exotic

applied to human beings "exotic" is ethnocentric and racist. "It implies a state of other-ness, or foreign origin, apart from the norm. It is not a compliment" (Amoja Three Rivers, Cultural Etiquette ). Why are Chinese American New Year's dancers "exotic" when those dancing the Highland Fling or the Bohemian polka are not? In 2013, Sports Illustrated was in an "exotic" spotlight for its seven-continents swimsuit issue that juxtaposed, among others, a white, blonde model and an elderly Chinese man piloting her raft; another white bikini-clad model and a tribal-looking, half-naked Namibian man carrying a spear. By using "native" people as exotic fashion props, the photoshoot made a living mockery of human differences, contrasting the "exotic" with the beautiful and the "normal."