Silly Muggles. Impervius!

Thanks for the response. :]
I'm inclined to agree that it's pretty dependent on context, even though I don't personally use the word 'gay' (it never even occurred to me to use it). I have plenty of friends who throw 'gay' around all the time, and I'm positive they're not homophobic in the least.
On the other hand, context is so fucking tricky. If you don't know a person and just hear them use it, you probably won't be so sure of the context or if it signifies deeper vilification of homosexuality.
Not that I think there's anything that can really be done about actually hateful people - I definitely don't condone censorship - and I think most people just learn to move on and not give a shit about ignorant/hateful people embarrassing themselves with their stupidity.

I'm kind of surprised so many Buzzfeeders are defending the casual usage of 'gay', and by extension, words like 'faggot', if we're not going to draw arbitrary lines about which words are okay and which aren't. Even if you're not using it as a synonym for 'stupid', aren't you still implying that there's still something laughable about being gay, which to be frank, is still a pretty widely held view in the US?
(This is a serious question - no one's been able to give me a good explanation why it's funny to use the word 'gay', except some shitty tautological reasoning like 'Because it's funny!')

She looks perfectly fine. Don't act like you're going to look better at that age. Unless all these 'ew's are referring to the fact that she's an 'old' woman with tats, in which case, fuck you.

Weird, I'm pretty sure you can hire models who are naturally that shade without tanning/Photoshopping at all. Oh, wait.

I've explained this in a post below, but here's the main point: “it recalls the histories of exploitation, colonization, and racial/sexual oppression in which the hypersexualization of women (and men) of color is rooted”. So, no, it's usually not quite the same. Don't take this to mean that I think any kind of interracial dating is problematic or thinking someone of another race is beautiful is invalid - I'm Korean and dating a white man - but that when people say things about having a 'thing' for Asian women (because we all can be grouped under 'Asian'?), it's often set against my life of hearing things about how Asian women have tight pussies and shit like, “Hey, chinky girl, you wanna love me long time?!” (actual quote) which then recalls histories of sexual oppression of Asian, and more specifically Korean, women for me.

If you were responding to me, I think you missed my point completely and you seem to think dating/sex is somehow mutually exclusive from the ways in which cultures have interacted with each other over centuries, which it often is not. So, yes, it can be very much a political/feminist debate.  I'm not saying all interracial dating is problematic - I myself am a Korean woman currently dating a white guy, who sometimes has to deal with people asking if he has a 'thing' for Asian women - or that non-whites are exempt from problematic ways of stereotyping/'fetishizing', because they aren't. What I AM saying is that the racism that does arise in dating, as we've seen in this article, can often be traced back through historical, cultural relationships and complex power structures. You can disagree with me if you want, but just to be, like, “No, dating has nothing to do with politics, feminism, or any kind of cultural history!” is pretty gross over-simplification - but I guess that's your prerogative if you want to think of it that way.

It happens with all sorts of people, regardless of ethnicity or gender.
The kind that comes from white men tends to be focused upon more, though, because it historically has the most problematic connotations, considering white straight males have generally wielded the most power over the rest of the world (and continue to do so). All of these race 'fetishes' can still be traced back to histories of colonialization and exoticization of 'ethnic' people, as well as, conversely, idealization of the West, regardless of the actual people involved, so it's not so much blaming white men as the structures to which many of them have historically contributed.

Before people start bickering about using the term 'fetish' in reference to ethnicity and how it's not racist to like an entire group of people (oh, yes it is, just like it's discriinatory to hate a particular group of people - just because it's 'positive' doesn't make it any less prejudiced) - Although misappropriated, 'fetish' is really just shorthand these days for an attitude that exoticizes people of color. It may be positive attention, but it's problematic, nonetheless, and often (not always, depending on the individual) can make the subjects of that attention uncomfortable or feel degraded. I see more women experience this 'icky' feeling, including myself, but increasingly men as well (like my Korean nephew who told me girls have tried to ask him out on the premise of 'liking Asian men'). It recalls the histories of exploitation, colonization, and racial/sexual oppression in which the hypersexualization of women (and men) of color is rooted - so don't just dismiss this as women freaking out over attention they don't want, especially if you've never experienced these kinds of encounters. There's a reason why it's 'icky'.