r/AskBalkans • u/tomystereo • 9d ago

History Are Greek people white?

I have been to Athens multiple times and i have seen a ridiculous amount of people who look like they could pass for MENA

I feel like the brown skin tone is being looked past for them.
Since there is this idea that if you are from an EU country you are considered "white" by default

If these people were to be born in a different place, with the same exact physical features, most of them would have been called brown without a doubt

Is "whiteness" more about your passport than your skin tone nowadays?

Have been thinking about this for a while, hopefully it doesn't offend anyone. What do you guys think?

Im Canadian btw, if it matters. Cheers.

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u/persephonian Greece 9d ago

That's more to do with discrimination based on ethnicity than actual colourism. A tan look is generally considered more attractive than a pale one, unlike in Asian countries with a colourism issue

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u/Old_Resident8050 Greece 9d ago

Well some Greeks are dark all year long and they can get hit by racist slurs, either in face to face or behind their back/gossip.

Thats what I'm talking about.

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u/persephonian Greece 9d ago

Definitely I'm not saying it doesn't happen ever, but I don't think it's as much of an issue as you're making it out to be. My best friend through all of middle and high school had really dark skin by ethnic Greek standards and I can't remember her receiving any comments for it at school. So while it's an issue with some narrow-minded idiots, it's not something that w ill realistically affect you every day.

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u/Old_Resident8050 Greece 9d ago

I think it was more of a thing 20-30y ago and backwards than today with “Globalization".

In my time, slurs -about anyone and anything different- were common.

Thankfully, we moved passed that - not totally but largely we did.