K-TOWN Part 1- “Asian B- Are Supposed to be Skinny!”

Oh, K-TOWN. A little background, K-TOWN is a reality show that premiered in July of 2012 and was running on LOUD’s YouTube channel. The show is about a group of 8 Asian American 20-somethings and their adventures in nightlife in Koreatown, Los Angeles. A little more background, this show is a flaming pile of trash. There’s the typical reality show group of “friends”; “actors” and “actresses” rounded up to pretend to have wild, chummy history- the producers just vainly scraping at the bottom of the Jersey Shore barrel. The title sequence of the show even has a qualifier for each person, such as “Scarlet, The Troublemaker” and “Jowe, The Heartbreaker” because otherwise, audiences for sure would not be able to distinguish between the “stars”, what with their glaring lack of personality and amorphous character traits. K-TOWN is all about the Koreatown nightlife, but more importantly it has chronicled 1. The fight at the bar 2. The fight at the karaoke room 3. The fight with the go-go dancer pre-club night. 

Asian American Women Portrayed in Pitch Perfect AKA I Am So Disappointed

       

I settled down to watch Pitch Perfect about two months ago. A little late in the game, I know, but this was a feel-good, sugary movie that I felt I needed to ease the pain of finals and papers. It looked so right, what with the college acapella and the Spring Awakening love of my life Skylar Astin as the male lead. And it is, objectively, a fun and easy film. But as minutes rolled by, I found myself increasingly let down and so incredibly disappointed at the depiction of the only two Asian American women in the film. 

Being Called American Isn’t The Ultimate Compliment You Can Give Minorities

In a continuation of the number one most asked question towards me ever, my Languages of Communication professor was going around the table last week, asking every minority “where they were from”.

“Well, I’m from here-“ I started.

“Right” he laughs, “From Colorado or something, right?”

“…But my family is from Hong Kong.”

This has become my answer crafted from years of being subject to the gamut of everything from “what ethnicity are you?” to the even more eloquent “what are you?” 

Frequently Asked Question: Who Cares?

“You put so much emphasis on race, why does it even matter so much to you?”

“Why do these situations make you so upset?”

“The more we talk about racism the more power we give it”

“Give me one reason why you care about racism so much”

That is a dose of friendship realness that I have received over the years about my passion for the Asian American community, racial politics, and my overall loathing of racism. 

I, for one, think it’s an outrage that people are not more outraged. 

Self- Racism? Asian on Asian Hate and the Internalization of Mainstream Prejudice

 

I remember first stumbling upon the viral video of the Asian American Chicago teen being violently beaten bloody and senseless by a group of six other teens behind an elementary school. (I will not post the video here because the sheer atrocities against humanity and all goodness in the clip are so severe it is tear and vomit inducing.)

Quick Thoughts on the Racists Over at Zadig & Voltaire

 

French brand Zadig & Voltaire is opening a hotel in Paris. This is what owner Thierry Gillier had to say about it:

“It will be a slightly private hotel, not open to everybody, with 40 rooms. We are going to select guests. It won't be open to Chinese tourists, for example. There is a lot of demand in Paris — many people are looking for quiet with a certain privacy.”

Perfect. 

On Cat Calls, Intersectionality and Being an AA Woman

Living as an Asian American woman in New York City, being attacked by racism is a daily situation. Being called “Chinadoll”, “cute Chinese girl” and the like is an everyday reminder of my extremely vulnerable position as an Asian American female in American society- constantly exoticised, sexualized and demeaned, all at once and with the expectation that we as AA females are just supposed to quietly take it. It is never just a “compliment” about your supposed attractiveness- it is attractiveness perpetually linked to the fetishism of the Orient, an Asian woman to fit in your box of assumptions and ideas of the exotic.