What the Fox-Eyed Trend Means to Me-Perspective of an Asian girl

Recently, another trend has seemed to take over the social media page, in which famous tik tokers, models, and celebrities elongate the shapes of their eyes artificially with eyeliner and redraw the eyebrows. However, what has also popularized is the act of pulling both corners of the eyes back to further narrow the eyes and “pull off a “fox-look”. So what's my perspective of the issue?

Disclaimer: I don't speak on behalf of all Asians.

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I was totally fine with the makeup, personally I thought it was cute. However, seeing rampant images of celebrities and people all over the media pulling their eyes back made me uneasy. (It’s the action, not necessarily the makeup)

This dates all the way back in elementary school, where my friends and I countless times were teased for the shapes of our eyes. Jokes like “My mom is Chinese my dad is Japanese-look what they did to me” (pulling the outside corners of the eyes up and sideways to form slits) became normalized among our student body. From reading countless other articles and Instagram posts, I’ve come to realize that many others have shared the same experiences. Our eyes have always been tools of ridicule, something that we as Asians have been stereotyped against.

As I read through Instagram comments, I've wanted to share my replies to some of the common claims I see.

Claim #1: “But there is no racist intent. This is just a model pose. It’s to imitate a fox”

I agree that most people didn’t realize or didn’t have the intent of offending other people or making a racial joke. However, I don't think that this justifies why it was acceptable in the first place. For example, what do we do when a child unintentionally flips his middle finger at someone else? We tell the child to stop. Why? Because even though he never had the intention of offending someone else, the middle finger is an unacceptable gesture.

By telling him to stop, we prevent the child from repeating the same action in the future. Or in another scenario, what if the fashion industry suddenly thought that the n-word was “fashionable” and started plastering it all over their dresses because it “looked cute?” Fashion is not an excuse for being racist.

It’s the same thing with this trend. Even though an action may seem as innocent as simply pulling your eyes backward, in so far as it offends a minority group, the gesture becomes unacceptable.

Claim #2: “You’re overreacting”

Let’s take a brief tour of the history of Asian eyes and the underlying oppression. Since migration into western countries, Asians have been mocked for the natural shapes of their eyes, which were often used for tools of ridicule and slander. This can also be seen prominently through media:

Furthermore, this motion of pulling back the eyes are often paired with racial slurs, like “yellow-face” and “ching-chong”. In short, the shape of our eyes was used as tools for bullying, and seeing that people are now using it as a tool for beauty only further reinforces the stereotype and hate. When acts of racism like this are normalized on social media, it is natural that the community affected will get offended.

I think Maria Jimenez Moya from the Daily Free Press puts it very nicely:

“Before you participate in any trend, it is crucial to think critically about its origins and what you’re actually participating in. The origins of this trend must be clarified to the general public and supermodels should stop fomenting the look.”

Claim #3: “I’m Asian and I’m not even offended”

Again, I don’t speak for all Asians. But neither do you. Meaning that we didn’t assume that everyone would be offended, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t people who are offended. It is important to voice the concerns of others. Please respect that.

Do you agree/disagree with my viewpoint? I would love to know! Please submit here!