How To Describe Asian Characters In Books

WritingWithColor Guide: Describing Asian Optics

We get a lot of questions about how to write Asian eyes. Nosotros become them from Asians and non-Asians alike! People worry about existence offensive when describing them. Well, if that's been a office of your worries as a author, this post is for you!! Let'southward get started :)

While it might be simpler to just requite you lot a list of what to do and what not to do, I'1000 actually non going to first with that. Nope! Nosotros're going to look at some of the context surrounding this controversy because information technology's important to understand where this difficulty stems from.

This always bears pointing out, so let'due south start with this:

Asians do not look the same.

"Asian" encompasses a huge, diverse group of people. We don't look the aforementioned. Nosotros don't act the aforementioned. Asia is the world'due south largest, near populous continent. Remember: "Asian" is not a physical characteristic!!! Cheque out lightspeedsound'due south awesome mail and so come on dorsum hither: I don't have an Asian fetish…

Some Asians take large eyes:

(Fan BingBing)

(Aishwarya Rai)

 (Takeshi Kaneshiro)

Some have pocket-sized eyes:

(Kim Sang Woo)

(Sandra Oh)

Just in that location are non-Asians with small eyes as well, similar:

(Taylor Swift)

(Volition Ferrell)

(Michelle Rodriguez)

(Laura Prepon)

(Alek Wek)

People don't seem to have difficulty with describing modest eyes in general.

And then! If…

• Asians don't all look the same
• At that place's a huge range of diversity among asians
• People don't seem to have trouble describing smaller eyes if the person is non-Asian

…Then why is there such an emphasis on how to depict Asian eyes? Why are we and so afraid of it when there's so much variety among eye shapes amid people in general?

They're merely eyes, right?

RACISM, You lot ARE WHY WE CAN'T HAVE Dainty THINGS

The biggest issue people have with describing "Asian" eyes is they're worried nearly offending people. And with expert reason! Anti-Asian racism frequently focuses on a few key points, and one of those is our eyes. Many Asians are bullied or teased about their eye shape, and made to feel unattractive or ugly because of them.

There is a long and heartbreaking history to anti-Asian racism in the Us, and in the 200 years since Asians (specifically the Chinese) began immigrating hither, the tactics have changed but the racism has not. It'south honestly too long to go into here, but racist depictions of Asians is still a huge problem in Western media.

People often have trouble with describing what's considered a typical East Asian eye (common among those of Chinese, Japanese and Korean descent). These optics are frequently mono-lidded, with an epicanthal fold.

Racism posits a few things about Asians, like:

• We all await the same
• We're all East Asian or await typically East Asian
• We don't await white/"normal" and are therefore unattractive
• Our eyes are small, we accept buckteeth and wear glasses

As y'all can see from in a higher place, ALL of these suppositions are false. But, we're so used to negative, racist imagery and wording that it can be hard to detect other words/phrases to describe East Asian optics.

And then we have the other end of the spectrum: fetishization.

BUT I JUST LIKE ASIAN PEOPLE; WHY IS THAT SO WRONG?
Being fetishized isn't a compliment. It isn't a positive thing. And then while writers should avoid using problematic/racist phrases to describe Asian eyes, they likewise have to be cautious about fetishization. Again, not all Asians look/act the aforementioned. We aren't interchangeable. Fetishization treats us as if our ethnic background makes usa exotic, interchangeable dolls, where the most of import thing near us is our race.

Waxing poetic about monolids is just affirming (that is, positive) when it'south *non* fetishization. Monolids do non make a person exotic.

WHAT ABOUT ALMOND SHAPED?
Ah, the almond shape. The phrase seems then neutral, so innocuous. Whenever I see anyone draw Asian optics as almond shape, I genuinely suppress a shudder of revulsion. And and so I end suppressing information technology and simply give into the disgust.

I have 2 actually great links on this, but TL;DR: it's lazy, it'southward racist, information technology's inaccurate. We're so used to it that we recollect it'south truthful; it isn't. Even if your Asian character actually has almond shaped eyes (which is possible!), find another way of describing their eyes. Information technology's basically an indicator of an writer who cannot figure out how to realistically describe Asians, and then don't practise it.

NPR: Almond shaped eyes?
Claire Calorie-free: Almond Eyes

MAKEUP TIPS ON A WRITING BLOG? YESSIREE!
And then how do we describe Asian eyes if we've been so inundated with racist imagery and phrases? Well, who improve to aid us out with that than people who really await at Asian optics all 24-hour interval: Asian beauty bloggers and makeup artists. I kid you not, if anybody knows what different kinds of Asian heart shapes there are, it'due south them.

BunBun, a beauty blogger in Singapore, really has two great posts describing Asian optics (and some makeup tips, for those of you interested in that!). In fact, I see her work floating around Tumblr all the time without whatsoever attribution to her, so here you lot get! She gives some great adjectives regarding eye shapes!
Asian Eyes vs Caucasian Eyes
Make-Up Tips for fourteen unlike types of Asian Eyes

Yes, fourteen different types of optics, and that's just for East Asian optics. If we actually included all of Asia, nosotros'd have a much longer list!

