Emily Taylor answers “I don't understand why Alix thinks that...”

Susan asked this question about Such a Fun Age:

I don't understand why Alix thinks that Kelley has a "fetish" about Black women. Can't he just have a type - a type of woman that he is attracted to? Just as some one is attracted to brunettes or redheads, or attracted to tall women or women who are like scotch or women who golf doesn't make it a fetish.

Emily Taylor It's not so much a fetish about dating black women and have black female lovers/girlfriends as much as it is about the whole picture of who Kelley ass…moreIt's not so much a fetish about dating black women and have black female lovers/girlfriends as much as it is about the whole picture of who Kelley associates himself with and the way he acts and views himself as a result. The fact that he surrounds himself with and goes out of his way to befriend and date black people is the issue, which Alix points out when she confronts him - how he thought that the black athletes in high school were cooler and he tried so hard to be friends with them and be admitted into their group. The way he uses the n word in front of Emira and feels a need to insert himself into the racial confrontation in the grocery store to prove that he is "woke" and "one of the 'good ones' [white people]". (less)

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