Here are the four major indicators of fetishizing Asians. In fetishizing people, by making people less than equal, we are fueling the systems created to maintain white supremacy. Other than violence, another name for fetishization could be ‘unreasonable infatuation.’ Fetishizing should not be cloaked as a form of attraction it strips those who are fetishized of a personal identity altogether. We’ve seen this in the Atlanta shootings from earlier this year and the entire history of American culture, perceiving Asian bodies as objects. The fundamental difference between appreciation and fetishization is that fetishization is objectification, and objectification leads to violence. I feel a sense of whiplash – Western culture once openly mocked people like me and in only a few years I now feel an uncomfortable level of fetishization. I mean, how did we get from there… to here? And some may argue, isn’t this a good thing? People are finally excited about Korean culture! But something about this sudden shift in attitudes towards Korean culture feels less than fulfilling.
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From companies creating presentations about the art of nunchi, to the most famous influencers in the world uploading mukbangs, many Americans are now actively participating in Korean culture without even knowing it. In day-to-day life, these phrases are now used on a frequent basis in Western culture. Korean culture has made a big enough name for itself in America to have words being added to the Oxford English Dictionary. Hallyu has only gotten stronger since then, adding Academy Awards, Golden Globes, Oscars, Billboard records, and millions of adoring fans of all ages to its resume. While Western countries have been notoriously late to the party with K-pop, America got its first glimpse of K-pop with the Wonder Girls charting the Billboard in 2007 and Psy soon followed suit with ‘Gangnam Style,’ which became the most viewed video on YouTube with 3 billion views. Hallyu is strongly driven specifically by K-pop and K-dramas, but is fueled also by Korean food, skincare, and technology. The Hallyu Wave, or the rising prominence of Korean pop culture globally, has been building for decades. Suddenly, I am endlessly scrolling through the same people singing along to BTS on my timeline, posting their latest “Squid Game” theory, or buying Korean face masks in bulk.
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Then came the rise of Korean beauty and K-pop in the 2010s and fast-forward to today, I feel dumbstruck. SEE ALSO: 5 K-pop fans on how girl groups helped them own their femme I grew up in a world where my soccer coach could display clear acts of discrimination towards me and not one person on the 25-person roster would bat an eye. I was othered to the point of diminishment, where I was not a living, breathing person, but reduced to my nickname: “the Stupid Asian.” Not only from my peers, but from my soccer coaches, my friends’ parents, and from my teachers. As a Korean American, much of my childhood to adolescent life consisted of being the butt of “Asian eyes” and “You’re not from North Korea, are you?” jokes.