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HETEROPHILIA

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   HETEROPHILLIA



                                             December 10, 2006
                                             February 18, 2007

            (December 11, 2005)

My "Asian Fetish" is doing fine,
thank you, running at about 15%        ORIENTAL_TWIST
normal for American white guys.

           Treating human beings
           as human beings isn't
           a bad ideal; but if we
           can't quite manage
           that, maybe valuing
           The Other as "exotic"
           is better than fearing         VIETNAMESE_MUSIC
           it as The Unknown.

           Being regarded as                 (February 18, 2007)
           "cute" because of your
           ethnic background is        Would it be better if we
           better than being           were culture blind?
           regarded as scary or
           evil, or perhaps                    Must we see all
           "inscrutable".                      cultures as the same,
                                               neither good or bad?
           It's not a color-blind
           utopia, but it's better                 Avoiding prejudice
           than nothing, and may                   should not require that
           very well be a step in                  we abandon judgement.
           that direction.



     You can make a similar case
     for the current image of the
     gay male couple in pop culture:
     they tend to be treated as         GROOVEN_IMAGES
     comic figures.

     It's not a position of
     respect, but it's
     perhaps a step toward
     acceptance.



A contrary take:

  A Bay Guardian writer
  sneers at people who
  think a J-pop girl             A bit from Miya Masaoka's
  band's broken english is       "What's the Difference Between
  cute or sensual --             Stripping and Playing the
                                 Violin":
  It seems an odd thing
  to complain about: J-pop           The voice of a male asian
  girl groups typically              sex worker muses about
  play the cute card with            "broken english" calls where
  a capital C, it's not              customers want an "oriental"
  exactly something imposed          to role-play ignorance of
  from without...                    English.  Would it be best
                                     to turn these down?
  You might claim it's
  a pernicious example
  of pandering to a market,
  but do you really want to
  get in the business of                The idea that you're going
  dictating what personal               to *erase* these kinds of
  style an asian woman is               associations by finger-
  allowed to use?                       waggling -- good luck.

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





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