The Problem with the “Fox Eye” Trend
Why are my eyes only beautiful when Bella Hadid has them?
The “Fox Eye Trend” is just the latest in a string of trends that beauty gurus, models, and celebrities have been participating in. This trend involves putting your fingers to your forehead and pulling back where eyes appear more slanted and stretches the face back. Asian Americans are quick to notice how problematic this gesture is. It is a direct rip off of the face where kids mimicking Asian eyes will pull back their own eyes to slant them. Many of us Asian Americans have seen it before. It is a tool for mocking, bullying and belittling Asians.
There are almost universally similar stories of racially-based bullying that Asian Americans have heard of or been subjected to. First is having a smelly or foreign school lunch and second is “the face”.
If you look online right now, James Charles, Bella Hadid, Emma Chamberlain, the list goes on, of celebrities, influencers, and leaders in pop culture of our generation posting themselves making this face on Instagram. It shows a level of tone-deafness and ignorance on behalf of these people who supposedly represent the popular culture of our time. In the comments of their posts, all you can see are their friends and fellow influencers hyping them up reaffirming the ignorant gesture not as just merely acceptable, but “beautiful”.
What is more troubling is in the comments of posts calling out these celebrities for the problematic trend. @activistnat and @dearasianyouth both have wildly popular graphics about the fox eye trend aimed to inform and educate those that are not aware of the implications of “the face”. Underneath the posts, there are top liked comments about how this issue is overblown, an unnecessary problem to get triggered over, and how it isn’t offensive.
For non-Asians, I understand why it doesn’t seem like such a big deal. People who don’t live in large urban areas rarely see, meet, or know Asian people. Some people aren’t even aware of anti-Asian discrimination. For those who appreciate Asian food, culture, and art, it is my opinion that they should learn about the Asian American experience before they are quick to judge if something is offensive or not.
So why is the fox eye face a big deal? In the past, Western beauty standards dictated that upturned eyes, primarily Asian eyes were not desirable. This ideal was so powerful that in Korea, women get facial surgery to turn their monolids into double eyelids. More notably, Fred Korematsu told about getting an eyelid procedure to make his eyes look “less Japanese” in hopes to avoid arrest from police officers in World War II. He was arrested shortly after and interned in one of many Japanese internment camps in California. With help from the ACLU, Korematsu filed a case against the US government which went up to the Supreme Court. He lost and it is one of the most disgraced and infamous decisions of which the Supreme Court has decided.
When an Asian person sees this face, it is clear they are being mocked for their features. It is clearly a form of yellowface. I’ve seen people say that Asians should be proud or happy because people now embrace this look and see it as something positive. The problem is that this face never actually “transitioned” into a positive attribute. Asian people still get mocked with the face and the truth is, this look has only been praised on nonAsian individuals. This face is more than a microaggression. It is pure racism.
It has spent more time as a tool for racist and ignorant people to use to bully and ostracize Asian individuals than it has as a beauty trend.
I am disheartened by the individuals who continue to justify their use of it, especially those who have major platforms. I am more disappointed in the individuals who’ve seen these informative posts and choose to ignore the pleas of Asian Americans to stop because they deem their vanity is more important. So who IS allowed to make this face? White people shouldn’t do it. Minorities shouldn’t do it. Asians shouldn’t do it. Nobody should be pulling the skin around their eyes.
Don’t you know? It gives you wrinkles.
