Asian American Women Share Their Body Insecurities

– I was doing an internship one time.
Somebody working there, he told me
don’t bring snacks to work
because you’re gonna get
chubbier than you already are.
– I grew really fast.
Faster than most of my
Asian-American friends.
– I swam all my life,
so I have big shoulders.
It was normal for my
family and family friends
to just tell me that I’m big.
– They’re like oh, Diane,
like, you got a little chubby.
Or like, they’d just
say those small things
when they first see me.
– My thighs are bigger,
my arms are bigger,
my boobs are bigger.
– In the later part of
my childhood I was told
that I was chubby, and that it’s a shame
because I used to be so
skinny when I was a kid.
– I don’t feel part of my body.
Every time I look into the
mirror I see something different
in every mirror.
– Size-wise, and culturally,
I was just, like,
just different from everyone else.
– For Asian women, in my experience,
is that we need to be thin
and that means not muscular.
– You need like a tiny waist
but you still have to have curves.
– Going to Japan, especially, I get looks
that I’m not quite Japanese
because I don’t have
the nice, fair skin, I don’t
have a tiny, like, petite body.
– There’s always something to fix.
– Usually when my mom makes comments
it’s in the middle of dinner
and I just think that I
was almost out of here
without her saying one
comment about my weight
or how much I’m eating.
– It’s funny, because my mom will be like
here’s all this food, don’t go hungry,
ooo, but don’t overeat,
but finish all the rice on your plate.
It’s like, I just like,
everything came with a but
and it was really confusing for me.
– When I was living in
Korea the pressures to look
a certain way came from
every aspect of my life,
from my friends, to my
family, to my relatives.
Um, even from like random strangers
who commented on my appearance.
– So many rules.
Rules and rules and rules,
so you could be like
this cookie cutter like,
shape and figure, and things
that they find perfect.
It’s just like this vicious
cycle (laughs cynically)
of like, trying to get to
a point where I’m happy
with my body.
– I will work on my body however I please.
– When you are different, that means
that you’re challenging the norm.
– You don’t have to be thin to be happy.
– Like, you do things for yourself
and you be healthy for yourself,
and you can be thick, and that is okay.
– Being different isn’t bad.
Being different is being
you, and being you,
you’re liberated and you are empowered.
– And I’m not skinny.
I can enjoy my life
without looking perfect.
– For all you Asian
girls who have big boobs
they’re really great in the future, k?
That’s all I’m saying.

My sister says this plugin is fuckable. “There’s always something to fix.” Check out more awesome BuzzFeedYellow videos! http://bit.ly/YTbuzzfeedyellow MUSIC She Dreams Dusty Pages Licensed via Warner Chappell Production Music Inc. Made by BFMP www.buzzfeed.com/videoteam + Diane Lee Sarah Liss SOURCES http://dfred.bol.ucla.edu/ForbesFrederick-2008-SexRoles-UCLABP2BreastBodySatisfaction.pdf GET MORE BUZZFEED www.buzzfeed.com/videoteam www.facebook.com/buzzfeedvideo www.instagram.com/buzzfeedvideo www.buzzfeed.com/video www.youtube.com/buzzfeedvideo www.youtube.com/buzzfeedyellow www.youtube.com/buzzfeedblue www.youtube.com/buzzfeedviolet BUZZFEED YELLOW More fun, inspiring, interesting videos from the BuzzFeed crew. New videos posted daily! Subscribe for more BuzzFeedYellow! http://bit.ly/YTbuzzfeedyellow