Read enough mom blogs, and you realize the terms “racist” and “stereotype” now mean the same thing, namely, “any representation of a nonwhite person.” That’s the denotation; the connotation is “be afraid. You might be accused of cultural insensitivity.” You might be called “racist”—a word more dreaded than the hyper-fetishized n-word. You might be fried on TikTok. Fantasy is out—any inaccurate or old-fashioned detail could cancel you. (For instance, is The Three Bears transphobic or homophobic because it presents a nuclear cisgender family? Is Sleeping Beauty bad because it shows a prince kissing an unconscious woman who cannot give consent? “Romanticized sexual violence” is what one site calls the romantic kiss. Not to mention the defloration image, with that spindle thingy. Hansel and Gretel demonizes older women? And so on.)
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