Why Being Naturally Skinny Is Hard. And Why Some Asians Are Skinny

Posted on 7 May 2015 by Mabel Kwong

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Being naturally skinny and thin isn’t always a blessing. It’s usually far from it. Just like those on the heavier side, a number of us skinny people often get grief and discriminated over the way we look.

For my whole life as an Australian of Chinese heritage, I’ve been skinny. At school in Melbourne (and later Malaysia and Singapore), I was always the thinnest among my classmates. Skinny bones, twiggy, stick, flat chested like a surfboard…I heard all those nicknames back then and felt like a walking freak show.

No matter how skinny or curvy we look, we’re all beautiful in our own ways | Weekly Photo Challenge: Intricate.

Only once in Australia have I met someone as skinny as me. According to a national health survey conducted in 2012, just 1.7% of the Australian population is underweight.

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Why Some Of Us Are Neat And Tidy

Posted on 4 December 2014 by Mabel Kwong

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It’s a habit some of us have: being neat and tidy. A neat freak. That is, some of us like things to be in a certain order or place.

I’m one of these neat people, always making sure to put things away things I don’t need for a while. A few years ago I had an Asian colleague called Mandy the Magician and she is a neat person too. One day she finished all her work for the day and decided to tidy our office – sorting a plastic tub full of paperclips, a plastic tub the size of your average rectangular pillow, sorting silver paperclips from the coloured ones.

Neat lines of trees. Not one of them out of place | Weekly Photo Challenge: Converge.

Being neat is a trait that transcends cultures. People all over the world are neat. Perhaps it’s a personality trait, a choice to be neat.

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Why Some Asians Are Short. Why I Don’t Mind Being Short

Posted on 16 October 2014 by Mabel Kwong

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We’re all of different heights. Some of us are short. Some of us are tall. In general, many Asians are shorter than people from other cultures.

I’ve been short all my life. At school and university in Malaysia, Singapore and Australia, I was the shortest kid in my classes. Today, as a grown Asian adult, I see many people taller than me wherever I go.

Look up, be confident and dream. We are always taller than we think we are | Weekly Photo Challenge: Dreamy.

Reasons Asians Are Short

There isn’t yet a conclusive study done that scientifically explains why many Asians are short compared to other races. So we can only guess why. Maybe some of us Asians are short because it runs in the family, because of genetics. Most of my Chinese-Malaysian relatives are not much taller than 175cm (5’8 ft) and only a handful of them tower vertically above this height.

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Why Do Asians Look So Young Sometimes? Or Most Of The Time?

Posted on 4 July 2013 by Mabel Kwong

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It’s no secret many people of Asian ethnicity look younger beyond their years.

As I’ve written, sometimes this can be a blessing, and sometimes this can be an unwanted trait.

Some Asians hold umbrellas on sunny days in shaded cities to protect themselves from skin damaging UV-rays and maintain a youthful face. Photo: Replacing Ink.

I’m sure many of us have wondered at some point, why, why on earth do Asians look so young? How do they do it? Interestingly enough, a number of Asian lifestyle attributes seemingly explains this Asians-looking-young phenomenon.

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Asians’ Youthful Looks: A Blessing or A Curse In Disguise?

Posted on 25 April 2013 by Mabel Kwong

A good number of Asians tend to look way younger beyond their years. Glance at an Asian person in their mid-twenties and chances are they look like a teen. Or at an Asian woman in her thirties and she’ll look like an early-twenty-something graduate.

Perhaps Asians have good genes and that’s why many of us look young. Or perhaps it’s because we eat rice/noodles so often, food that has yet-to-be-discovered anti-aging properties. You never know.

These Asians can pass off as teenagers. Asians often look young from behind. Perhaps it’s because of their short stature and the way they dress? Photo: Mabel Kwong

I can relate. I’m one of those Asians who look young for my age. I’ve talked about this with my Asian friends who are in the same boat, and we agree there are pros and cons to this phenomenon. But the latter seems more outstanding.

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Not Exactly White But Asian Enough To Be A Top Model

Posted on 28 March 2013 by Mabel Kwong

Last week, half Singaporean-Chinese, half-Portuguese Jessica Gomes was unveiled as the new face of Australia’s oldest up-market department store David Jones, replacing world-renowned Aussie model Miranda Kerr as its ambassador.

It is the first time the retailer has chosen an Asian person to be its nationwide front face, recognising the fact that everyone is beautiful regardless of their skin colour in an increasingly diverse Australia.

: Ethnic faces are starting to get featured more beside Caucasian faces in fashion catalogues today. Photo: Mabel Kwong

However, this decision is not necessarily an ode to multiculturalism on some levels. The department store’s choice is arguably an image-branding tactic to boost sales amidst an unstable local economy. Also, local media and modeling industry experts have been quick to harp praise on the multicultural-esque decision while forgetting the true essence of diversity.

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