Bernier's system uses geography to define racial differentiation. He relies on highly-biased observations from colonial officials about the temperaments and physical appearance of non-white peoples.

In his 1684 letter, "A New Division of the Earth,” Bernier also assesses the varying "attractiveness" of women of different races, cementing white European beauty standards of an "aquiline nose, small mouth, coral lips, ivory teeth, large bright eyes, gentle features" (Strings, 2019). He begins establishing racial stereotypes about body weight, offering the so-called "Hottentot" (Khoikhoi) people of South Africa as an unusual example of an African people that are small and thin, implying that most other African people have larger bodies. This perception of the Khoikhoi as small and thin will change following the racist display and dissection of Saartjie Baartman's body in the early 1800s, a Khoikhoi woman who is objectified as a curiosity because of her large buttocks and hips.