Feature Articles
Until recently I had been one of those women who hated their bodies. While I’d
never been overweight in my childhood, puberty did a number on me… At family
gatherings, I was encouraged to diet and told that all Asian girls fit one body type –
slim… Finally, when I was 13, my mother put me on an all-cabbage soup diet. The diet
ended on the sixth day when I threw up at the dinner table. My mother begged me for
forgiveness as she wiped my watery vomit off the table. She hadn’t meant to hurt me.
I cried. Not out of the pain or even hunger, but in disappointment. I wanted to be thin
and beautiful for my family. I had wanted so badly for it to work.
This is just a taste of some of the materials on Thick Dumpling Skin, a blog
founded by Lisa Lee and Lynn Chen. The Tumblr-hosted blog offers a space in
the infinite Internet to talk about body image issues, specifically in the APA
community, where it is rarely touched upon and discussed. In its second year,
Thick Dumpling Skin’s posts have ranged from Lisa and Lynn’s recent travels
abroad to anonymous submissions from blog readers about society’s obsession
with thigh gaps. So what’s next for Lisa Lee, Lynn Chen, and Thick Dumpling Skin?
What’s next?
Lisa Lee | Co-founder of Thick Dumpling Skin
I
have a confession to make. I am ill. I
believe I suffer from the “what’s next”
syndrome. I don’t know when this illness
kicked in. Maybe it was when I became the
publisher of Hyphen magazine and I had to
constantly think about the future direction
of the publication. Maybe it was during my
time at Facebook where I started living life
by the “This Journey is 1% Finished” motto,
which resulted in me being never satisfied.
Maybe my dissatisfaction is also due to the
internalized model minority stereotype,
telling me that I am not doing enough. All
I know is, at some point, I started to cross
things off of my to do list with one hand,
and I would start a new list with the other.
Three years ago, actress and food
blogger Lynn Chen and I started a website
called Thick Dumpling Skin. It’s a community
forum dedicated to discussing body image
issues and eating disorders within the Asian
American community. We started the site
because both of us have experienced first
hand the societal and cultural pressures of
(not) having the perfect “Asian body.” We
bonded over the times that we dangerously
obsessed over food and quickly realized
that there were very few academic studies
or medical research done on what seemed
to be a prominent issue – Asian Americans
feeling inadequate and depressed due to
their bodies. Even worse, there seemed to be
no resources or support for our community
struggling with such issues. Through the
sharing of personal stories (which hopefully
will lead to more research), we built Thick
Dumpling Skin to create a safe space where
10 • IMAGE • Spring/Summer 2014
Asian Americans can find solace in knowing
that they’re not alone in this journey.
In the last three years, we’ve reached
some major, and sometimes, unexpected
milestones that we’re extremely proud of.
We’ve made an appearance at The National
Eating Disorder Awareness Conference.
We’ve partnered with vintage retailer
Retrofit Republic on The Real Bodies
Manifesto, a fashion lookbook using
diverse Asian American bodies as real
models. We’ve been highlighted as the “new
change agents” on Marie Claire, a major
female lifestyle publication.
Despite the accomplishments, people
often ask us what will come next. Kickstarter
campaign? Documentary? Book?
Trust me, we ask ourselves that, too.
On February 16, 2014, we celebrated
our third birthday. More than ever, I’ve
been wondering how we can create an even
bigger impact and how we can further along
the conversation on Asian American body
image issues. More importantly, I think
about how can we really make a difference
by doing, and not talking. Our readers who
are sharing their stories and voicing their
questions seem to be getting younger and
younger. Every passing day that we’re not
doing something feels like we’re watching a
ticking time bomb from the sidelines.
Last year, I was invited to speak at
Dartmouth College. After my talk, a young
woman approached me and asked me if I
could make time to see her later. Of course
I said yes. I felt nervous about why she
wanted to see me privately. I worried about
Lisa Lee an