Europeans hate being called white?

[Anonymous]

Im not really talking about British people here but more towards French,Italian, and Russians. I visited Europe a lot and know many different Europeans. But lately what I have noticed is that they don't like to be called white. Many of them would get all offense about it. For example, I had a girl in my chemistry class. She was Italian. So during an exam we had to put our ethnicity. She asked the teacher if she could put other. The teacher told her no she had to put white. She got so angry over this,said that she wouldn't put white cause she wasn't. She only wanted to be known as Italian. Which is quite funny because many Europeans only like to be identified as their nationality. I mean they act as if their a race of their own.

[venividivici]

yea well, there was a dude in germany (or austria for that matter) around the 1940's who generalized people. he disliked anything that wasn't white, blue eyed and blond haired. his name started witha H I think... anyway, people in Europe are still kinda sensitive when it comes to that I guess and we don't like generalizations or being put into a "race".

oh and italians probably consider themselves southern, they usually have more of a medium skin tone than white. their behavior is also much more southern than northern. (=white in my opinion).

don't know if that made sense.

one more thing, most europeans (especially girls) probably take "white" as an insult, because its not pretty in their eyes.

[blufrenzy93]

I'm assuming you're from Europe...my question is what would Europeans consider white ? I know there is more to a person than just their skin color, so I'm curious how you view "race" over there.

[venividivici]

when I think white, I think of the british ha ha no clue why. other than that its just a skin color to me.

never thought of it as a race really. you either have black, mediaum or white skin. or your f***in pale as me or the british ;)

[peace-love-couture]

They dislike being associated with white Americans, white Americans are disgrace to themselves and the world as well as America.

All of the Europeans I have known have disliked white Americans in general. I have 1 Romanian guy friend named David, who wasn't allowed to hang out with anyone(technically, his parents were super suspicious of the gov't) and if he did, it couldn't be Hispanics or Whites. He for one couldn't stand white people. He always said they made all white people look bad because of their attitudes, which is kind of true from my experience with whites in America and Europeans. They are generally still caucasian though

[venividivici]

yea, americans aren't exactly the most intelligent, real and classiest creatures I've met lol

[toosexualcat]

You need to meet different American's venividivici! I don't know what parks you've been hanging out or with who but trust me, we aren't all like that. You're being racist! lol. :)

[kiss_me_Kate]

Because my culture is ignored compleatly and stuffed into the "white" generality.

Europe is a place of great ethnic and cultural variability.

Here's an example:

A girl in my caribean studies class pointed out that "white people" like myself and the only other "white" guy in the class were the cause of British slave trade. I told her she was just as ignorant, if not more, since that guy and I were eastern european and eastern europeans have had slavery kidnappings go on for over 2000 years. She shut up quickly after that, and my "black" or trinidadian proffesor agreed with me.

[sinful1620]

I'm studying to become a teacher, and this issue really bothers me. I'm of Polish descent, and my culture is just as ignored as Latino/African/Asian cultures in our school system if not moreso. Yet we keep reading these authors talk about how "white people" and "white culture" dominates our schools.

It's insanely racist, but because it's racist against white ethnicities, nobody cares.

And yes, I don't like being called white, nor do I identify as Caucasian on the census.

[peace-love-couture]

O.o What do you identify as on the census?

[sinful1620]

"other". They have fifty five different categories for anyone who isn't white but just lump together all cultures together if we have a light skin tone? Nope. If they have a fill in the blank, I say "Polish", but generally on those surveys I just put "other".

[Asker]

i agree 100% with you.

[venividivici]

yes. we're all human. if you want to identify us, do so by calling us our nationality. anything else is just weird.

[Eugene]

As a Russian myself: things you said don't make any kind of sense to me. I don't recall anyone being angry about being called "white" (nor I recall anyone being called like that ever). If someone would approach me on a street and call me white, I'd be confused like "dude, you're a Captain Obvious".

However, at some point I'd rather write my nationality instead of my skin color. I'm simply more used to that. But if they want me to write down my ethnicity, I don't mind.

[blufrenzy93]

I think you'll find that in a lot of cultures, not just European. I'm not sure how they do it in other countries, but America puts so much emphasis on race. It's either you're black, white, hispanic, etc. There are a lot of variety besides those categories. For example, I am black, but more specifically, I'm Jamaican with British influence [ my mom was born in England, but her parents are Jamaican. ] I don't mind being called black.

S basically, it depends on the person.

[venividivici]

american are quite well-known to be racist...whether its true or not. in my experience it is though!

[blufrenzy93]

True, but if you live in urban areas, you won't find too much racism. You'll see it more when you walk into certain stores/restaurants where the hosts won't say anything to you and/or follow you around...worst case scenario is if they bluntly tell you you're not welcomed. That last one hasn't personally happened to me, but you hear about it from time to time.

[been_waiting]

Europeans are white. American white people originated from Europe . I'm not sure how this is an issue to people.
You'll be surprised to learn that Europeans, North Africans, some Asians, and middle eastern people are all considered Caucasian. In our times tho we seem to think Caucasians are just white colored people... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race

[mike5150]

I have no problem answering I'm white when people ask for my ethnicity I feel though that labeling every person with light skin or from euorope one ethnicity is a little ridicouls. A lot of people are unaware that there is a very big differances between western europeans and eastern europeans. The typical person you would expect to see in a country like switzerland is a lot differant than the typical person you would expect to see in a country like Italy.

[Rosevelt]

I really don't care what you call me, but I'd find it quite stupid if you'd think that I'm black, or Asian, or whatever. As far as I'm concerned, Italians are white, and so are mostly all Europeans (maybe not the Turks, but they're quite certainly Indo-European).
But really, I'm just a world citizen, it doesn't matter how much melanin do I have in my blood.

[zandvliet]

turkey is eurasian not european, that's why some of us have white skin and some of us don't

[toosexualcat]

White is such a weird term anyway... even hispanic people are white in some census. It's like there's only three colours, white, black, asian... don't ask... asian, really? some census are just ridiculous! But there you are...

[irykiryk]

I'm European and I've never heard of this issue. In fact I've never even heard people say that they are white or black themselves.

When I put down my ethnicity I will most likely put down where I am from rather than what kind of person I am.

[venividivici]

i agree!

people never actually for your skin color in europe

[irykiryk]

What?

Why does your account say you are from China? Your not from China!

[bibi10044]

I'm a russian, and I don't exactly get angry but I always tend to correct people and tell them that I'm european.

[venividivici]

either that or nationality

[Alpha93]

im british and I identify as white/caucasian when people ask. I have noticed that southern european people tend to identify by their nationality more.

[jacquesvol]

Accepting to be called 'white' includes identifying others by their skin colour/race and many Europeans are not racist.

[iLoveHouseMusic]

I am European and I hate when people call me a white boy.

[dancerlove]

Well I am dutch, and I do hate it when people call me white, but not that much. It just bugs me. It would be like being called Asian when you just have smaller eyes.

[tyt_2012]

I AM NOT WHITE, DAMMIT!

[irykiryk]

Your a nice British Asian girl.

[tyt_2012]

LOL yeah and some people just call me white. :/

[hALLDAY]

White Power.

[irykiryk]

Did you mean to say white powder?

[hALLDAY]

no, I was trying to make a joke >:|

[Spacemen3]

lol.europeans

[Anonymous]

Do non european women love them