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Like
I’m sure many of you have, I’ve been
mistaken for Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Thai, Malaysian,
Vietnamese,
Hawaiian, Burmese…you name it. We all look
the same, right? There was one instance of playing
the
ethnic guessing game during college that absolutely
just puzzled me. While speaking with a Korean classmate
of mine, I mentioned to her that my parents were
Chinese. She abruptly interrupted me. “You’re
not Chinese!” she said. “I thought you
were Brazilian!”
Stunned,
I replied, “Of
course I’m Brazilian. I was born in Brazil
and was raised there for thirteen years, but my parents are Chinese. Do you
think everyone in Brazil looks Asian?” She
answered, blushing, “But you
don’t look Asian at all to me.”
Now, most of you reading this probably haven’t seen me in person to see
if she was remotely true, but that was the first and only time in my life anyone
thought I am not Asian. I guess we don’t all look alike, after all!
But
it is funny, as someone who is Asian (I really am!), I often feel like we
have a special ability to discern someone else’s Asian ethnicity (and
the given right to use that ability). If you don’t know what I mean,
think about gay men figuring out a stranger’s sexual orientation through
the power of “gaydar.” Asians don’t have a name for this
ability, but we have a place to test out our prowess: www.alllooksame.com.
It’s
no comprehensive test (for starters, it’s centered on those who are Chinese,
Korean and Japanese), but you are asked to see if you can figure out the ethnic
background of the faces you are presented with.
With
eighteen faces to figure out, I scored a miserable
44%, or only eight correct guesses. And they were
guesses that I made when taking the quiz. If
there is
one thing that you learn when trying to figure out the backgrounds of the
people
on the site, it’s that you really have nothing to go by accept your own
preconceptions about what a Chinese, Korean or Japanese person should look
like. And if I’m getting a failing grade when just looking at a field
of eighteen, imagine how wrong I’d be about making the same kinds of
assumptions out in the world?
Of course, like my friend who didn’t think I was Chinese, there are assumptions
that we make about people all the time. And you know the old saying, when you
assume, you make an “ass” out of “u” and “me.” That’s
why we’re letting some of our readers tell you in advance a little about
themselves, especially things that you might not otherwise know, and let you
know what things are simply the wrong assumptions to make about them. But what
you can safely assume is that they’re all real guys, and they’re
all very easy on the eyes.
On
a slightly more serious note about assumptions, I
was speaking more recently to a gay friend of mine
about this issue of Noodle,
when we were in the middle
of developing our stories. I mentioned to him that we would be printing a
story about interracial relationships. My friend,
who is white and dating an Asian
man, immediately perked his ears up a bit and said, “That’s great!” He
wanted to see more in Noodle about relationships like his own. What I didn’t
tell him right away was that our story is about Asian men and African American
men—interracial indeed, but not always with the players one might expect
to hear about. We talk about why we don’t hear about black and Asian
gay couples all too often, and what challenges they face. It might surprise
you what
some of these men have to say.
But
hey, one thing to assume is okay: we try to pack
each issue of Noodle with stuff that’s fun and informative. This
time around, we’re giving
you the scoop on places to get, ahem, acquainted with the locals in cities
all over Asia (plus Prague, for good measure). When you leave for your pleasure
tour,
make sure to bring your passport and our tips for safer oral sex. And when
you’re
ready to come home and settle down with a man that who you won’t have
to cross the Pacific to meet, check out our latest batch of “Flavors
of the Month” bachelors.
With
everything I’ve just said about making bad assumptions, the last thing
I should do is say that I expect you’ll enjoy this issue. Fine. But I really,
really hope that you like what we’ve done. And if I’m wrong, let
us know, because there’s nothing worse than having everyone else believe
you’re something you’re not.
Max
Lau
Publisher
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