Online, I typically go by the name Holly Hobgoblin. This blog usually contains reblogs dedicated to either social politics, Broadway musicals, paganism, or medieval stuff, simply because those are the areas that usually interest me the most.
Looking at the pictures above, it’s pretty easy to find the similarities. East Asian women with dyed purple/blue/red hair, usually in a streak. No matter how you look at this, this is an uncomfortably specific trend in media. Yeah, it looks cute, but after seeing this over and over again, it becomes a boring, racist trope. This originated from a variety of possibilities: the creators trying to “Americanize” the East Asian character, make them more “exotic”, or to show how unique this character is. She’s not a giggling schoolgirl or a delicate lotus flower, she’s different! See, she has a streak of purple hair (god forbid she dyes it any other color), look how radical that is, look at our modern Dragon Lady!
And yes, Knives dyed her hair to look like Ramona, and yes, Somni-451’s hair is like that to mark her as a clone, but these characters do not exist in a vacuum. You can justify why a character has a specific appearance, but in the end, this character was created, and contributes to stereotypes no matter the intent.
So the moral of this story is that your Asian character with a strip of purple hair isn’t original. It isn’t unique. No matter how innocent this appears to be, it can be detrimental to East Asian girls, since the characters that look like them have the same exact traits. It’s time to explore different ways of designing East Asian characters, instead of just slapping on some purple and calling it a day.
wow i did not notice this until it got pointed out.
any time you’re debating/arguing about (personal politics/insert issue here) with someone and you’ve asked the other person to end the discussion, to which they’ve responded “see, i’m right and you know it,” they’re just looking to incite you, anger you, and keep you locked in the discussion. don’t fucking let that happen - end the conversation if that’s what you need, walk away, and do what you need to do to stay healthy. don’t feel like you need to “win” every debate just to feel vindicated. they’re only engaging you in this way because they know the issue is personal to you, and by getting angry or upset, they take that as a personal victory. who cares. they’re a piece of shit and you know it. it’s easy to see when someone’s not actually listening to you anyways. you’re allowed to get upset, and you’re allowed to end any conversation you want. the end.
my phone ran out of battery so i cant play 2048 and none of my friends are in this class. school is so boring……..i guess its time for me to show my skills *starts banging on table rhythmically with a pencil until teacher asks me to stop*
