QuicheFontaine
Member
For example, imagine someone calling a black lady exotic, which is probably harmless on its own, but later that same day, someone on the street yells out "look, we've got a hot black girl!" They're going to feel weird, and they're not going to feel very included in their own city.
No doubt, but different contexts, different scenarios. This isn't the cat-calling thread, we're discussing a word. I doubt that lady would enjoy having anything shouted at her on the street. If I'm served at McDonalds by someone with green hair, I would say hey you're exotic, just because that's not really the place to be doing that.
My only point is, differences exist, recognising them is fine, "exotic" is a word that does this in a complimentary way, and I see no problem with it. If people don't like being called it, or just don't like being complimented at all, then I can't argue with that. But imo the word is fine in plenty of circumstances.