Not a buzzkill, but definitely a little narrow in view on this issue. You named ‘why’ South Asian men get the brunt end of these memes in that they have a high population of partial-english speaking men with unrestricted internet access and a culture that tends patriarchal but then immediately ask why they get the brunt end?
In what way is this painting all South Asian men in an infantilizing light and what lead you to read so deeply into this particular image that suggests there’s a dynamic of “ew, nasty foreign brown man could never get white western perfection”? That just seems like some insecurities put to page and not a genuine reading of the situation.
People absolutely make fun of other sexual harrassers, why the penchant to point out this one? Why do they need to be funny? Sexual harassment doesn’t have to be mocked with a positive intent, we SHOULD call out sex pests, and when people get mad about calling out sex pests we should call those people out too.
Your whole comment gave off a patronizing vibe. It sounds you you explain away the behavior exhibited from those shitty dudes by saying it’s their society and “sorry women, it happens from all angles though so why not take that frustration and be sure to distribute it evenly”. That kind of of attitude is so detrimental to the overall ending of the exact situation happening in the meme.
As a side note, purely anecdotal, MOST of the goofiest, silliest-ass cat calls I’ve ever seen have been from that part of the world. Not to say it won’t be said in Italian, German, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Czhechian, or whatever, but they seemingly have the good sense to say it in a language they can properly contextualize so they don’t become the next Show Me Your Bobs.
Glad you were able to provide such a detailed reply! I’ll try and elaborate on what I mean:
I haven’t seen a single Anglophone man get called out and made fun of in the way South Asian men are made fun of for the same predatory behaviour. If you have examples, I’d love to see em. But there was an entire subreddit on reddit basically dedicated to specifically South Asian men, and IIRC there wasn’t one that was generally making fun of gross people online (or maybe I just unfortunately saw the wrong circles).
Also to clarify, I get why South Asian men might show up in larger quantity, but my question is primarily: why is the emotion primarily ridicule as opposed to disgust (or sadly, occasionally defense), as we tend to see with Western men making the same creepy advances? Once again, this doesn’t even scratch the surface of other genders!
I’d also like to say that I’m not South Asian (but I am a man, and I am Anglophone). I just notice this and it kinda ticks me off bc I feel like I wanna be angry at these guys for sexually harassing women but I also feel like the fact that people solely posting about brown guys is trying to sell a narrative that only brown guys are creepy and that they’re creepy in a harmless “open bob show vagene” way when some of those very same men might be doing real life harm to people.
Also yea I agree we should probably prioritize just calling out sexual harassment, but in terms of “meme culture”, funny is currency (hence my focus on comedy, trying not to be a total buzzkill just a partial one!)
I was worried of coming off in a patronizing way and I apologize that I did so. My goal was to try and pinpoint the ideology of sexism in different cultures rather than justify it or brush it off, with the larger goal of trying to discuss the interplay of cultural dialogue, western notions of race, and aforementioned sexist behaviour. It seems that I was unclear; that’s totally on me. My bad!
I do think that your last paragraph kind of points to one of my exact issues: we tend to diminish the intelligence of ESL speakers if they get the grammar incorrect. Those South Asian (S.A.) men were fully harassing you! They were being gross! But they are getting brushed off for what white supremacy (as an ideology) might call “sophisticated countries”. I think these memes diminish the severity of sexual harassment while also seeking to emasculate S.A. men. It’s like an oppression double whammy where no one wins.
Anyway, sorry for essay #2; glad to hear your thoughts on the matter! I just hope this discussion at least gets people to be more mindful of what they post more generally.
Not a buzzkill, but definitely a little narrow in view on this issue. You named ‘why’ South Asian men get the brunt end of these memes in that they have a high population of partial-english speaking men with unrestricted internet access and a culture that tends patriarchal but then immediately ask why they get the brunt end?
In what way is this painting all South Asian men in an infantilizing light and what lead you to read so deeply into this particular image that suggests there’s a dynamic of “ew, nasty foreign brown man could never get white western perfection”? That just seems like some insecurities put to page and not a genuine reading of the situation.
People absolutely make fun of other sexual harrassers, why the penchant to point out this one? Why do they need to be funny? Sexual harassment doesn’t have to be mocked with a positive intent, we SHOULD call out sex pests, and when people get mad about calling out sex pests we should call those people out too.
Your whole comment gave off a patronizing vibe. It sounds you you explain away the behavior exhibited from those shitty dudes by saying it’s their society and “sorry women, it happens from all angles though so why not take that frustration and be sure to distribute it evenly”. That kind of of attitude is so detrimental to the overall ending of the exact situation happening in the meme.
As a side note, purely anecdotal, MOST of the goofiest, silliest-ass cat calls I’ve ever seen have been from that part of the world. Not to say it won’t be said in Italian, German, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Czhechian, or whatever, but they seemingly have the good sense to say it in a language they can properly contextualize so they don’t become the next Show Me Your Bobs.
Glad you were able to provide such a detailed reply! I’ll try and elaborate on what I mean:
I haven’t seen a single Anglophone man get called out and made fun of in the way South Asian men are made fun of for the same predatory behaviour. If you have examples, I’d love to see em. But there was an entire subreddit on reddit basically dedicated to specifically South Asian men, and IIRC there wasn’t one that was generally making fun of gross people online (or maybe I just unfortunately saw the wrong circles).
Also to clarify, I get why South Asian men might show up in larger quantity, but my question is primarily: why is the emotion primarily ridicule as opposed to disgust (or sadly, occasionally defense), as we tend to see with Western men making the same creepy advances? Once again, this doesn’t even scratch the surface of other genders!
I’d also like to say that I’m not South Asian (but I am a man, and I am Anglophone). I just notice this and it kinda ticks me off bc I feel like I wanna be angry at these guys for sexually harassing women but I also feel like the fact that people solely posting about brown guys is trying to sell a narrative that only brown guys are creepy and that they’re creepy in a harmless “open bob show vagene” way when some of those very same men might be doing real life harm to people.
Also yea I agree we should probably prioritize just calling out sexual harassment, but in terms of “meme culture”, funny is currency (hence my focus on comedy, trying not to be a total buzzkill just a partial one!)
I was worried of coming off in a patronizing way and I apologize that I did so. My goal was to try and pinpoint the ideology of sexism in different cultures rather than justify it or brush it off, with the larger goal of trying to discuss the interplay of cultural dialogue, western notions of race, and aforementioned sexist behaviour. It seems that I was unclear; that’s totally on me. My bad!
I do think that your last paragraph kind of points to one of my exact issues: we tend to diminish the intelligence of ESL speakers if they get the grammar incorrect. Those South Asian (S.A.) men were fully harassing you! They were being gross! But they are getting brushed off for what white supremacy (as an ideology) might call “sophisticated countries”. I think these memes diminish the severity of sexual harassment while also seeking to emasculate S.A. men. It’s like an oppression double whammy where no one wins.
Anyway, sorry for essay #2; glad to hear your thoughts on the matter! I just hope this discussion at least gets people to be more mindful of what they post more generally.