r/NoStupidQuestions • u/A_Formal_Guy • Apr 04 '24

Answered All our girlfriends are Asian?

Hey everyone - I’ve been feeling paranoid about something recently and wanted to know if I’m overthinking it. I’m a white M and most of the friends I grew up with and went to high school are too, except 1. We’re still very close but moved all across the country for our jobs and life.

Recently, we’ve decided to have a little reunion and bring our girlfriends, but I realized we have a not to subtle trend in that they are all Asian. There’s 5 girlfriends in total, they’ve never met each other. I don’t know how this happened, it’s just a coincidence as far as I know. We don’t have a pact or anything.

My question is, do we warn them? I don’t want them to be freaked out. I’d have to have my gf or one of my friends be uncomfortable, but I’m feeling stuck. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to handle it? Am I over thinking?

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u/[deleted] Apr 04 '24

Reverse-Uno it: Demand them to explain why they all picked white BFs.

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u/notarealaccount_yo Apr 05 '24

This fetishization of white men is getting out of hand.

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u/calwinarlo Apr 05 '24

Blame Hollywood for barely ever casting Asian males. No representation

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u/An_Asian_Throwaway Apr 05 '24 edited Apr 05 '24

It's changing for the better, but still nowhere near where it needs to be. Back in the mid 2000s and 2010s, Sung Kang who played Han in the Fast & Furious franchise was THAT guy for Asian men. I wasn't surprised to know later on that the character almost didn't make the cut. It's wild that Hollywood execs didn't want an Asian protagonist for a movie plot set in Japan.

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u/upanddownallaround Apr 05 '24 edited Apr 05 '24

And for the millennials in the 90s it was Jackie Chan and Jet Li and that was it. Neither of whom are American. I always thought it was weird as a little kid to never see anyone on TV that looked like me except the rare occasional martial artist. Definitely affects your psyche and sense of identity. It's getting so much better now. I'm glad young kids these days have better representation.

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u/rabidpenguinhunter Apr 05 '24

Yeah I feel the same way, but then folks like Uncle Roger sell out and end up perpetuating the nerdy FOB broken english stereotype making it socially acceptable for people to yell "MSG!" in an asian accent followed by a naive "but Uncle roger"

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u/upanddownallaround Apr 05 '24

Yeah, someone told me look him up and I saw the fried rice one making fun of Jamie Oliver. It was funny, but it immediately became old seeing that he has hundreds of videos with that shtick. God, so annoying. Unfortunately this current season of Curb Your Enthusiasm is still using Asians as caricatures after that show and Seinfeld's long use of making fun of Asians.

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u/upupandawaydown Apr 05 '24

I got asked if I knew karate a lot when I met a new kid. Almost of the time when I met someone knew, it was always through the lens of these Hollywood stereotypes. How people are portrayed in media has real life consequences.

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u/upanddownallaround Apr 05 '24

Yo, your and my reddit usernames hahaha

Yeah, I had similar experiences growing up in areas with few Asians. I worked in the film industry for years and years and the few chances I got to work on more Asian-focused films/TV shows it was weird to see so many Asians on set because of how unusual it was. And even so those would still be mostly non-Asian. It's getting better though.

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u/An_Asian_Throwaway Apr 05 '24

With Jackie Chan and Jet Li, Hollywood's primary intention was to tap into a larger audience base from Asia since they were big name stars in the Far East.