So you wanna be a WASP?

I’ve been a Xiaxue fan for the last 5 years.

Predictably, therefore, the theme of today’s post will be… Complaining about Dawn Yang.

Haha.

I came across this post on Dawn’s blog today. It’s basically an advertorial for a Hong Kong-based clothing website, and in it Dawn promotes a selection of clothing that she had picked from the site. For example:

She has pretty good taste in clothes, I’ll admit as much.

But what I simply could not understand, was why she chose to write an entire post glorifying WASPs, in order to sell clothes to Asians.

The WASP worship is pretty evident. Here’s a screenshot:

Dawn writes that she was “unduly inspired” by the WASP lifestyle in her selections, and explains it in the following terms:

And then she posted a couple of pictures like these ones:

It’s pretty obvious that her main message is: WASPS are awesome… “There’s no one hotter!” So buy these clothes, because they will make you feel WASPish!

Let me spell that out for you: Buy these clothes, because they will make you feel like you belong to an elite social class (that Dawn herself describes as “out-of-reach to majority of normal folks”) of a specific ethnic and cultural background that YOU DON’T BELONG TO!

Observation 1: The girls modelling the clothes for sale are Asian

Observation 2: The site she’s promoting is Asian

Observation 3: Dawn Yang is Asian

Observation 4: Most of Dawn Yang’s readers are Asian

… … …

Erm…

Is it just me? Does anyone else feel completely uncomfortable about this? Is anyone else really, really, really annoyed that Dawn seems to suggest that the “standard of beauty” that we should aspire towards is a WASP one?

I’m not saying that they’re not beautiful. My point is, no amount of shopping is going to make a Asian woman into a “WASP”! WASPs, by definition, refer to White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Which is a category that’s mutually exclusive from being Asian!!!

I’m probably overreacting, but this really bugs me and it just seems to me that if we mindlessly accept that being “white” (even without the ASP) is the norm that we should aspire towards, then we can all say hello to a lifetime of feeling inadequate and of being the wrong skin colour.

I understand that fashion advertising can be rather tricky. And I’m not sure if alternate messaging along the lines of “Buy these clothes ‘cause they’re lady-like!” or “Buy these clothes ‘cause your boyfriend would love them!” would be any better, as those would obviously help to perpetuate cultural constructs of femininity. I do realise that was hard for Dawn Yang to completely avoid all the traps that the entire industry seems completely oblivious to (or actually endorses).

Still, though. Didn’t stop me from feeling completely WTF when I was reading that ad.

………………………………………………………..

ps. I feel like I’ve heard somewhere that WASPs don’t even like being called WASPs. I should probably have looked up the politically correct-ness of the term before writing this post but aaaahhh… too late. Ha ha.

pps. I have no idea why Dawn chose to categorise Jackie O as a WASP. I don’t know about Grace Kelly and C. Z. Guest, but I’m pretty sure that the Kennedys were Roman Catholic.

=,=’’’

Anyway, this post turned out to be more serious and grumpy than I initially expected. So here’s a random Paint drawing to distract you and put you in a better mood:

Edit: Yes, yes, I do realise the irony of this post. I started off by saying I’m a fan of the blondest Chinese woman around, and then I went on a total rampage about Asian people aspiring to look like WASPs. But… er… I forgive her, because I’m totally biased. I mean, I’ve been following XX since I was 16! It’s like boys and their soccer teams… Once you choose a favourite team, you don’t switch!!! HAHAHA.