Yellowface

“People come to a text with so many prejudices formed by what they think they know about the author,” she’s said before. “I sometimes wonder how my work would be received if I pretended to be a man, or a white woman.

Heart hammering, I pull up Twitter and search “Geoffrey Carlino” to see what Athena’s ex-boyfriend has been up to lately.

Athena is the liar, the hypocrite. Athena Liu Is Posthumously Canceled.

Athena once wrote about a love interest’s “almond-shaped eyes,” which buys into Western standards of beauty and the objectification of Asian women.)

So you have a problem with unacknowledged Asian labor?”

I imagine a crowd of angry voices and pointed fingers, converging on me to rip pieces of flesh from my body like the naiads did to Orpheus, until all that’s left is the prurient, whispered question, “Did you hear about Juniper Song?” and fragments of rumors growing darker and more distorted; bloody, decomposing shreds of my virtual identity; until there is nothing left but the statement, justified or not, that Juniper Song Is Canceled.

Who I date has nothing to do with my politics. Hating on interracial couples? Is this 2018?

The literal definition of yellowface, writes one reply. I don’t think they know what “literal” means.

All I said was that their red dress really brought out the yellow undertones in their skin. Jesus, I was just being nice. I didn’t even like the dress that much.

“The problem with Asian pop stars is that they have shit English, though,” says Harvey. “Herro. Production nightmare.”