Fridae

A mainstream American men's magazine that published a male fashion spoof, which played on gay and Asian stereotypes, found itself in the middle of an angry storm as the Anti-Defamation League, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), Asian Media Watchdog and other Asian-American groups expressed their outrage that the 1-page feature.

Mass e-mails condemning the feature and online petitions against it have been circulating on the Internet since the April issue hit newsstands in late March. One online petition had collected more than 24,000 signatures as of Sunday.

In its April issue, Details magazine published a feature titled "Gay or Asian?" by Whitney McNally with a young Asian man dressed in Evisu jeans, white V-neck T-shirt, Dolce & Gabbana suede jacket, Louis Vuitton bag across his shoulder and set a pair of Dior sunglasses atop his spiky hair.

In the accompanying write-up, the writer suggests ways to tell the difference between gays and Asians. With reference to the US$400 Evisu jeans, it read: "A bonsai ass requires delicate tending."

The introduction read: "One cruises for chicken; the other takes it General Tso-style. Whether you're into shrimp balls, or shaved balls, entering the dragon requires imperial tastes. So choke up on your chopsticks, and make sure your labels are showing. Study hard, Grasshopper: A sharp eye will always take home the plumpest eel."

Other comments which Asian groups found offensive include, "delicate features refreshed by a cup of hot tea or a hot night of teabagging," jacket that "keeps the last samurai warm," V-neck that "showcases sashimi-smooth chest," lady-boy fingers "perfect for both waxing on and waxing off, plucking the koto, or gripping the Kendo stick."

The "Gay or Asian?" feature is one of a series. Each month, columnist McNally visually dissects a different demographic is for its "gay" traits, past categories also compared and contrasted gays with Brits, Democratic frontrunners, Jesus, preppies, and magicians.

"Whereas the article may have been soliciting a humorous response, humour can be done without insulting a community that has long fought stereotyping and racial discrimination. This shows sheer arrogance and a lack of intelligence of Details magazine," said Gie Kim, executive vice president of the Korean American Coalition, in a statement.

Asian Pacific Islanders for Human Rights who protested an event held by Details magazine and DKNY on April 2 at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles, is not satisfied with an apology and has requested further action from the magazine. The groups demanded that "Details meet with the API LGBT community to discuss an appropriate solution to this issue and that Details staff and writers go through API and LGBT sensitivity trainings so they have a better understanding of how not to offend our communities and perpetuate detrimental stereotypes."

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Councilman John Liu, a Democrat from Flushing, New York, has also denounced the magazine's tongue-in-cheek racial characterisations. "People are outraged by this," he said. "I suppose someone thought it was funny to equate the Asian male with the so-called stereotypical gay man - which is ridiculous."

Not everyone however finds the feature as offensive.

David Ng, a writer for New York's The Village Voice thought that the writer's "attitude masks a pernicious and unexamined xenophobia," but added, "Asian groups can object all they want (and they are) but, for most people, it's merely more evidence that Asians are p.c. killjoys unable to withstand a good-natured jab."

Mean while, Karl Ho, a Singapore Straits Times columnist wrote in his column: "What's the big deal? Granted I'm not Asian American. But the feature is so blatantly in-your-face, so brazenly politically incorrect that surely any discerning reader can see that it's an ironic, cheeky jab rather than deep-seated, subversive racism or homophobia?

"Who in his right mind would take the feature seriously and start to assimilate the idea that all Asians have 'sashimi-smooth chests'?

"It is one thing to spew racial epithets into someone's face with the intention to humiliate, but quite another when it's an affectionate jab in the ribs."

New York-based Singaporean and Fridae columnist, Paul Tan, thought that Asians should appreciate the humour as making such a big deal about it is likely to blow up in our faces. He said in an email to Fridae: "I'm anti-discrimination all the way but I think at some point other concerns come into play - I wouldn't want a society to be "whitewashed" by political correctness. I don't think this piece [the article] creates an oppressive or threatening environment or perpetuates stereotypes - in fact it could be seen as making fun of those stereotypes."

According to the Asian American Journalists Association, Details' editors have issued a statement of regret, which is also printed in the forthcoming May issue. Details spokeswoman Andrea Kaplan told the media: "We regret the fact that anyone has been offended by this article, and we're sorry a piece of satire has been interpreted this way." Details said they plan to meet later this month with some of the groups who protested the feature.