>>22130175This act of subversion, alone, fuels our infatuation with the word. That’s why, for some, being called an ABG isn’t an insult. In fact, I was ecstatic when I first learned the term because I was no longer limited to the nerdy Asian stereotype. It was 2014 when I first watched the Fung brothers’ YouTube video, titled 18 Types of Asian Girls. The video, which has over 7 million views, parodied different Asian stereotypes, starting with the ABG of course. I finished the video thinking, “Holy shit, this is so cool and relatable!” For the first time ever, I saw my race and myself represented in media, which is something so irrevocably momentous for minorities. That video was the very first time I could relate to an Asian person that I wasn’t related to.
For so long, Asian Americans were bullied into being the quiet, submissive minority. Sixteen Candles, Gilmore Girls, and The Goonies told us that we could only be the unattractive side character. To undermine this narrow stereotype, we expanded our own representation through creating the ABG, the antithesis of everything Hollywood told us to be. This self-imposed stereotype allowed us to embrace our most ratchet selves–tattoos and all.
