aloe

they/them please please please tell me if I do or say anything offensive/innacurate

[aloeverafication]

“wow haha im doing something so edgy that people will be ‘triggered’ about” humor is the worst kind of humor it’s not even funny it just makes you look immature and annoying

[aloeverafication]

can people pleaaaase stop darkening the skin of poc characters it just reinforces the idea that there’s one way to look a certain race

idk if my point comes across fully it’s like

if they’re obviously whitewashed then yeah

but uh

like

accuracy with poc skin means also keeping their skintone accurate?

with lighting it can appear different but not… that much

also colorpicking skin from other poc to fix it is weird as fuck like 

no

[aloeverafication]

idk if im wording this correctly bc I struggle a lot with putting things in words but

this is sort of in response to someone saying that a darkskinned character with no canon race in exactly 2 official arts had an “inconsistent” skin tone (from someone with like. the same skin tone it was most likely because of lighting) and that meant you were free to change their skintone however you wanted to

no????

[aloeverafication]

can people pleaaaase stop darkening the skin of poc characters it just reinforces the idea that there’s one way to look a certain race

idk if my point comes across fully it’s like

if they’re obviously whitewashed then yeah

but uh

like

accuracy with poc skin means also keeping their skintone accurate?

with lighting it can appear different but not... that much

also colorpicking skin from other poc to fix it is weird as fuck like 

no

[aloeverafication]

confession: i have no idea how to use this site

[girlbosswanda-deactivated202102]

Asian rep tips + general info

Note: I am Korean and Filipina, and most in touch with my Korean culture. Also, race is a construct. For the post’s sake I’m talking about people who are from/live in the continent of Asia, though not all of those people identify as ‘Asian.’ 

This is also just some information about Asia and Asian people because some of you need to educate yourself :) 

Also: it is not BIPOCs’ duty to teach white people how to represent respectfully. I’m just sick and tired of seeing Asian people written so poorly. 

Asia isn’t just East Asia. Asia is a large, diverse continent with billions of people from different backgrounds, cultures, and nationalities. There are West Asian people (Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, and more), Central Asian people (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and more), East Asian people (Mongolia, China, North & South Korea, Japan, and more), Southeast Asian people (Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Burma and more), South Asian people (India, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and more). There is also North Asia, which is some parts of Russia like Siberia, but not everyone there identifies as Asian. The regions I listed above are geographical. 

Not all Asians are light-skinned. There are dark-skinned Asians in every geographical region. Skin tones range from light to dark, with different undertones. Asian skin is very beautiful and diverse. (Not yellow undertones. No one is yellow unless they’re sick or something.) 

Avoid stereotypes. You know: super booksmart East Asian and Indian people who are also street dumb and awkward, non-East Asian people being portrayed as the ‘stupid’ kind of Asian, ‘rice for five dollar,’ and anything like that. I’m not going to list them all here because you can easily look them up. 

There are Indigenous Asian people. A lot of them don’t look ‘Asian’ (which is so stupid because it shows how race is judged by how people look and really not much else), and they are extremely under represented probably because a lot of them have dark skin and appearances that do not fit in with East Asian and Eurocentric beauty standards. 

Do not sexualize Asian women/feminine presenting people. This is such a huge problem. It’s not even just women, it’s girls too! (I could go on about how this contributes to pe//phile culture, which is like r//pe culture but I do not want to trigger anyone so I’ll do that in a separate post.) Our appearances and cultures do not exist for your sexual fantasies. This is also a huge problem for East Asian men since the rise in popularity of KPOP and anime (largely via TikTok).

On the complete opposite side of the scale Asian people who do not have light-skin or Eurocentric features are seen as ugly and undesirable. I.E: dark-skinned Asians, people with big noses and bushy eyebrows, flatter noses, large cheekbones, and more. These people should be written more as beautiful and desirable because they are. 

Do not base your characters on KPOP and anime stars. Just. Don’t. I shouldn’t have to explain why. 

Mixed Asian people exist and shouldn’t be written as ‘exotic.’ White/Asian people, Black/Asian people, Indigenous (place)/Asian people, and Latine/Asian people do not exist for sexual fantasies or. We are real people. (And just as Asian!) Also, (non-Asian ethnicity)-passing Asians and racially ambiguous Asians are JUST AS Asian. 

Just write us like normal people, please. Not super sexy, not ugly, not geniuses with no personality, just like normal people. Give us flaws and strengths like any well-rounded character. 

Research Asian names. You do not want to be the next JK Rowling with a Cho Chang incident. 

If you need an appearance/name reference look at geography/culture websites and National Geographic. If you just search up Asian people you will come across East Asian light-skinned people and KPOP stars. (If anyone has any other websites/media please let me know or add it on!) 

We don’t eat everything with chopsticks. I only eat Asian food with chopsticks. (I live in America.) 

