TikToker accused of exoticizing Asian cultures in viral videos about living with her Chinese boyfriend
March 8, 2022
A white TikToker’s viral videos about what it is like to live with her Chinese boyfriend has sparked online criticism.
TikTok user @frannyme created her own version of the TikTok trend, “Things that just make sense,” featuring items from her “Asian household” while living with her Chinese boyfriend.
Franny shows viewers various household items, including rice cookers, chopsticks, instant noodles, Asian food sauces and Chinese-designed plates to the tune of “Che La Luna,” with descriptive text overlays.
Her first video of the series, uploaded on Feb. 4 and captioned “Living with a Chinese boyfriend.. things that just make sense,” has received over 7.7 million views, as of this writing. In the video, Franny, who in her TikTok bio claims to be “exploring Asian culture,” describes chopsticks as a “complicated eating style” and deems instant noodles “funky soups in packages.” She also holds up an MSG packet and various sauces while implying she has no idea what they are.
The Part 3 of her series, which has been viewed more than 1.4 million times on TikTok, was shared to Twitter on March 6 by user Frankie Huang, leading many users to accuse Franny of exoticizing Asian cultures.
“I saw this TikTok that’s just a white woman acting confused by mundane Chinese household stuff like she’s at the zoo 🙄,” Huang wrote. “She also brags in another video that her Chinese boyfriend, in fact, has a huge dick. I wonder how he feels about her objectifying him for clout.”
“If you want a really great case study for orientalism in 2022, check out her TikTok,” she added.
“She exoticizes using chopsticks but ~1.5 billion ppl on this planet use them to eat. Using hands to eat is common in cultures across the globe. Western-style forks/knives dining is not the ‘norm,’” one user replied.
“She’s stereotyping Chinese and Italian culture I feel like ‘cause what’s with the music and hand gesture? Also, why the hell is she acting like all of these things are new and unheard of by anyone else but her? Just why?” another user wrote.
One user also quote-tweeted the post and wrote: “So now do y’all see what we be saying? They be treating sh*t like an excursion.”
Huang also shared Franny’s TikTok video in which she replies to a viewer’s question regarding the size of her partner’s genitalia.
“If you want to push back on awful sexual stereotypes that emasculate Asian men, call out the racism,” Huang stated. “Providing proof of hyper-masculinity only fetishizes Asian men rather than humanize them. It’s still degrading and gross.”
Featured Images via @frannyme
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