FaceApp Ethnicity Filters Show Us We're More Alike Than We Are Different - By Sam Callica

On Wednesday August 9th 2017 FaceApp launched what would prove to be polarizing new

Sam

filter options. These new filters touted the ability to transform your ethnicity to Black, Caucasian, Indian & Asian. Within hours people on twitter, social media, bloggers and journalists were in an uproar. They contend that these filters amount to digital black and yellow face, that it's inappropriate, offensive, racist even.


My experience with these new filters however was very different. I've seen apps that have attempted to do this in the past and the results have been less than thrilling. FaceApps technology on the other hand was nothing short of brilliant. 

My first introduction to this technology was when my friend Justin showed it to me. I looked

Justin

at the White, Asian, Black & Indian versions of him and thought wow they all look like you just different versions of you. For me these filters highlighted how similar we all really are. Think about it for a moment; with a simple tweak of a few traits he was a completely different ethnicity but that didn't mean it was no longer him. Justin was still Justin. Now contrast that with the reality these slight physical differences would have in the real world. In the real world those differences could determine where you live, the neighborhood you grow up in, the schools you attend, the careers you pursue, whether you get that job offer, even your life expectancy. 

I immediately saw this technology as a treasure and ideas of all the social experiments this could open the doors to flooded my mind. Unfortunately my excitement turned into disappointment when I realized many people didn't feel the same. In fact some felt quite the opposite, they were outraged that a company would put out such offensive and racist technology. Due to the backlash the ethnicity filters were pulled from the app.

When this happened I had to take a step back an analyze the situation. Was I wrong? Was

Justine Skye

this in fact digital black and yellow face? Should I be against this? Blackface was a form of theatrical makeup that gained prominence in the 19th century used predominantly by non-black performers to represent a black person.  It greatly contributed to racial stereotypes & racist archetypes. In Black Like You: Blackface, Whiteface, Insult & Imitation in American Popular Culture, John Strausbaugh relates that as blackface gained popularity in the 1800's "stereotyped blackface characters developed: buffoonish, lazy, superstitious, cowardly, and lascivious characters, who stole, lied pathologically, and mangled the English language. Early blackface minstrels were all male, so cross-dressing white men also played black women who were often portrayed as unappealingly and grotesquely mannish, in the matronly mammymold, or as highly sexually provocative."

As a result, the genre played an important role in shaping perceptions of and prejudices about blacks generally and African Americans in particular. Some social commentators have stated that blackface provided an outlet for whites' fear of the unknown and the unfamiliar, and a socially acceptable way of expressing their feelings and fears about race and control. Writes Eric Lott in Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class, "The black mask offered a way to play with the collective fears of a degraded and threatening—and male—Other while at the same time maintaining some symbolic control over them."

In the U.S., by the 1950s, the NAACP had begun calling attention to such portrayals of African Americans and mounted a campaign to put an end to blackface performances and depictions. With the eventual successes of the modern day Civil Rights Movement, such blatantly racist branding practices ended in the U.S., and blackface became an American taboo.

It's no wonder then that in 2016, a controversy emerged over Snapchat's Bob Marley filter, which allowed users to superimpose dark skin, dreadlocks, and a knitted cap over their own faces. Now it was happening again this time with FaceApps ethnicity filters. Yellow face is a similar practice used to portray asians in film and theatre while being able to limit the hiring of actual asians and perpetuate Asian stereotypes. Asian Americans have formed advocacy groups such as the East West Players and Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) to counter this practice.

Given the history of these practices it is understandable why many people are offended by

these digital filters and I think they have every right to be. I compare it to black peoples feelings on the N-Word. There are two schools of thought on the usage of this word. One camp says the word should never be uttered by anyone under any circumstance. The other camp says context matters, it depends on how it was used, who used it and the intent of its usage. In 2009 Oprah & Jay-Z discussed their disagreement on the subject. Jay-Z said: "I believe that a speaker's intention is what gives a word its power. And if we eliminate the N word, other words would just take its place." Oprah responded: "I'll give you that. But when I hear the N word, I still think about every black man who was lynched—and the N word was the last thing he heard. So we'll just have to disagree about this."

Now much like this ongoing debate is the debate on whether we should be offended by FaceApps ethnicity filters. If you look at the history and it reminds you of such then I understand and I feel you have every right to be offended. On the other hand however you might be like me and believe that context matters, and that in this context it's not contributing to negative stereotypes and that it doesn't offend you. We can agree to disagree but just like a Jay-Z song you should be able choose between the sanitized radio edit version or the unedited version, the one full of the N-words. Right now that choice has been taken from us and I think we should have it back. In fact I've started an online petition for those that feel like me and want FaceApp to bring back the ethnicity filters.

Like I said before I believe these ethnicity filters show us we're more alike than we are different. For me they presented a real opportunity for self analysis and a questioning of my biases. One of the first things I did was take pictures of my exes to see what they would look like as different ethnicities. Looking at the results I asked myself: Was I still attracted to them? If not, why? Was there something in me that I needed to work to root out of my heart and brain and counteract?

What if I set up a Tinder account with the different ethnicity me's? Would the white me get

way more swipe rights then the black me? How about different LinkedIn accounts? How many more job offers would I get as another ethnicity? Or for fun how about posting pictures of your friends in strategic areas of your home and see if they recognize themselves as different races. Would people think hmmm... these people look really familiar but I just can't put my finger on where I know them from .... hahaha. As you can see the possibilities for this technology truly are endless. What are some of the cool ways you'd like to put these filters to use? Post your ideas in the comments below.

If you feel like FaceApp should bring back the ethnicity filters please visit our online petition below. Sign it and be a part of us getting back this brilliant technology!

https://www.change.org/p/wireless-lab-ooo-bring-back-faceapps-ethnicity-filters

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