the self-fetishization of east-asia: koreaboos & weebs aren't the only problem

Gotta be honest, people in the US really love the image of asian culture but they don't have a clue of what the real culture and their history. Back in mexico, I had a girlfriend from japan and her parents and her used to talk about the pressure and stress that their society puts on everyone. Like working until you literally died, the suicides, or the overwhelming expectation that some parents put on their kids.

I feel that the jokes on this script have gone a step up, and everything feels like its running more smoothly. Good job on polishing your craft!

I am Indonesian, I live in America, have my whole life. I am in high school and all this recent fetishization thing has been really weird kids will ask if I'm Japanese or Korean and when I tell them I'm not they seem to be disappointed, like they only care about me if I was one of the "cool asians"

As a Japanese man living in Japan, this video helped me a lot to see what is called ''Japanese culture'' in a different perspective. I've been having difficulties to find elements making me feel ''I'm Japanese''. At least I think it's cool that Japanese anime, food, and ''traditional culture'' have spread all over the world and they are being enjoyed by many people, but not in those things do I find something important shaping me as a Japanese person at its core. Maybe it's just I'm ignorant, but I somewhat understand the reason behind my detachment from ''Japanese culture'' knowing it's been basicallly produced with intentions to be consumed. I like that you deconstruct pop culture from academic perspectives!!

can we also just talk about the division between south/south east asian people and east asia? the fact that south asian people are completely excluded from mainstream media and aren't included in other mainstream trends like the recent douyin trends. and also about how south east asian girls on most commonly on platforms like tiktok usually only get praised based off of their looks because they look more east asian? i really agree with your point that the east asian look isn't the standard look. this may be controversial but in my opinion, like by saying that having eyeliner that elongates or largens your eyes is asian fishing puts asian people in a box, it connotes that asian people just have one look. it's what you do wearing the makeup that becomes a problem, like acting cute n shit, that's when it starts to get grey. this is all just part of my opinion as a south east asian person raised in the west, and how i've interpreted everything that's been going on about the mainstream asian culture boom

I more than “tolerated” this video 💕 Glad your videos showed up in my recommended

as a kpop fan, i see it everywhere. people wanting a korean/asian bf/gf, people using korean words in random sentences (i die inside every time someone does it) and as an asian girl, i experience fetishization bc people are like “ohhh youd be a cute little asian gf” LIKE WGAT

As a southeast Asian I think this topic is really interesting from my POV. Because in my community it’s almost as if they put East Asians on a pedestal and a goal to achieve their looks. I wouldn’t call it fetishization, but it feels like it. Like we’re Asian but not seen as the pretty Asians and it’s a compliment if someone says you look Korean or Chinese. I’ve even heard some girls say they wished they were born East Asian. Edit: I’m just writing this edit bc I feel like my original comment has gotten taken out of context/strayed away from the point💀 what I’m basically trying to say is that SOME southeast Asians (mainly those living in western countries where East Asian content dominates Asian media/representation) feel like they have to cosplay/pretend to be East Asian to be seen has the more “popular” Asians. And this notion is SOMEWHAT upheld by some elders in our own community. With some comments I personally heard from MY community using looking Korean or any form of EA (including Chinese bc I have heard some) as a compliment. I AM NOT speaking for all southeast Asians or ANY other asian regions, but this is what I have witnessed in MY COMMUNITY. I wrote my og comment because in the video it talks about self-fetishization which I felt kind of related since I do feel like SOME romanticize the idea of what it’s like to be East Asian and turn it into something that’s not very progressive for the Asian community. I also wrote my comment to express something I PERSONALLY have not heard discussed enough about in the SEA community. In no means am I saying that there’s anything wrong with not being East Asian. In fact I think that’s something people in our community needs to learn and push forward towards in order to accept who we are. I hope this explains enough.

This might sound wierd but when you talked about pleasures of fetishization, I was thinking the reason why some want to be fetishized is because we all crave acceptance. As ethnic people, we wish people would crave our features and see us as beautiful because we grew up pedestalizing white culture and features. As a south Asian, I know other desi girls kinda enjoy it when others see us as exotic and beautiful because it’s better than being seen as nerdy or ugly which are also our stereotypes. It’s also interesting to hear about those fighting against other fetishes and creating their own categories like Asian BBW in your example. It just goes to show that people are attracted to ALL types of looks and there really is a plethora of looks appealing to the general population.

