A few nights ago, I noticed the Daughter watching the latest Cheetah Girls movie from Disney. The movie made me remember the time she shouted in teenage frustration, “I want to be WASIAN!” I thought again about this outburst when John forwarded an article about a paper co-authored by Freakonomics author Steven Levitt. The paper claimed that bi-racial children of black and white parents are more prone to engage in risky adolescent behavior more than “single raced” children. The bi-racial kids’ one advantage, states the paper, is that interviewers rated them more attractive.
What is “wasian” you ask? It’s a slang term for being white and Asian (don’t worry, I had to ask also). The Daughter was frustrated over the fact that most of the boys in her class (a mostly Asian American class, I might add) were attracted to a particular girl whose father was Filipino and mother was white. She was also annoyed that her much lighter skinned brother was the object of many crushes by girls in his class.
Check out this Cheetah Girls video of the male love interests in the movie. They are light skinned, certainly more lighter skinned than perhaps most Indians. Heck, one of them isn’t even Indian. If you look at the movie web site, you can see that Gita, a female love interest, is also fairly light skinned.
You might be wondering how do the desire to be “wasian,” an economics paper, and a Disney movie tie together. They are all examples of how colorism affects many countries and cultures, ranging from Mexico, Brazil, Philippines, India, and the US. Spike Lee talks about colorism in the African American community in his movie School Daze. Colorism usually expresses itself as a preference for lighter skin, as a sign of beauty and status. You can see colorism at work when if you watch TFC (The Filipino Channel). Look at who are typically the leads in Bollywood movies versus who are the servants. There are a variety of reasons for colorism, ranging from colonial mentalities to class differentiation, but I won’t go into those right now.
So are Asian American kids affected by colorism? In some cases yes, and in some cases no. I remember the Daughter’s classmates sneer at another girl saying “she’s so dark” in that mean way that teenage girls do. But something the Daughter didn’t consider was that the wasian girl had other things going for her, like being athletic, smart, and generally very pretty, and she also didn’t consider that the boys that most of the girls in her class liked were dark skinned. And eventually, boys started liking the Daughter, which might sound like a good thing, but to her father was very annoying. But that’s a story for another day…
Other posts you might be interested in:
Blog RSS Blog Comments RSS
Jason wrote:
So we’re stuck with “wasian” because the Hawaiians don’t want non-Hawaiians to use “hapa”? Ugh. And does that mean people who are half-white and half-black are “wack”?
Posted on 29-Aug-08 at 6:02 pm | Permalink
Jeff wrote:
Actually, I asked the Daughter back then if she knew what “hapa” meant and she didn’t know. And in my experience, race often has little to do with being “wack”!
Posted on 29-Aug-08 at 6:48 pm | Permalink
Lisa wrote:
Well, I think Hawaiians just don’t like half people of non Asian mixes to be referred to as hapa cause the people who used it were always half Asian and half something else. My mom is from Hawaii (Japanese descent) and I’m a hapa and we think that way too.
On another note, Jeff, maybe you should tell your daughter that not all wasians are light skinned or even attractive, lol. (Well, actually, a lot are I think…but I’ve met one who wasn’t.) Me for example, I look like a cute Asian girl with brown hair and a bit more pink tones to my skin, but I’m not very light. Many people, except other hapas generally aren’t aware that I’m half. Though, my brother and sister are much fairer and whiter looking than me. One of my best friend’s is half and he gets pegged as Hispanic, white features but black hair, dark skin and eyes. Hapas vary a lot. =)
Posted on 30-Aug-08 at 2:04 pm | Permalink
Madley wrote:
Great to see you here! And tell The Daughter the most important thing is to be comfortable in your own skin, whatever that may be — and that she’s welcome to commiserate, learn and grow from Her Aunt.
Posted on 31-Aug-08 at 10:59 am | Permalink
Joe wrote:
Interesting article! Although I don’t have any scientific evidence, in my observation “colorism” among Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, etc seems to happen in a group that’s made up predominantly of one (or more) of those ethnicities. In those cases, “colorism” seems to be a preference to stand out from a group of otherwise similar-looking folks.
I live in a college town Wisconsin, in a town where there are a lot of caucasians. And MANY of them (mostly in their 20s) are out in the sun, trying to make themselves “darker.” And there are a noticeable number of them that use fake tanning products as well. (I’m not making fun of anyone- just reporting what I’m seeing). To them, to have a nice “tan” or to look darker is a sign of beauty.
So to me, “colorism,” whether it’s darker people trying to look lighter or lighter people trying to look darker, seems to stem from a ” the grass is greener on the other side of the fence” sort of mentality…
Posted on 01-Sep-08 at 6:25 am | Permalink
alley al wrote:
i 2nd madley and lisa.. work with what you got, and there’s beauty and ugly in all of us.
colorism just is. it’s been around since forever. until we all evolve and look the same like those stereotypical alien pictures, that’s how it’s gonna be. we’re human, we’re different, and we’re gonna take advantage of those differences.
the chinese-filipinos are lighter, they’re sort of always richer, they’re the ones on tv.
vietnamese ladies still wear long gloves to stay lighter from the sun.
the upper castes are lighter.
blah blah blah.
(does colorism go hand in hand with heightism?)
i’m 100% dark asian heeheehee and i’ve been mistaken from all types of asian to all types of latin and whatever else. it’s all funny to me.
get a sense of humor. life’s too short..
Posted on 01-Sep-08 at 10:49 am | Permalink
Jason wrote:
@Lisa: from what I’ve read around the internet, there are a lot of Hawaiians who don’t think that a person should be called a hapa unless they have some pure Hawaiian blood. I didn’t quite understand your comment about your mom’s heritage, but if she is pure Japanese but was born in Hawaii, and your father is not Hawaiian, then a lot of Hawaiians would not consider you to be hapa even if you were born in Hawaii. Just passing on what I’ve read — it’s not my opinion.
Posted on 02-Sep-08 at 10:31 am | Permalink