Earlier this year, almost every mark-up artist was sporting the “fox eye” - a makeup look meant to mimic the look of “fox-like,” almond-shaped eyes. Although popularized by supermodels and celebrities such as Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Megan Fox, the trend has received some serious side-eye from the Asian American community.

MUAs showing off their eye makeup. Top left: makeupby_ainyy, Top right: duyguyazicim, Bottom left: melodynafarii, Bottom right: martincantos

Image source via Nextshark.com

Almond-shaped eyes are the natural eye shape of many people of Asian descent - the type of eyes that are constantly the subject of ridicule, bullying and racial slurs. Rapper Cardi B made headlines when she described her daughter with the racial slur that almost every Asian child fears being called — “ch*nky.” Fox eye posts have over 63.7 million views on TikTok and 61,500 on Instagram. It’s garnered a mixed response online with either loving it or hating it. Which leaves us with the age-old question: is this racist?

Although the fox eye trend may not be a deliberate appropriation or attack on Asians, it would be irresponsible to deny how it overlooks the discrimination that Asians experience for having those eyes naturally. It is ignorant of the trauma, internalized racism and self-esteem issues that Asian Americans face from having their ethnic features ridiculed while traditional media glorifies Eurocentric beauty ideals. When seen on a White influencer, the fox eye is seen as “beautiful” and “trendy,” but for Asian women who have that shape naturally, it is a cause of “othering” and a sign of “foreignness.” The women online pulling on their temples to show off their foxy makeup may not be doing so in a bid to insult Asians, but they are disregarding the thousands of racial abusers who did.

Our Trauma Shouldn’t Be Your Trend

Bullies, attackers and racists alike always seem to have itchy trigger fingers for  “the slant-eye gesture” and then claim it was innocuous when being called out for their behaviour.

Top left: Korean Twitch streamer being harassed by a stranger on a live stream

 Top right: An Instagram model mocks BLACKPINK

Bottom left: A Brooklyn man is being told, “You yellow b*tches shouldn’t be here, this is my country”

Bottom right: Soccer player Edwin Cardona taunts South Korean opponents

Image source via https://nextshark.com/

Asian eyes have been historically branded to seem “undesirable” by Western society. Blepharoplasty or double eyelid surgery is the number one plastic surgery procedure in Asia. Aside from “beauty” purposes, Asian women have felt pressured to alter the natural shape of their eyes in order to assimilate. According to the Korea Herald, American medical text referred to eyes without the palpebral fold as “slanted” and the “mark of inscrutability and deviance.” Those who decided to get eyelid surgery were seen to be “good” and “trustworthy.” In the 1950s, American soldiers brought back Asian brides from overseas with the War Brides Act. The wives felt compelled to surgically alter their eyes to appear less racially threatening and to provide a “traditional American” life for their family.

Many young people have come to express how the fox eye makeup look like an insult to injury.

“‘I have been called names like ch*nky and been told to ‘open my eyes’, and the eye stretching pose has been used too often to mock my eyes,” TikToker Eelyse Ship told the Tab.

“I think the makeup look can be gorgeous but it is literally the same girls who pulled their eyes back in a mocking manner and bullied me at school who are now doing this trend. It’s not right and it’s not theirs to have.”

In the sea of 71.1 million views on TikTok, many young Asian TikTokers and allies have come to make videos against the trend. They have expressed that the look “brings back a lot of bullying” and “I hope people can see why I feel uncomfortable.”

Source: Nextshark.com