"Gay or Asian?"
Racist Feature in Details Magazine
by: Grace Oh
Completely Offensive
is the only way to describe the contents of the
recent feature in April issue of Details magazine.
It sterotypes two minorities in a tasteless,
humorless, and unacceptable manner.
Although Details has issued an apology, this
behavior should not happen in the future or in
any other publication.
For more information, please visit:
www.glaad.org
www.aaja.org
WWW.maynardije.org
www.naaap.org
“Details magazine published this feature in thier
2004 issue. Writer Whitney McNally revives a his
tory of sterotyipical images of both Asians/Asian
American's and the gay community that is utterly
disturbing. By denigrating working class Asians -
'one orders take-out sushi, the other delivers it’ -
and exoticizing Asian male bodies -’ladyboy fin
gers,’ ‘sashimi-smooth chest’ - and portraying gay
men as sexual perdators, and Asian men as pas
sive and effeminate; Mcnally dehumanizes people
of color, hypersexualizes gay men, and carica
tures the working class and immigrants.
Details plans to publish a statement in thier next
issue that says in part ‘We regret that anyone was
offended by the article.’ They say they will keep
our concerns in mind, but that leaves the door
wide open for similar features in the future. THIS
IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH! “
- asianmediawatchdog.com
Please send your protest letters to:
Daniel Peres, editor-in-chief
7 West 34th Street
New York, NY 10001
detailsletters@fairchildpub.com
Whitney McNally, writer
Whitney.mcnally@fairchildpub.com
“Yes, this is a tasteless humor piece. And I think
it's a regular feature (previous months include
"Gay or Jesus?" and " Gay or British?"). But this
is simply freakin' blatant racist garbage. It seri
ously pulls out every offensive, stereotypical
Asian pop culture reference imaginable, objectify
ing and exoticizing Asian men into a sexual
stereotype. To me, this piece is written for a
straight white male's racist, homophobic frat-boy
sense of humor—a major men's publication effec
tively categorizing Asian men (and gay men) as
an objectified "Other." And they think they can
pass it off as a lighthearted joke? It's chillingly
reminisicent of those outdated, similarly racist
early 20th-century taxonomies outlining the attrib
utes of the "Mongoloid." That's racist!"
- angryasianman.com