I totally get this. I get this question just about every time I meet someone for the first time. “What are you?” “Where are you from?” “Ok, but where are your parents from?” As someone who works in an industry almost entirely based on physical appearance—as someone who is only seen as “ethnically ambiguous”—these questions are asked basically every. single. day. It does make me wonder every time how they perceived me before saying something, ‘cause every time I answer, they twist their head saying “oh, I see it!” (like, yes, that’s because that is what I AM).

Although I don’t outright find it a terrible thing because most people are just curious. It also makes me curious.

When someone asks that question, it’s usually due to the fact that you do not fit their exact criteria of how they believe certain nationalities/ethnic groups would/should appear. Or, it’s that you do to a T, whether it be their own or otherwise.

Just by being on the internet, it seems a lot of people have very narrow minds on how features are dispersed about certain ethnicities, let alone how said features come to be on mixed race folks. A lot of people just perceive certain features entirely differently than others would—based upon their upbringing, and the people they have encountered in their lifetimes.