Get to Know the SAD ASIAN GIRLS CLUB

With more than 60,000 views for their “Have You Eaten” piece, a video portraying the relationship between female Asian-American millennials and their first-generation immigrant mothers, SAD ASIAN GIRLS CLUB is established by an Asian-American duo that is fighting to break the culture of passivity and silence of Asians.

1) What is the SAD ASIAN GIRLS CULB?

Graphic Designers, Oliva Park and Esther Fan had a vision: to make work for and about Asian women living in Western or white-dominant societies. Thus, SAD ASIAN GIRLS CLUB was born. The duo wanted to break the culture of silence and passivity of Asians when discussing social issues. This also includes breaking of stereotypes that have long been projected onto Asian women.

2) Why the name “SAD ASIAN GIRLS CLUB”?

We wanted a name that would provoke but also give context to what we do—it also began as an ironic jab at Tumblr’s “sad culture.” But as SAGC grew, the term “sad” began to take on meaning of its own in reference to frustrations that Asian women have when living under both Asian and Western cultural standards simultaneously.

3) What has SAGC done so far?

We have done the following so far: Have You Eaten, ASIAN WOMEN ARE NOT _______ poster series, Our Presence + Presents zine kit, the Model Minority Series, and we just released Volume 1 of our art books. We have also started a small SAGC chapter at the Rhode Island School of Design and have been booking visits as guest speakers.

4) With the recent growing attention and social media movements countering whitewashed roles, what’s your take on this? What do you hope can be done on the issue?

We’ve briefly touched on the subject in the Model Minority Series, where we’ve discussed how the media largely affects our society’s behavior and attitude—the erasure and distortion of Asian identities in American media has continued to perpetuate very outdated stereotypes. As for most issues, the immediate changes that can and should be made starts with raising awareness and educating both ourselves and those around us on the Asian identity, using the privileges and tools that we have; only then can we produce a shift in attitudes, particularly within the millennial audience and other largely impactful communities.

5) How does the Western media portrayal of Asians/Asian Americans (AsAm) make you feel? How is it different/similar compared to your native place’s portrayal?

Western media tends to project old Asian stereotypes, usually consisting of either completely desexualized nerds or oversexualized submissive women. If by native place you mean where our parents came from (Taiwan and Korea), colorism is still an issue (considering the heinous laundry machine commercial was pretty recent). While Western media more or less completely disregards non-East Asians’ existence, besides the occasional Indian character (who is often also full of stereotypes) that is the only type of South Asian the media can think of or the “Middle Eastern” terrorist, Asian media continues to idolize light-skinned and “fair” features while simultaneously putting down dark skin and wide features.

Considering that both of us have the privilege of being East Asians and any visibility at all, the invisibility of non-East Asians (as well as our knowledge of it) gives us the responsibility to use our privilege in a way that can also benefit those who lack a voice in the media.

6) Some members of the Asian community also feel that East Asians are the cost of their invisibility, how does that make you feel and what do you think can be done?

There are many factors in the invisibility of non-East Asians—East Asians’ culture of perpetuating colorism is definitely one of them. Another would be the non-Asian communities perpetuating stereotypes of what they believe means to be Asian, which typically also involves only East Asians.

Long term solutions include, again, a change in the media that stops condemning dark skin or other features different from that of light-skinned Asians or white people.

Short term solutions would be raising awareness in the issue of colorism in our East Asian communities, as well as actively trying to “unlearn” harmful mentalities in our daily lives. This means:

1. not idolizing light or white skin and small features over others
2. not complaining out loud if your skin has gotten darker
3. not dismissing dark skinned Asians as less attractive
4. being considerate and inclusive of other Asian countries besides China, Korea, and Japan when speaking on the topic of “Asians”
5. being aware of the differences of these countries and their cultures
6. and celebrate instead of trying to brush these differences aside, etc.

It’s a long process of ridding yourself of harmful concepts we’ve been taught all our lives, but knowing you have a problem is the first step right?

7) What was the concept behind tour first video, “Have you Eaten?” Why did it you choose that style/way to portray it?

The video was made after several conversations we’d had between ourselves about the things we’d often hear from our mothers at the dinner table. We chose to film it in a way where the audience could feel like they were also sitting at the table—the dialogue was meant to be direct and the style simple and straightforward.

8) What do you want to say to the Asian/AsAm community and non-Asian/AsAm community?

Silence or impartiality is sign of acceptance and actually contributes to the oppression and silencing of voices, while action is a sign of both courage and desire for change. When we talk about trying to stop the culture of passivity and silence, that isn’t just a slogan of ours—the Asian community really must begin to talk about both social issues specific to us as well as recognize our roles in intersectionality. It takes a lot of time, research, energy, and constant willingness to learn, as well as unlearn the harmful mentalities we have been taught from a young age, and we really urge our community to continue to educate themselves and realize we are all involved in social matters.

9) What are Sad Asian Girls Club’s future plans?

We will be rebranding and restructuring SAGC in the upcoming year to clarify and narrow down our goals. In the meantime, we may be working on other small projects or participating in talks or collaborations.

For more, visit: http://www.sadcontent.com/