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1. Nate Cull (natecull@mastodon.social)'s status on Wednesday, 08-Nov-2017 00:30:45 UTC Nate Cull

   Korean-American writer Leonard Chang had a novel rejected because his characters didn't seem 'Asian enough':

   http://www.booklistreader.com/2017/05/30/books-and-authors/publishing-u-how-do-i-keep-my-head-up-while-finding-a-publisher/

   <<We get too much of the minutiae of [the characters’] lives and none of the details that separate Koreans and Korean-Americans from the rest of us. For example, in the scene when she looks into the mirror, you don’t show how she sees her slanted eyes, or how she thinks of her Asianness.>>

   • Hallå Kitteh repeated this.
   • Ayior (ayior@mastodon.art)'s status on Wednesday, 08-Nov-2017 04:18:14 UTC Ayior

     @natecull I once received a critique for my stories that there was "no reason for the main character to be a girl because there is nothing girl-specific so it might aswell be a boy"

     Hallå Kitteh repeated this.
   • Hallå Kitteh (clacke@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Wednesday, 08-Nov-2017 05:18:48 UTC Hallå Kitteh
     @natecull IIUC, fair skin is generally considered more beautiful in Thailand, Malaysia and India too.
     
     One of the ads I first saw on the TV when I moved to HK the first time was "[Don't you hate when you wake up in the morning and your skin is all yellow? Buy this skin whitener cream!]" and I thought that was just horrible.
     
     Then it occurred to me that in Europe, people buy spray-on tan. And people everywhere seem to adore kids of mixed ethnicity. I guess it's something about the exotic end of the range within the boundaries of the familiar?
   • Hallå Kitteh (clacke@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Wednesday, 08-Nov-2017 05:24:35 UTC Hallå Kitteh
     @natecull
     
     > Oh, also mega-ancient Tibetan Buddhism? Yeah. Tibet's only been Buddhist for around 1200 years;
     
     Islam has only even existed for 1400 years, and people seem to consider e.g. Iran intrinsically Islamic. Sweden has been Christian for less than a millennium, but is considered founded on Christian values. I'll give them that it *was* Christian before the founding of the nation-state.
     
     I don't think it takes many generations before the dominant religion is "how it has always been" in a place.
   • Hallå Kitteh (clacke@social.heldscal.la)'s status on Wednesday, 08-Nov-2017 06:38:47 UTC Hallå Kitteh

     • Friendly Crustacean Neighbor
     @andzoidberg @natecull
     
     > His head is too big. [ . . . ] Look! See? Way too big.
     
     http://gaijinchronicles.com:80/2005/01/15/japanese-teachers-say-the-darndest-things/