Souls of Yellow Folk: Essays | 
bailedThe first and most famous essay is a dude being an inc3l at length before that was a word, and blaming the Virginia Tech shooting on the women who felt like the shooter was creepy enough in hitting on them that they called campus security. GUESS WHAT? They were right. Was there a potent mix of effed up racial politics too? No doubt. After I re-read the first essay (I‘d read it and rolled my eyes in 2010), I read reviews of the book & ❌.
Theaelizabet What!? 6y
suzisteffen @Theaelizabet Yeah, later today I‘ll link to some reviews but WHEW NO. 6y
Theaelizabet Please do. I had seen this book and thought I might be interested. Not at all what I thought it was, apparently. 6y
See All 12 Comments
suzisteffen @Theaelizabet I BOUGHT IT! Aaaah! The title ... I tell you what. OK just a second ... 6y
suzisteffen @Theaelizabet Slate: https://slate.com/culture/2018/11/souls-yellow-folk-review-wesley-yang.html 6y
suzisteffen @Theaelizabet Jezebel: https://jezebel.com/the-familiar-defiance-of-wesley-yang-1832874054 6y
suzisteffen @Theaelizabet Also just to say the National Review & Qu1llette approved of it greatly, also a tip-off for me. 6y
Theaelizabet @suzisteffen A look back reminded me that I had heard of the book from Viet Thanh Nguyen‘s very lukewarm review in the NYT. I have personal reasons for an interest, so thanks for the links. I will read them. 6y
suzisteffen @Theaelizabet oh yes, Nguyen‘s review was def lukewarm but didn‘t call out the sexism - more like “what is the point of this book?” For those following our convo, here‘s that review: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/07/books/review/wesley-yang-souls-of-yellow-folk... 6y
suzisteffen @Theaelizabet and I don‘t in any way want to dismiss the centuries of racism around immigration policies and who‘s seen as sexy, a sexual being, a “real man” or a sex object of a woman, etc. BUT I don‘t think Yang addresses that *well* here. (The Slate link is very good on what happens when he approaches gender.) 6y
Theaelizabet Oh, no, I see where you‘re coming from and agree. We‘re on the same page. 6y
Weaponxgirl Can women please stop being blamed for shitty men‘s actions?! It‘s not our job to fix them or to feel at risk so that they can learn to be better people through us! Up with this I will not put. 6y
12 likes12 comments
pick