In fact, makeup creative person JeannieO, in the Philippines, compiled a listing of 7 unlike types of monolids alone:

StudioBox10: Different Types of Monolids

Disclaimers regarding the above sources:

• Annotation: she does utilise the phrase 'caucasian' to mean white, which WWC does not advocate~
• Nosotros also wouldn't recommend using the phrasing phoenix eyes to draw Asian eyes if you're not Asian.

It tin can exist liberating for Asian-Americans to realize that they aren't ugly because they don't have stereotypical white eyes. In Korea, narrow or smaller optics are not considered unattractive (despite what you may have been told on the internet)!! In fact, some Koreans call up having an elongated, narrow eye has 매력, a discussion that can be translated as magnetism, or attractive betoken. Personally, I like to think of the word meaning 'fiercely attractive'!

And then… HOW CAN We Describe ASIAN Eyes?
Well, let's take Kim Sang Woo and Sandra Oh for instance. They both have eyes that some may consider typical E Asian eyes, simply when you lot look for longer than a second, you lot can see how different they are in shape.

Sandra Oh'due south optics are much rounder, and have a distinct bend to them. They're non deep-set, but more prominent. Kim Sang Woo, though, has a much longer centre shape, with sharper angles to them. His eyes are more hooded. Sandra Oh'southward eyes remind me of a teardrop curve and Kim Sang Woo's eyes bring parallelograms to mind.

Some Asians do non discover the phrases "tilted" or "slanted" to ever be appropriate when describing Asian eyes. Information technology's genuinely triggering for many Asians, peculiarly those who have been harassed, driveling or bullied by racists. Other Asians, yet, don't find those phrases problematic. I'chiliad going to suggest you stay away from those phrases. Why? Because there's no reason to trigger/harm your audition. If you want to cause serious flinching in your readers, kill off a beloved graphic symbol instead of existence racist, okay?

Some people like to use medical/scientific terms for Asian eyes (like "epicanthal fold"). There'south nothing inherently wrong with this, just (1) not all Asians have an epicanthal fold and (2) unless yous're intending to depict nearly character's eyes using clinical terms, it'll stand out a lot. Like, A LOT.

Words y'all *can* employ to depict eyes (in full general!):

• close set
• wide set
• hooded/deep set
• prominent
• bulging
• thin
• narrow
• angular
• rounded
• triangular
• pocket-size
• big
• heavy-lidded
• puffy

Sometimes, I find the hubbub over describing Asian eyes problematic inside itself. It seems like writers (especially non-Asian writers) find Asian optics to be so exotic/Other/unique/weird that they have to describe them, and they experience the demand to do it every time said Asian character enters a scene. The truth is, we (equally writers) don't oftentimes nitpick this much over how to write eyes in general. At that place is more to an Asian graphic symbol than their heart shape.

BUT HOW ELSE Volition Y'all KNOW THAT MY Grapheme IS ASIAN?
And hither we come up down to most writers' problem with Asian eyes! (Yep, information technology took me this unabridged wall of text to get here. Apologies!)

Particularly for fantasy/SFF/spec fic writers, this actually can get tricky. If you're basing your setting in a world that ISN'T Globe but you've got races that are analogous to countries/ethnicities here, then how can you tell a grapheme is Asian without describing their optics?

Or what if your protagonist doesn't know your Asian character's race/ethnic background? How tin you be sure?

Well, there are far more than indicators of "Asian" than just eyes. I hope you, there is more than to me than my eyeballs and their lids~ Once again, "Asian" is Non a physical descriptor! There is no 1 way to wait Asian!!!! So you can't rely on looks to tell you someone is Asian because at that place isn't any i fashion to look Asian.

So if you've got a fantasy globe setting (and please don't use pan-Asian themes in your fantasy world settings. Just. Don't.) and Asian-analogous characters, there are other ways to draw their background. Like, their skin tone, hair color, heart colour, their clothing, their culture.

SUMMING IT Upwards

• Don't employ: almond shaped, slanted, tilted. Or racial slurs~!
• Treat your Asian characters like your other non-Asian characters - if you're non going to spend a lot of time describing their specific heart shapes, stay away from doing it to your Asian characters.
• Don't feel the need to give your Asian characters "white" features just then you tin can get away from the controversy surrounding East Asian eyes. Your characters with thin, angular, narrow optics can be beautiful. Your characters with small, rounded, prominent eyes can be beautiful! Your characters don't need to read every bit white to be attractive.
• If you're going to have micro-aggressions towards your Asian characters regarding their eyes, make it clear in the text that it'south a micro-assailment (that is, that'due south it'southward racist and inappropriate). Otherwise, yous're just being racist in your text.

~mod Stella

Source: https://writingwithcolor.tumblr.com/post/101967940901/describing-asian-eyes

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