With the rise in popularity of Asian trends and media, many East Asian cultures have started to be more appreciated around the world, though some have taken the obsession too far, which is what we have started calling “Asianfishing”.
Asianfishing is a term used to describe the action of trying to pass as East Asian. To do so, those who are Asianfishing slant their eyes with makeup or with editing. They attempt to make their eyes appear to have monolids and tend to use eyeliner to achieve that.
These days, they try to make themselves appear Asian for their own “aesthetic” and the “trends” going on. This is very unacceptable and insensitive towards the East Asian community since many have been mocked or even bullied for the natural slanted appearance of their eyes. It isn’t right to change your appearance to look like a group of individuals that used to get made fun of before the trends arrived.
There is also a “pose/gesture” that is racially offensive, which is called the “fox eye trend”. This consists of pulling the upper corner of your eye to look slimmer and slanted for the sake of lifting the face to look like the celebrities with almond-shaped eyes. Even if this beauty trend wasn’t intended to be insensitive, it’s wrong and shouldn’t be used since it still emulates the action others used to ridicule East Asians’ eyes.
It is important to note that liking Asian culture and food, even if you’re not Asian yourself, is not considered Asianfishing. It is necessary to not mistake wanting to appreciate and enjoy the culture light-heartedly with changing your appearance and identity to match the description of an East Asian person.
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