For her birthday, Lori Harvey went Instagram official with her newest, celebrity boyfriend, Damson Idris. Like always, the influencer’s love life garnered lots of attention as many social media users spilled their opinions on the 26-year-old’s dating choices. However, the comments that were most eye-catching to me involved the comparison of Harvey’s dating life to that of rapper, Asian Doll.
While reading through the comments, I noticed a common argument amongst many users that colorism is the reason that people praise Harvey’s serial dating but shame Asian Doll for seemingly doing the same thing. I am willing to argue that colorism has little to nothing to do with how society perceives Lori Harvey versus how they perceive Asian Doll, when it comes to dating.
To begin, both ladies present themselves to the world as drastically different. For example, Lori Harvey’s aesthetic and instagram page portrays a very soft, feminine, and classy young woman. Plus, she hardly speaks, but when she does, she is soft-spoken and says all the ‘right’ things. This particular social media presence works in Harvey’s favor because it showcases a Black woman in a positive, non-sexual, and luxurious light that seems to appeal to all.
On the other hand, Asian Doll has the stereotypical “hood-rich” aesthetic: big chains, tattoos, inappropriate language, and provocative clothing. To be clear, I am not at all saying that the way Asian Doll chooses to present herself is bad, however, we would all be naive to assume that how she portrays herself does not negatively affect how society views her in comparison to Lori Harvey.
More importantly, although both women are known to explore their options, Harvey and Asian Doll each move differently within each relationship. Harvey ensures that her and her new boo are revealing their relationship to the world at the same time, which typically involves her man posting a few minutes before her. This small, but very noticeable tactic allows Harvey to be seen by the masses as a woman that her men are quick and enthusiastic to claim.
On the flip side, Asian Doll appears to be quick to claim men who are slow to claim her publicly. She even declares her love for each of them in a way that unfortunately makes her look desperate for companionship.
This analysis may sound harsh, I am just trying to shed light on the realistic reasons as to why society is a lot more vicious to Asian Doll about her love life than Lori Harvey. When it comes down to it, colorism plays a very minute role in this difference in treatment. Although everyone has a right to present themselves how they best see fit, that does not stop society from judging based on appearances. The difference in how each individual portrays themself to the world makes most of the difference in this case between the way Lori Harvey and Asian Doll’s dating choices are spoken about.