AAJA (Asian American Journalists Association) is in a tizzy over the recent "Gay or Asian?" piece in Details Magazine. Their letter to Details' editor-in-chief wails:

The lack of care and taste isn't the only transgression here. Humor and "edginess" are not excuses for caricaturing and insult, and the particular caricatures being played upon here -- of gay men as predatory cruisers, of Asian men as exotic and effeminate (yet always scheming) -- are precisely those that have been most damaging through the years.

A related petition to Details' advertisers bristles with indignation as it asks for help to "end this injustice":

We will never let another racist piece of work aid in sales, fill up a page, or win an Academy Award. Sign this petition if you are ashamed every time you see William Hung on TV. Sign if you're a minority. Sign if you aren't ignorant. Sign if you want to stand up for something you believe in, and are willing to boycott the companies that support this racism.

This is so silly and on so many levels!

When I saw the offending piece at the gym a couple of weeks ago, I thought it was mildly amusing. Of course, I wasn't reading a value comparison into the "Gay or Asian?" title. Perhaps I lack the required oversensitivity to any classification other than "White" and "Straight."

What I saw was a playful allusion to the ambiguous boundary between "Gay" and "Asian" that so many of us see in our mirrors...well...except, in my case, the image doesn't look half as pretty. I'm told that this is a reguler feature in every issue of the magazine, with titles such as "Gay or Eurotrash?", "Gay or Guido?", etc.  If Details has thus blurred the distinction between "Gay" and other classifications then I for one would cheer, not protest.

I only flip through Details occasionally at the gym. Seems to me that they're more than aware of their gay market. With fluff pieces on how the gay body-nazi might be letting himself go and the Hollywood Hung-List of well-endowed male stars, I don't see why they'd want to diss us.

I have only finite energy for outrage so I'll save mine for real injustice.

--aslam

9:27:36 PM