Monday, June 20, 2005

"TWINKIFIED??"

I feel like I'm late to the game on this one. I ran across a few blogs that referred to "twinkified" this and that, and seemed to relate to Asians. The more I saw it, the more I wondered "What on Earth does 'twinkified' mean?" It only took a few clicks on Google to find out, from What Kind of Asian Are You?

Twinkie
  • Your significant other is not Asian and never has been.
  • You have few Asian friends, if any.
  • You are embarrassed at family events because you cannot speak your language and everyone has to switch to English to communicate with you.
  • You have no idea that the other types of Asians on this list even exist.
  • You think Hello Kitty is dumb and do not know what Sanrio is.
  • You are the only Asian on this list that does not know what Bubble Tea is.
  • You drive a Ford or some other domestic car and if you drive a Honda, it is stock.


How long has this racist term been in existence?! Calling someone a "twinkie" or “twinkified” (yellow on the outside, white on the inside) because they date or marry interracially? That's right up there with "oreo" for black/white IRs! How widespread is this term? Did it start on the Net? I think, like all racism, it’s pathetic and stupid but the fact that people, many of them Asian-American (if the blogs I saw were any indication), find this perfectly acceptable -- even normal -- is very troubling.

So, this really peeved me this morning. Not exactly Earth-shattering, but disappointing and annoying. I wonder if IR Haven could (or should) start a little web-based effort to get that term (and others like it) shamed out of existence?

Let me know what you think. Thanks!

Best Wishes,
Allen

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