On New Years Eve a group of us sat down at the end of a long and eventful night to watch a video clip of Russell Peters. He is an Indian Canadian stand up comedian whose jokes revolve mainly around race. He is absolutely hilarious and not a single race of people is safe from his jokes. In this clip, he made a joke and then proceeded to point out the Asian (oriental) guy in the audience and made fun of him, saying he's never seen an Asian guy open his eyes so wide before. It got me thinking about the accusation that many Westerners make about Asians wanting to look more Caucasian or thinking that Caucasian features are more attractive. For those of you reading from the UK, when we say Asian in North America we are usually referring to North or South East Asians (not Indians).
You've probably seen photos of Asian girls made up to look like they have big, round eyes on the Internet or the bleached blond Japanese girls on cosmetic product pakaging. Don't you think those girls look like something out of a Japanese Anime Cartoon?
The dolly, big eye, long lashes look is incredibly popular all over Asia. Many westerners think that Asians want to look more Caucasian and don't understand why many of us do not embrace our naturally smaller and almond shaped eyes. I've thought about this a lot and question whether these girls really do want to look more Caucasian. I've realized that they don't, but they are just like everyone else and a victim of the media that surrounds them.
Ever since we were children we've been exposed to teasing about our eyes and not just by other Asians but by people of all races. Remember the teasing rhyme when you were a child that goes "Chinese, Japanese, Swiss cheese" in which the person saying the rhyme would stretch out their eyes until it was long and thin? How then does a child grow up thinking their Asian eyes are beautiful? My husband even had an ESL student who had never had Asian friends before ask if Asians have such eyes because of the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima!!! Shocking, I know!!! But these types of comments are everywhere.
In addition to the teasing, beauty ads everywhere around the world are telling us that bigger eyes are beautiful, with mascara commercials being a huge culprit. American commercials and other forms of media dominate in Asia too. If girls in the West aren't safe from falling victim to them, why would anyone think it would be different on the other side of the planet? And, I don't think men are an exception either.
Think about it more, it's not just Asian girls who want bigger eyes and fuller and longer lashes. Girls all around the world want this too if they feel their eyes are not as big or their lashes are not as long as the media portrays the ideal to be.
You've probably also seen bleached blond Asian girls or Asians with blond highlights or light brown hair. Again, people think these Asian blondies want to look more Caucasian. NOT TRUE!!! Think about it!!! White girls change their hair colour all the time but they aren't accused of trying to switch races because their genes produce such a wide variety of colours. Asian girls are just like other girls from all over the world. We want to play around with hair colour too. However, we are all born with black or extremely dark brown hair so playing with our possible genetic colours can be quite limiting and not to mention, super boring!!! So, we play with all the same hair colours that white girls play with. And its NOT because we want to look Caucasian but because we also get bored of our hair colour and like to play around with it.
I think people should stop giving Asian girls a hard time about colouring hair or making our eyes look bigger through makeup and circle lenses. We all want something we weren't born with. Many people want to be skinnier, more tanned, fairer, taller, have fuller lips or curly hair if they have straight hair and vice versa. So why are we accused of wanting to look Caucasian if we want the same thing too?
For the girls out there who have the big eyes, big lashes, big boobs and skinny body naturally, who say you don't buy into the media...I don't believe you for a second. You are probably happy with your God given features because the media has told you that's ideal.
However, if you are fat, have eyes that look like you're asleep, have non existent lashes, love your hair colour and have never changed it, nor changed your hair from straight to curly and vice versa and you're proud of all that...you may be the one person in the world that truly hasn't fallen victim to the media!!!
So, I conclude that Asian girls do not want to look Caucasian...we are just victims of the media like everyone out there who is exposed to it!!!! It is not Caucasian features we want...but rather what society, shaped by the media, deems as attractive!!! At the end of the day, everyone just wants to feel beautiful!!!
You've probably seen photos of Asian girls made up to look like they have big, round eyes on the Internet or the bleached blond Japanese girls on cosmetic product pakaging. Don't you think those girls look like something out of a Japanese Anime Cartoon?
The dolly, big eye, long lashes look is incredibly popular all over Asia. Many westerners think that Asians want to look more Caucasian and don't understand why many of us do not embrace our naturally smaller and almond shaped eyes. I've thought about this a lot and question whether these girls really do want to look more Caucasian. I've realized that they don't, but they are just like everyone else and a victim of the media that surrounds them.
Ever since we were children we've been exposed to teasing about our eyes and not just by other Asians but by people of all races. Remember the teasing rhyme when you were a child that goes "Chinese, Japanese, Swiss cheese" in which the person saying the rhyme would stretch out their eyes until it was long and thin? How then does a child grow up thinking their Asian eyes are beautiful? My husband even had an ESL student who had never had Asian friends before ask if Asians have such eyes because of the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima!!! Shocking, I know!!! But these types of comments are everywhere.
In addition to the teasing, beauty ads everywhere around the world are telling us that bigger eyes are beautiful, with mascara commercials being a huge culprit. American commercials and other forms of media dominate in Asia too. If girls in the West aren't safe from falling victim to them, why would anyone think it would be different on the other side of the planet? And, I don't think men are an exception either.
Think about it more, it's not just Asian girls who want bigger eyes and fuller and longer lashes. Girls all around the world want this too if they feel their eyes are not as big or their lashes are not as long as the media portrays the ideal to be.
You've probably also seen bleached blond Asian girls or Asians with blond highlights or light brown hair. Again, people think these Asian blondies want to look more Caucasian. NOT TRUE!!! Think about it!!! White girls change their hair colour all the time but they aren't accused of trying to switch races because their genes produce such a wide variety of colours. Asian girls are just like other girls from all over the world. We want to play around with hair colour too. However, we are all born with black or extremely dark brown hair so playing with our possible genetic colours can be quite limiting and not to mention, super boring!!! So, we play with all the same hair colours that white girls play with. And its NOT because we want to look Caucasian but because we also get bored of our hair colour and like to play around with it.
I think people should stop giving Asian girls a hard time about colouring hair or making our eyes look bigger through makeup and circle lenses. We all want something we weren't born with. Many people want to be skinnier, more tanned, fairer, taller, have fuller lips or curly hair if they have straight hair and vice versa. So why are we accused of wanting to look Caucasian if we want the same thing too?
For the girls out there who have the big eyes, big lashes, big boobs and skinny body naturally, who say you don't buy into the media...I don't believe you for a second. You are probably happy with your God given features because the media has told you that's ideal.
However, if you are fat, have eyes that look like you're asleep, have non existent lashes, love your hair colour and have never changed it, nor changed your hair from straight to curly and vice versa and you're proud of all that...you may be the one person in the world that truly hasn't fallen victim to the media!!!
So, I conclude that Asian girls do not want to look Caucasian...we are just victims of the media like everyone out there who is exposed to it!!!! It is not Caucasian features we want...but rather what society, shaped by the media, deems as attractive!!! At the end of the day, everyone just wants to feel beautiful!!!
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