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HETEROPHILLIA

                                             December 10, 2006
                                             February 18, 2007

To value "the exotic"
for it's own sake:
a fairly silly notion,                 Would it be better if we
but rarely with evil effects.          were culture blind?

                                               Must we see all
                                               cultures as the same,
                                               neither good or bad?

                                                   Avoiding prejudice
                                                   should not require that
                                                   we abandon judgement.

  A Bay Guardian writer
  sneers at people who
  think a jpop girl band's       A rap included in Miya Masaoka's
  broken english is cute         "What's the Difference Between
  or sensual --                  Stripping and Playing the
                                 Violin": a male asian sex worker
     Being regarded as           talks about how they get
     "cute" because of           "broken english" calls, on
     your ethnic back-           occasion -- people who want them
     ground is better            to role-play ignorance of English.
     than being regarded
     as scary or evil,                    There's apparently a general
     or as asians *used*                  sense that you should turn down
     to be "inscrutable".                 these calls on moral grounds.

        It's not a color-blind
        utopia, but it's better
        than nothing, and may
        very well be a step in          And the idea that you're
        that direction.                 going to *erase* these kinds
                                        of associations by finger-
                                        waggling -- good luck.

                                           My guess: you'll
                                           drive the fetishes
                                           underground, and
                                           make them stronger.

                                                       (December 11, 2005)

                                           My "Asian Fetish" is doing fine,
   You can make a similar case             thank you, running at about 15%
   for the current image of the            normal for American white guys.
   gay male couple in pop culture:
   they tend to be treated as                         Treating human beings
   comic figures.                                     as human beings isn't
                                                      a bad ideal; but if we
   GROOVEN_IMAGES                      can't quite manage
                                                      that, maybe valuing
      It's not a position of                          The Other as "exotic"
      respect, but it's a big                         is better than fearing
      step toward acceptance.                         it as The Unknown.

                                                      VIETNAMESE_MUSIC



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