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Imagine a badass Asian girl. Is she wearing a leather jacket? Does she drive a motorcycle? Is her hair dyed? If so, then congrats! You have succeeded in picturing a “Hairstreak Asian,” a new type of stereotypical Asian girl that paints her as rebellious, edgy, and yet poorly fleshed out. A while ago, I wrote a Twitter thread about the topic, sparking a debate about whether or not an edgy Asian girl with a streak in her hair is really an issue that needs to be confronted. The short answer is yes; this cliché negatively reinforces already-existing Asian stereotypes.

The most well-known trope for Asian women is the idea of the “China Doll,” a petite, most likely East Asian girl who is soft-spoken, domestic, and docile. Also known as a “Lotus Flower” or “Geisha Girl,” this stereotype is beautiful and pure; a gullible, naive person who knows nothing of the “real world.” She rarely speaks unless spoken to, or commanded. She is often featured as an exotic accessory to her husband or love interest, who frequently discards her in pursuit of “better” women. To further exaggerate her foreignness, she is commonly dressed in a traditional Chinese qipao or Japanese kimono. And she is always, always powerless.

the fact that asian girls in media can't be rebellious/different without a streak of (purple) color in their hair pisses me off to no end. pic.twitter.com/tLDYekJzs1 — b̟u̟n̟n̟i̟c̟u̟l̟a̟ (@babyfrills) August 15, 2017

Here are just a few examples you might be familiar with: The World of Suzie Wong is a movie that features Robert, a white painter, who falls in love with Suzie, a Chinese prostitute. He then ends up making her his model (quite literally using her like an object), and the two fall in love — which means that Suzie becomes wholly devoted to Robert and would do anything for him, even if he treats her horribly. Bosley Crowther of the New York Times describes Suzie’s character as “blithe” and “innocent,” making her a prime example of a China Doll. Other instances of this trope include Mantis from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, an alien servant who is coded as Asian, and the Heaven on Earth Massage Parlor scene from Rush Hour 2.

The Lotus Girl trend in media highlights the large number of men with yellow fever — a fetish for Asian women based on the belief that they are the submissive “dolls” that pop culture depicts them as. Asian women like me are harassed online and in real life by men who continue to objectify us because of the false belief that we are just obedient sex toys for their pleasure. I recall quite vividly the time a Tumblr with a URL made of some combination of the words “Asian,” “pussy,” and “princess” reblogged a selfie I took when I was 15. Upon viewing the blog, I found it was filled with Asian girls, most of which were scantily clad and obviously meant to be sexual. It was shocking and upsetting to see the picture of my smiling face among those fetishistic posts. I am not the only Asian girl who has felt this way; many of my friends have talked to me about their experiences involving men with yellow fever and the misconception that they are subservient because of their race.

Which brings me to the Hairstreak Asian. This rebellious girl wears black, drives a motorcycle, and probably knows how to kick your ass. She’s edgy, familiar with danger, and always has something snarky to say. And she’s always depicted with a streak of color in her hair, often purple, blue, or red. Western producers sell this character with the idea that “she’s not like other girls” — specifically, not like other Asian girls. She is not shy, innocent, or dainty, like the China Doll. No, she has spunk! Look at her, look at that dash of purple hair!

there's this stereotype that asian woman are usually demure, have "natural beauty"(dark hair/eyes), which is damaging on its own. — b̟u̟n̟n̟i̟c̟u̟l̟a̟ (@babyfrills) August 15, 2017

If the only quality about your Asian character is that she is rebellious or against the grain, you have effectively made a paper-thin trope who has no actual substance. Such is the case for most characters with a lazy design. Poorly crafted personalities usually means equally poor character design. Even if the idea was to subvert the obedient Asian girl trope by quite literally making a character the “opposite” of submissive (a disobedient, unruly woman), by not building further on her personality besides those traits, producers have ultimately made the same kind of harmful stereotype that the China Doll is. They have effectively combined the idea of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl with Asian fetishism.

What’s more, many of these Hairstreak Asians end up losing all of their cold, hard, snarky badassery in favor of their male love interests, ultimately turning into the submissive China Doll anyway. GoGo Tamago from Big Hero 6, Mako Mori from Pacific Rim, and Knives Chau from Scott Pilgrim are all examples of the trope. (Though some have replied to my thread with arguments defending Knives Chau and others, I still hold the opinion that they are an instance of the trope.) The problem with both ends of the spectrum is that they are one-dimensional stereotypes that pigeonhole Asian women into one extreme or the other.

The hairstreak itself is not the issue. In fact, many Asian girls replied to my Twitter thread about how they themselves have purple hair — are they perpetrating a harmful stereotype? Of course not. But they are affected by it. Because the popularity of this design is growing, people could associate Asian girls who dye their hair with the idea that we are all a certain type of person and thus expect them to act accordingly. In fact, one of my close friends, Cam, shared an anecdote in which her middle school crush told her not to stop dyeing her hair because it “sets her apart from all the other Asian girls.” Others, like Kim Hoang on Twitter, have mentioned that they do not want to dye their hair in fear of contributing to an “Asian fetish thing” and then being subjected to that fetishism themselves. Some surmised that the reason why this trend is so prevalent is because the film directors themselves are not Asian and do not know how to write Asian people. Others cussed me out, accusing me of trying to control how women and creators express themselves.

I’m not telling girls to stop dyeing their hair or wearing black leather. Every woman is free to dress herself the way she wants to; I’m not trying to shame you, nor am I telling you to stop dyeing your hair. And this isn’t to say that creators should never design an Asian girl with a streak of color in her hair. People dye their hair. I dye my hair! What’s important, however, is to depict these people as actual people, not plot devices or romantic interests. Asian women are vibrant, three-dimensional beings with vastly different personalities from one another, so I encourage creatives of all types to portray us as such. We matter.