<\/span> \n AI-generated summary was reviewed by a celebrity.land editor.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:<\/span>\u00a0 This feature is part of celebrity.land Style\u2019s series Hyphenated<\/a>, which explores the complex issue of identity among minorities in the United States.\n<\/p>\n \n When Icelandic Chinese musician Laufey dropped her latest music video last month, starring a cast of mixed white and Asian celebrities, the internet went wild.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cLaufey collecting wasians like pokemon,\u201d read one social media comment, using a portmanteau to describe people of mixed white and Asian descent. \u201cWASIAN AVENGERS,\u201d another comment cheered.\n <\/p>\n \n The term \u201cWasian\u201d has been used since the early 2000s, but it has recently blown up on social media thanks to the emergence of several high-profile figures \u2014 many of whom starred in Laufey\u2019s music video, including Olympic figure skater Alysa Liu, \u201cHeated Rivalry\u201d actor Hudson Williams and \u201cThe Summer I Turned Pretty\u201d actress Lola Tung.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWasian\u201d is just the latest among many attempts to shorthand biracial groups; elder millennials may be more familiar with reclaimed terms like mestizo in the Philippines and the Hawaiian hapa haole which are more\u200b broadly applied to any mix including Asian and Pacific Islander ancestries.\n <\/p>\n \n In Laufey\u2019s video for the song \u201cMadwoman,\u201d the stars wear 1960s mod fashion, complete with go-go boots and colorful geometric prints, while enjoying dim sum and playing mahjong \u2014 a nod to both sides of the singer\u2019s heritage.\n <\/p>\n \n She is among those who have publicly embraced the Wasian label \u2014 which has helped many people who self-identify as such to feel more seen, though not everyone feels the same way. Laufey said<\/a> she \u201cfelt a general lack of representation for people who looked like me in music and media\u201d when growing up.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cMadwoman\u201d is \u201cwhat younger Laufey would have loved to see,\u201d she said; when Liu posted a photo from the shoot, the Olympian captioned<\/a> it, \u201cShoutout Wasiaaaa,\u201d to which the Laufey responded, \u201clong live wasia long live alysa liu.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Williams, too, has spoken about his mixed-race identity \u2013 saying in multiple interviews that his Korean mother had worried he would have trouble landing roles as a half-Asian. \u201cI wanna represent my Wasians out there,\u201d he said in an interview<\/a> with audio app Quinn. \u201cI\u2019ve been declared \u2026 the princess or prince of Wasia.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n This heightened attention coincides with a growing fascination in the West around Asian entertainment and culture (think the Netflix smash hit \u201cKPop Demon Hunters,\u201d the recent Chinamaxxing trend, K-beauty<\/a> products, and even Labubus).\n <\/p>\n \n And the increased visibility of Wasians has crossed from the screen into the real world, with large crowds gathering at \u201cWasian meetups\u201d earlier this May in San Francisco and New York City. Music blared as attendees held lookalike contests for Wasian stars; some brought giant cutout posters of famous biracial celebrity faces, including pop princess Olivia Rodrigo and actor Henry Golding.\n <\/p>\n \n For some, it was a powerful and positive experience to see themselves represented and to connect with others.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt felt very validating \u2014 I felt very visible for the first time in my life,\u201d said Annabelle Oaklie, a stand-up and improv comedian who attended the New York meetup. Born in Texas to a white father and Korean mother, she says there were only a few other Wasians at school, and she and her siblings didn\u2019t look like their cousins from either side of the family.\n <\/p>\n \n Standing in Central Park\u2019s Sheep Meadow, surrounded by more than 3,000<\/a> people was \u201calmost like a family reunion of sorts,\u201d she said, adding that she could \u201clook across and feel like you vaguely know everyone around you.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n But the meetups have also triggered a heated debate about race and identity that has reached a fever pitch online in recent weeks. The controversy has raised questions about who is represented, and why \u2014 as well as what it means to be multiracial in America.\n <\/p>\n \n Some critics have pointed out that the meetups \u2014 like the representation of mixed celebrities in pop culture \u2014 have felt disproportionate, not broadly representing all Wasians. Instead, they seem to predominantly highlight a mix of white and East Asian descent, such as those with Chinese, Korean and Japanese heritage.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cAs a wasian who is half SOUTH Asian I also have no idea where I fit in this,\u201d one user wrote on TikTok. Another person posted: \u201cThat\u2019s something that frustrates me as a South Asian Wasian, as someone whose mom is Indian and whose dad is white, I\u2019ve always had to clarify, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m Wasian but you know my mom\u2019s brown so I actually don\u2019t fu**ing count!\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Part of this imbalance stems from the demographic breakdown of those with Asian descent in the United States. Among the national mixed white and Asian population, there is a much higher proportion of people with East and Southeast Asian roots.\n <\/p>\n \n As of 2023, according to the Pew Research Center<\/a>, around 38% of the Asian population in the US is of East Asian descent. Southeast Asians are the next-biggest group, largely made up of Vietnamese and Filipino Americans.\n <\/p>\n \n These numbers are the result of historical factors and immigration trends, said Curtiss Takada Rooks, assistant professor of Asian and Asian American Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.\n <\/p>\n \n For starters, the US occupied Japan and South Korea after World War II, and had military bases in the Philippines. Many American service members married women in these countries before returning home \u2014 causing an influx of tens of thousands of so-called \u201cwar brides\u201d in the 1950s and 1960s, who then had biracial children, Takada Rooks said.\n <\/p>\n \n Around this time, Chinese and Japanese American third-generation immigrants were also growing up (these groups, along with Filipinos, were among the earliest Asians to arrive in the US in the 1800s). Many began moving away and marrying outside their own communities \u2014 which could have also led to more mixed-race births, Takada Rooks added.\n <\/p>\n \n Overall, there are 4.1 million mixed Asian people in the US, according to the 2020 Census<\/a>, though it doesn\u2019t offer a further breakdown on how many of those were mixed white and Asian.\n <\/p>\n \n Critics say that experiences shared by attendees at the Wasian meet-ups \u2014 not fully fitting into the communities around them, struggling to master their parents\u2019 native languages \u2014 aren\u2019t exclusive to mixed white and Asian people, but are felt by many multiracial people. So why, they ask, was the event not open to all mixed Asians?\n <\/p>\n
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