice and feminist blogs like Jezebel and TressieMC for appropriating hip-hop and ratchet culture and for fetishizing black bodies in her music videos and performances.
Brief History and Overview
The notion of “fetish” has been around for a very long time, and in fact, the origins of the word itself arose within imperial, racialized tensions. William Pietz, in the second installment of his extensive work, “The problem of the fetish II: the origin of the fetish,” provides a thorough examination of the etymology of the fetish, beginning with its Latin origin facticius-- “made/manufactured”, to the Portuguese feitiço and feitiçaria-- “witchcraft,” to the pidgin word “fetisso”. This becomes the cause of his castration anxiety, and a fetish is formed by some men to cope with this anxiety. However, the boy also thinks, “no, that could not be true: for if a woman had been castrated, then his own possession of a penis was in danger,” which means that he disavows the female’s imaginary phallus: he gives up his belief in it while also continuing to believe that it is real. However, in Mapplethorpe’s photos of black men, the subjects are not doing anything but existing as nude bodies, they are hypersexualized by the camera, therefore they become the fetish objects. Choi’s work is meant to be a satirical but easily digestible 8-step guide to figuring out if a guy has an Asian fetish. The first panel reads “He is obsessed with authenticity...” and depicts a white man with a curly mustache proclaiming “since my waiter doesn’t speak a word of English, the food must be very authentic,” and the second panel reads “...but not too authentic.”
In pop culture, Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls have been labelled a “minstrel show,” by Margaret Cho because they represent fetishized East Asian stereotypes. The performer has even “renamed” them corresponding to her album title and clothing brand L.A.M.B.: Love, Angel, Music, and Baby, this presents them as far more likened to Stefani’s accessories rather than human beings who are her friends or collaborators.
One of the more recent popular discourses around racial fetishization has been surrounding Miley Cyrus. sparked much journalistic criticism, and was also deemed a “minstrel show". This performance, as well as her music video for the song “We Can’t Stop,” have been criticized for appropriating certain aspects black culture for her own image, as well as using black women as objects/accessories and thus fetishizing their bodies.

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