real-life stakes

[VicNicSor]

There's something about having dark skin on a woman's body that shapes the way she moves through the world. There's something about having darker skin on a male body that shapes the way in which he moves through the world. It has real-life stakes.
What Dark-Skinned People Will Never Tell You, video by BuzzFeedVideo

What is the red part about?
Thank you.

 

[Egmont]

"Stakes" are the money that one risks in a bet or in gambling. Usually, money is only money. Unless people gamble with money that their families need for food or other necessities, which is a type of illness, losing some money in gambling or betting is not very important.

However, the effect of having dark skin is more important than that. It is, according to this source, important in real life.

 

[Dretagoto]

Not just in money, as Egmont says, but the fact that the stakes, the consequences, the risks, aren't hypothetical, imaginary, supposed etc. Having dark skin has tangible effects in real-life, it has demonstrable, and in context negative, effects/risks on the person's life.

 

[VicNicSor]

Thank you both !

Anyway, I find this metaphor odd in this context. It's as if you can yourself choose what skin color to be born with.

 

[Dretagoto]

Yes. I think a word like "consequence" might have been better - usually one is able to choose the stakes, but, as you say, there is no choice here.