Wong Fu is an indie video production company started by students at UCSD. Actually, they do a bit of everything these days, from music videos to vlogs, and they’ve helped a lot of aspiring artists get a little more traction. They’re pretty awesome.

But…I never got into their videos. Why? It all goes back to their first big hit. “Yellow Fever” is a humorous take on the stereotype that white guys like to date (East) Asian girls and vice versa, presumably to the detriment of Asian-American guys, white girls, and Indian guys. The stereotype definitely has a basis…

(Continue reading…)

I posted this on Facebook yesterday:

See what I did there?

(Continue reading…)

When it comes to sexism in language¹, there are all sorts of examples. On the one hand, you get the male/female differentiation in occupations. Sometimes this is well-established (waiter/waitress, actor/actress), sometimes still accepted but on the way out (stewardess—there are no “stewards” anymore but the right term is now “flight attendent”), and sometimes it just sounds ridiculous (there are no “aviatrices” any more, although to be fair there aren’t really “aviators” either.²) For my part, I try not to use the -ess forms of the words; I don’t see a reason why “waiter” or “actor” shouldn’t…

(Continue reading…)