“How do you put on eyeshadow?”
“I love your almond shaped eyes.”
“Your eyes are too small to be attractive.”
These are the kinds of questions and comments that Asians and Asian Americans get bombarded with. These are the kinds of offensive statements that exoticize and ridicule the shape and size of Asian eyes. Pulled upwards for Japanese, to the side for Chinese, downward for Korean— our almond shaped eyes are targets for mockery because they do not fit into Western beauty standards.
Circling around media platforms such as YouTube and TikTok have been videos of non-Asian people participating in the fox-eye trend. The fox-eye trend consists of using eye makeup to make their eyes appear slanted upward, and many use their hands to pull their eyes slanted upward.
So let’s call it what it is. Racism.
The history of anti-Asian racism and the “model minority” myth
The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act marked the first time in US history where Chinese immigrants were prohibited from entering the US. They called us dirty, diseased, “The Yellow Peril.” An existential threat to the Western World.
In 1943, after about 60 years of exclusion, America decided to let (highly skilled, educated) Chinese immigrants back into the nation. 1943 was the height of the Second World War where the US needed an ally in Asia to fight against Imperial Japan. The Chinese were only welcomed back in when they were useful.
At the same time, Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps, relocated and incarcerated on the basis of their physical attributes. The US Government created the Loyalty Questionnaire for the Japanese— an ultimatum, to denounce their Japanese citizenship, serve in the US military, take up arms to fight against the Japanese or the US ostracizes and incarcerates you, and you cease to be American.
The inclusion of Asian-Americans was for the benefit of American self-interest. This highly selective pool of immigrants laid the foundation for the model minority myth.
Cue to the 1960s, when Black and African Americans were fighting for their civil rights, racial equality, and socio-economic equity which would equally benefit everyone. However, Asian Americans were scapegoated again by the government. White supremacy’s weapon of choice was creating the model minority myth to suppress the movements. Praised for being obedient, studious, disciplined, and hard-working, we were silenced by a muzzle of compliments but the intention was clear: White America asserted that silence and compliance will be rewarded with opportunity and mobility. The legacy of the model minority myth still stands today.
Looking at the history of cinema, the physical appearance of many Asian populations have been appropriated using makeup and prosthetics worn by white actors to imitate the appearance of an East Asian (known as yellowface). East Asians were caricatured, our language ridiculed and our cultures were commodified by white media. Make no mistake, this is not a thing of the past. Yellowface still makes it into modern media, fashion, makeup. Traditional East Asian garments are appropriated in fashion, in makeup, and celebrity influencers such as Emma Chamberlain, Bella Hadid and many more pull their eyes back using eyeliner, eyeshadow, and their hands.
What happened at Skidmore
A Skidmore student posted a Tiktok of her pulling her eyes back in a slant as part of the fox-eye trend. This was not the first TikTok she has posted of her pulling her eyes back. That TikTok has since been taken down.
However, the actions of this student have hurt and traumatized Skidmore’s Asian student population, and many students that have spoken up about this issue have been bullied into silence or have had their accounts taken down.
The problem of the ‘fox-eye’ trend
The fox eye trend holds strong similarities to the chink-eye gesture where celebrities, such as actress and singer Miley Cyrus in 2009, pulled her eyes back as a way of mocking Asian eyes. The chink-eye trend consisted of individuals intentionally pulling their eyes back to make them smaller. This happened more than a decade ago, yet history still remains the same. Racism still remains.
This fox eye trend is a blatant continuation of the chink-eye gesture, except now, white people disguise and refuse to acknowledge their previous racist actions under the premise that it is a beauty trend. It is now a “style,” a “fashion statement” to have Asian shaped eyes. This insensitivity towards the years of bullying that Asians have endured because of how their eyes look outwardly dismisses what happened. Now, white people are taking what they used to mock and transforming it into a beauty trend. The participants in this trend are appropriating Asian culture. Our Asian eyes are not beauty trends for other non-Asian individuals to try to replicate. The racist connotations of pulling one’s eyes back is highly offensive and using the excuse that it is a “model pose” or “beauty look” is unacceptable.
Those who are defending the fox-eye trend as merely a “model pose” or defend it with the cause of embracing East Asian features are ignoring this history of yellowface, oppression and racism. This is ignorance because it refuses to acknowledge the history of anti-Asian racism, media erasure and caricature, and years of bullying that intentionally hurt Asians. Western standards of beauty have also been imposed in Asia, with plastic surgery and skin-lightening products being popularized because of insecurities and a feeling of inferiority rooted in the hegemony of Western imperialism.
Those who refuse to believe that pulling one’s eyes upward is a racist gesture must take a look into themselves and acknowledge their privilege of never having been singled out because of their features. They need to acknowledge their ignorance of how hurtful this trend is to the Asian community at Skidmore College.
So, no, you do not get the privilege of taking an Asian feature and making it your own. You do not get to propel this climate of anti-Asian sentiments. You do not get to have control over Asian culture. Our culture is not your aesthetic.
Sources:
Miley Cyrus is Doing the Chink-Eye too!
http://blog.angryasianman.com/2009/02/miley-cyrus-is-doing-chink-eye-too.html
Unapologetic cultural appropriation: The fox eye trend
https://www.stanforddaily.com/2020/07/17/unapologetic-cultural-appropriation-the-fox-eye-trend/
Whitewashing in Hollywood
https://www.overachievermagazine.com/entertainment/2019/04/15/whitewashing-in-hollywood
Then and Now: Asian Whitewashing in Film
https://www.overachievermagazine.com/entertainment/2019/04/15/then-to-now-asian-whitewashing-in-film