Write alternative style Asians cautiously. BUT NOT PURPLE HAIR STREAK. DO NOT GIVE THEM AN ALTERNATIVE STYLE TO SHOW THAT THEY ARE SPECIAL!!!! 

LGBT+, disabled, neurodivergent, fat, and other under-represented Asian people exist. Write them. 

If you’re drawing/describing an Asian character and they have pale skin, silky dark hair, a button/pointed nose, and BLUE eyes think again. Yes, there are some Asian people who look like that (I mean not with blue eyes really unless it’s a genetic thing or they’re mixed), but most do not. My hair is very thick and corse, my nose is not pointed or a button nose, and my eyes are definitely not blue. Important note: Asian/white people can have some Eurocentric features as well as other Asian mixed people.

There are thousands of languages spoken by 4.3 billion people in Asia. I.E: people who live in India don’t speak ‘Indian.’ There are many languages spoken there such as Hindi, Konkani, Assamese, Bengali, and more. Important note: many Asian people who do not live in Asia are disconnected from their language(s) and other aspects of their culture. This is not exclusive to Asia. Keep that in mind when writing characters. 

There are many religions practiced in Asia and many religions originated there. Commonly practiced religions in Asia include Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Taoism, Shinto, Sikhism, and many more as well as indigenous religions. It is important to research the religion you’re writing about! Also, religious customs in Asia can be practiced differently than whatever place you are from, so look into that. I cannot be much help with religious inquiries besides Catholicism as that is what I was raised, but I currently identify as an atheist. 

If you are writing a female Asian character, note that female stereotypes are different for Asian women and white women. This is super important. Read into it. 

There is definitely more that can be written, and other Asian people feel free to add on! Non-Asian people do not clown around and are you encouraged to rb. If you have any questions feel free to send some asks! And thank you to @pepto-bismol-veins​ for your help. 

As I said, I am East and Southeast Asian and representation having to do with Asian characters outside of that I will not be able to answer well. I encourage non-Asian writers writing Asian people to look for sensitivity readers. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: Asian people writing Asian characters that fall into an Asian stereotypes is different than when non-Asian people do it. 

Brief history of the cultures of Asia

Art of Asia

Writing Asian American character tips & what to avoid

Asian representation: a problem in entertainment

East Asian stereotypes found in the US

South Asian stereotypes

Islam & Middle East stereotypes

Perceptions of Asian Americans

I could not find links for stereotypes about Southeast Asian, Central Asian, North Asian, or Indigenous Asian people to avoid but please let me know if you do. I did not read all of the articles completely, please let me know if the articles have misinformation. 

[aloeverafication]

i think this is a good list! Something I want to mention is that a lot of the time, Indian people (like me lol) identify themselves by the language they speak (for example, I’m Telugu) /the state they come from - however, this doesn’t apply to all Indian ppl or languages

Also hands... we don’t eat everything with hands either... I have forks in my house...

[aloeverafication]

idk why more people don’t realize that non-Christian religious people aren’t always super conservative? People outside of that umbrella... can also be “normal” people while being religious

[aloeverafication]

also when “fixing” a darkskinned character’s skintone... don’t colorpick from other darkskinned characters??? 

[aloeverafication]

ppl will really tiptoe around saying “indian” as a character’s race and end up using the most fucking confusing terms literally just say desi or indian

like i literally don’t know if you mean “they are from the east part of india” or “they are from the country that the east india company was named after” or “they’re christian and indian” 

[aloeverafication]

“racially ambiguous” doesn’t always mean pale.

[aloeverafication]

can people leave what is cultural apropriation or not to the culture that the thing that is being appropriated or not is from? like jfc stop speaking over people

i’ve seen this mostly with people from “better” countries coming to say “this is appropriation” when no it’s not? and people from that culture who say it isn’t aren’t oppressed or anything either? they can be in some cases but that doesn’t mean you know better and get to decide

[aloeverafication]

i said dark skinned a lot in my previous post huh

[aloeverafication]

why do people always assume dark skinned characters without a defined race are Black? It’s kind of assuming that all dark skinned people are Black which sort of denies the existence of dark skinned people of other races. Tons of people somehow assumed that Nessa was Black but is there anything that says she is? Does she have defining features (aside from color, like Raihan’s hairstyle if i recall correctly) that make her Black for certain? It’s not that Black people don’t exist in media, it’s that other races exist too. 

this isn’t an excuse to go “they Can’t be Black they have blue eyes!” though

[aloeverafication]

uh so

with all the redesigns of characters going around lately i think it’s important to not change the race of

-characters with a defined race that affects their character (please don’t take away someone’s representation to create representation plus I’ve see people do it to Asian characters and they’re treated like they’re white)

-Real people plus probably characters being played by real people (like if you’re drawing the Character and they exist out of being played then that’s different but characters that are solely played by people 

-People’s ocs???? and yes I’ve seen this one before but thankfully the person stopped before it was posted

please don’t erase a character’s identity to redesign them.