"Many white passing wasians feel less Asian than Asian passing wasians, even if their connection to their Asian roots are the same." This was just a small line in a much larger point but it meant a lot to hear, thank you

I come from Appalachia, a region of the Americas that is notable for having a unique culture that had until recently been kept intact by the isolation of the mountains. Now, as the world becomes more connected and those in Appalachia move out or die out, I am witnessing the death of a culture that has existed in the area for centuries. Our regional culture is not being commodified like those of East Asia, but it leaves one to wonder which is a worse fate for a cultural identity; assimilation or appropriation?

I met a japanese man once who lives in the periphery of japan and he told me that there is kind of a "tokyo kioto bubble" that is the stereotypical representation of japan while most of the people are just living in an ordinary towns.

I was absent the first day of high school but the teacher said my name, the male students were “excited” to have an “Asian” class mate however I am half Mexican and so I look mostly like my mom, the only thing that reminds people of me being Asian IS my name. So when I got there and looked like everybody else well… they were extremely disappointed, and I found myself speaking Chinese to them and “performing” my Asian side for them. Treating myself as a show. I hate that I felt the need to do that, when you were talking about how women have to perform for their partners AND coworkers???? I felt sick to my stomach bro

This makes me remember a story : When I was in high-school, the BTS train was full, everyone (especially girls) were full on hyped (I have asian features because my ancestors are from Vietnam) and I used to be called racial slurs when I was young but because of it, the trend, anything you want to call it, I was now found appealling, I hated it because people didn't liked me because of who I was but because of tokens like "I have an asian friend" like bruh can't you just have a friend ? Another story is that, there was that guy who's parents where filipino but he pretended to be korrean at school and once his girlfriend found out he wasn't korean she broke up with him like wtf

i’m korean, and have diagnosed bulimia and ptsd partly because of racism that has been directed towards me. i really appreciate this video, i’m a little dissapointed at a lot of these comments that really didn’t get the point. growing up with sm racism around me and suddenly finding out my culture was being appreciated but then finding out my culture was being, fetishized mocked, and misunderstood just made me feel all worse.

i’m a hispanic guy who recently became interested in K-Pop (or mostly the rock and rap focused songs/groups) after always having said that it was my least favorite music for years. My Korean friend helped show me lots of it and honestly, the music has grown on me so much to the point where it’s one of my favorites. But the more I get into it, the more uncomfortable I get as I’m reminded of why I stayed away from it in the first place. Part of me hates enjoying the music out of fear of being associated with koreaboos and fetishizers, especially since it’s already taboo enough to be a guy who enjoys it, lmao My friend isn’t afraid to talk to me about the darker and less “nice” parts of Korean culture and I’m glad to know about the bits and pieces she’s told me about, because sometimes it feels like people see countries like Korea and Japan as a “fantasy”

As popular as BTS, blackpink, and other kpop groups have gotten in the modern western countries, I think a lot of people forget how influental PSY was to crossing the barrier between western and eastern pop culture. Aside from anime(which keep in mind wasn't exactly a cool thing to be a fan of in 2012), Gangnam stye, as much of a meme as it became, was most peoples first introduction to modern east asian media.

I wanted to comment on the aegyo thing when you said it's a cultural thing, in the Middle-east it's the opposite, the more cold and mature the woman is; the more she's attractive because she's seen as responsible, and if she acts like a little girl it's a turn off. It's interesting how different it is in other cultures.

Society went from me a Mexican brown girl being bullied and laughed for appearing to be “Chinese” to now the fetishization of my eyes and similar features. I ofc see how this is beneficial for me like she said in the video but all I think about is why people seem to not call me “Chinese” anymore, but ultimately this video made me realize that I am instead of bullied, fetishized. I can not even begin for fathom what ACTUAL Asian people are being see as. This very was truly eye opening thank you🎀

Wow as a half Taiwanese who’s full passing moving from Australia to America, I agree so much stated. Your points were so detailed and you are super professional. Great vid