An Asian American girl puts on false eyelashes for the first time. Suddenly, she enters the realm of “ABG” or “Asian Baby Girl,” a growing racial and gendered cultural label that relies heavily on the aesthetic of false lashes, dyed hair, boba tea, and club culture. Often used in a light-hearted manner on social media, the term carries deeper historical weight. The ABG aesthetic represents a hybridized identity that deliberately strays from Asian beauty standards, instead drawing from Eurocentric ideals and elements from Black and Brown cultures.
Originating in the 1980s, the term “ABG” referred to Asian American women in gang culture and represented an outlet in which Asian American youth tried to build their own identity among American culture. The term specifically emerged from Asian American street culture among urban areas in California among Vietnamese-Americans, Chinese Americans, and Filipino-American communities.
The ABG term fights back against the decades-long stereotype of Asian-American women as the submissive “Lotus Blossom.” This stereotype was forced on Asian women after World War II, labeling them as obedient, sexually passive, innocent, and dependent on men. White men specifically have used this stereotype to treat Asian women as passive objects to fetishize. Even today, yellow fever is common across America, with white men targeting Asian women to date just for the excitement of “exoticism.” Combined with the Model Minority Myth, the Lotus Blossom stereotype traps Asian-American women in an identity of passiveness.
The term ABG rejects that completely. Instead, ABGs are seen to be usually very social, showing an easy confidence that stands in sharp contrast with the quiet attitudes of previous stereotypes. Traditional Asian values discourage or look down on activities like vaping or underage drinking, but the rise of the ABG has made this risky yet exciting lifestyle something young people want. ABGs dating outside their race, especially dating non-Asian men of color, is also a clear change from the previous generation of Asians. ABGs also represent a new kind of Asian-American beauty standard. Their false eyelashes and smoky eyeshadow match Western beauty trends more than Eastern ones, and their fashion choices and colored hair can shock traditional Asian mothers. Generally, they are seen as sexually attractive by men, and because of this, many young Asian American women have said they want an “ABG makeover.”
The ABG, although created by Asian Americans to reject ideas of being passive and submissive, now must fight being seen as unintelligent and uneducated. The stereotype has traded the high-achieving and submissive “nerd” for the party-loving yet “dumb blonde” type. This shift shows how Asian American women continue to remain stuck between competing stereotypes.
By taking on this look, the ABG must also deal with fetishization and gender roles placed on them by both Asian and non-Asian men. While the ABG aesthetic moves away from the submissive Lotus Blossom stereotype, it creates a new category for objectification—one that trades being seen as docile for being seen as hypersexual by those who consume the image without understanding its cultural meaning.
Ultimately, the ABG is both wanted and rejected in an ironic cycle. The appeal of the ABG is in its ability to provide a clear identity that challenges traditional Asian American stereotypes. However, by taking on this look, the ABG itself becomes a new stereotype to overcome.
It’s hard to call the ABG an identity when it’s more of a persona that Asian American women put on to express themselves. The label is something seen from the outside and worn in the ongoing process of figuring out what it means to be an Asian American woman in modern America.
