Around August and September of 2020, there was a trend circulating called the “Fox-Eye” trend. Many Asian Americans were upset over this “trend” where white people used makeup to give the appearance of smaller, more Asian-like eyes. Recently, many Asian creators on Tiktok have called out white creators for not only altering their eyes intentionally to Asian-fish but for straight-up yellowface. Yellowface is defined by Oxford as, “the practice of wearing makeup to imitate the appearance of an East Asian person, typically as part of a performance.”
The main issue is not on how winged eyeliner is drawn, the issue lies with people who purposefully alter their appearance through surgery or make-up, then act like a very fetishized version of an East Asian person. Asians are commonly known for having slanted eyes, so purposefully using make-up to alter your eyes to look more slanted is wrong. There is confusion between people who are Asian-fishing and people who do dolly make-up. The important difference is that dolly makeup is used to make the eyes look more round while Asian-fishing makeup makes the eyes more slanted. There is nothing wrong with taking inspiration from Asian make-up, it only becomes a problem when you start to do yellowface.
Asians have plenty of stereotypes that target them, the majority of which put Asians in danger of assault, harassment, violence, and discrimination. On social media, such as TikTok, you can find blatant racism where some white women put on a persona portraying the “Lotus Blossom” stereotype, where Asian women are perceived as sexually submissive, feminine, and unintelligent. Also, Asian men are subject to emasculating stereotypes and are often portrayed as either less sexually desirable or oversexualized. Asian men are seen as weak and inferior compared to their white counterparts. These harmful stereotypes are completely unacceptable and continue to enforce the false perceptions of Asians as weak and sexually deviant.
As the issues of yellowface and Asian-fishing have been brought to light during Asian American Pacific Islander heritage month, another issue has arisen. White allies have begun to call out actual Asian people, mixed people, and non-Asian people with natural almond, monolid, or hooded eyes for Asian fishing. The majority of the time, people would call them out because it comes down to either that person does not fit the perceptions of what an Asian person would stereotypically look like or what they believe what the western beauty standard looks like. The western beauty standard has been altered to fit white people to the point where it is praised to look racially ambiguous. This is a major reason for the issue with properly identifying people who Asian-fish or do yellowface.
The topic of Asian-fishing has opened the eyes of many about harmful realities endured by Asian Americans: the number of stereotypes that target Asians is astronomical, Asians are seen as a sex symbol, feelings of invalidation if they do not have exaggerated features and so many more. There is no problem with appreciating Asian achievements, but it becomes a problem when you start to fetishize and disrespect aspects of the culture and history. Plenty of Asian folks have disclosed their issues with the normalization of people sexualizing them, appropriating their culture, and fetishizing their people.
Even though AAPI Heritage Month has come to an end, we can still listen, respect, and uplift Asian folk and their hardships in America and in western media. Anyone can make the effort to appreciate and respect all of the contributions Asian Americans have had on the United States. Pay attention and call out those who appropriate Asian culture and people. Continue to fight for AAPI rights and protect Asian people. Provided below are resources to help AAPI who are struggling.
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