r/wasian

i’ve been seeing a lot of tiktoks on ppl discussing their perspectives on the NYC wasian meetup, and i wanted to share mine & hear the perspectives of other wasians as well.

if you’re not aware, heres what i understand happened from the videos i’ve seen:
there was a large wasian meetup in NYC. The event was advertised as a wasian meetup and the vast majority of those who attended were wasian. For those who were wasian, the majority of them were white/east asian. There were some other mixed asians in attendance. The event is being held under scrutiny because other mixed asians feel as though the event centers whiteness. From my understanding, this claim is what the discourse centers on. Some say that because other mixed asians were allowed to attend, there is no problem to have a meetup catered to the wasian demographic. Others feel that the surge of wasians becoming an overly represented demographic in popular media when compared to other mixed asian demographics is a reflection of racial hierarchy. Of course, representation is important for everyone, i think it would be bad-faith to say that those who feel that this event centers whiteness don’t want to see wasian representation. I believe people are just tired of the racial hierarchy that society can’t seem to shake.

In my opinion, i do think the event does center whiteness and the timing leaves a poor taste in my mouth. Wasians have been garnering a lot of attention in popular culture recently while other mixed asian ppls experiences arent given a second thought. Wasians are unambiguously centered when it comes to mixed asian identity; having a large scale wasian event that claims to be inclusive to all mixed asians absolutely centers whiteness. This doesn't mean that wasians dont go through specific experiences or struggles that they can connect with eachother on, i just think during aapi month we should be more mindful and uplift all mixed asian experiences if we are connecting on the basis of being bi/ multiracial

Let me know what you all think if you want to weigh in.

I’m half Vietnamese and half white, and I don’t look Asian at all. My mom is southern viet so she doesn’t hv that Asian look. ( look up the dif between north Vietnamese vs south Vietnamese people) So I have double eye lids, a very tall, and straight nose and overall just look white. ( I’ve even gotten Latin before) but I hate that I don’t look Asian. I lowkey wish I had monolids or something to make my facial features look Asian descent. I feel so excluded from my viet cultural bc I don’t look like I come from it at all.

how do you feel about this

honestly I'm creeped out and don't want my being biracial to be a focus of a trend or people objectifying or fetishizing me especially since I've been gaslit and ostracized for so long by both sides now suddenly it's "trending"? :(

I don't even think I want to tell people I'm wasian anymore

There’s a lot of discourse about the wasian meet up recently, and I agree with many in thinking that it’s weird to make the event about wasians and not mixed asians in general. Not because we don’t deserve a space for ourselves, but because our defining experience as wasians (cultures clashing in our heads, not belonging anywhere) is shared by all mixed asians. There’s no reason why we should be excluding people who share our experiences just because they aren’t part white. We all know that mixed people aren’t often represented nor have spaces for that experience, and that when mixed people are represented, they’re usually half white. Because of this, whenever we create events, clubs, etc, we should advertise it as open to all mixed asians/people. There could be a wasian sector in the event, and sectors for each racial identity.

That being said, some of the discourse goes too far. I saw a popular post say something like “the term wasian itself centers whiteness”. This is not true. It is just a descriptor, and to assume our identity centers whiteness is ironically a way of centering whiteness. Each of us choose what culture/identity we lean into (to the extent that we have a choice), and what we advocate for. It is not wrong to claim an identity for yourself. But it is wrong to create public events and spaces that exclude people with similar experiences, just because they don’t share the same phenotype. Creating a wasian only meetup event centers whiteness, being wasian does not.

BTW I do not count this subreddit as needing to be inclusive of all mixed people because there are no limits on digital space. There can be an infinite number of subreddits dedicated to each identity, but in real life, it is more difficult to create or find space.

I’ve noticed something over the years that nobody really wants to talk about openly: a lot of Wasians — especially the ones raised around white worship or self-hating Asian parents — end up developing a superiority complex toward full Asians, especially Asian men.

And before people start screaming “incel” or “jealous,” hear me out.

Think about Hollywood for a second. A huge number of roles that could’ve gone to Asian men are instead given to Wasians because that’s what Western media prefers. They can tolerate someone who’s “half-white,” but full Asian men are still treated like the bottom of the barrel.

And let’s be honest: when people say “Wasian,” most of the time they’re talking about white father + Asian mother pairings. A lot of these Asian moms openly fetishize whiteness and look down on their own race. Some of them literally brag online about “upgrading their genes,” how their babies are gonna have blue eyes, sharp noses, lighter skin, etc.

The craziest part? They don’t just fetishize Wasians — they actively disrespect Asian features.

I’m not kidding, one of my relatives said my niece had “chinky eyes” and a flat nose, while praising another cousin’s daughter for being a “beautiful Wasian with a sharp nose.” Like… what kind of internalized racism is that?

And the mentality gets passed down.

One of my Asian friends dated a half Dutch, half Thai girl. They went over for dinner, and the Thai mother literally spoke in Dutch to her niece saying: “Can you believe she brought an Asian man home?” The niece replied: “It’s probably just a phase.”

Another incident involved half-white, half-Filipino twins who invited me and two of my friends over. They had a Filipino mom and a white dad, and there was also a Korean girl there who was mutual friends with them. The Filipino mom misunderstood the situation and thought my other friend and the Korean girl were dating. As soon as my friend went to the washroom, the Filipino mom started telling the Korean girl that she should find herself a white man instead, saying she’d thank her later and that her children would be beautiful just like hers because she found herself a white husband.

Now imagine if those same guys had been white. They probably would’ve gotten the warmest welcome imaginable.

That’s what makes this whole thing so messed up to me. It’s not even subtle sometimes. Some of these women genuinely see whiteness as social status and Asian men as something beneath them.

And yes, I’ve also noticed that a lot of Wasians themselves end up inheriting that superiority complex and looking down on Asians too — especially Asian men — but that’s probably another discussion entirely.

Wasian is obviously a term for someone who is half Asian and half white, but what kind of Asian ancestry makes someone Wasian? Many people mainly view East Asians as “Asian” rather than Southeast Asians or South Asians. My question is would you consider someone who is half South Asian and half white, like Charli XCX, to be Wasian?