White Women, We Need to Talk. Yes, Again...

If you’ve been following any beauty influencer on social media in the last few weeks, you’ve probably seen the fox eye trend. It’s a technique where you use eyeliner to elongate the eye both on the outer and inner corners, often accompanied by a shaved then redrawn eyebrow tail to further emphasize the slanted eye look. Cute, right? Totally not racist, right? Wrong.

Now, before I go wagging a finger at beauty gurus, I want to establish that yes, I am a white woman and I recognize that I am speaking from a place of privilege, but I believe in using that privilege to speak up against unjust situations.

Back to the issue at hand. The fox eye trend is meant to emulate an over exaggerated version of an eye shape deemed to be an “Asian feature.” An eye shape that Asian people have been constantly mocked and bullied for. The eyeliner is typically coupled with a pose with fingers at the edge of the eye, which looks like you’re pulling at your eye to make it appear slanted. But, since it’s (mostly) white influencers wearing the look, it’s suddenly trendy and cute.

This is an issue for several reasons. For one, it directly takes a pose typically used to mock Asian people for their heritage and makes it vogue. This isn’t cute; it’s Asian-face (like blackface. The trend exaggerates features to emulate Asian people’s faces. Features that are so often imitated to spew hatred. And finally, it also assumes that the look is only attractive on white women, and that only furthers the notion of a white-centric beauty standard. For years, white women have been appropriating looks, like boxer braids and dreadlocks, and making what other cultures have been mocked and harassed for into an Instagram trend. What was once considered ugly becomes fashionable because it’s on a white woman.

To top it all off, the trend was popularized by supermodel Bella Hadid, whose sister Gigi came under fire a few years back for making a racist gesture against Asian people on video. At the time, Chloe Bennet of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” fame came out against Gigi’s supposed “joke” on Instagram. Her letter explains why Gigi’s actions were so hurtful to herself and the Asian community.

So, white women, please stop this trend. It doesn’t make you look cute; it makes you look racist.

Photo credits: Twitter user @sprogn

Report: Erica Kay