I am going viral...
Addressing cultural insensitivities of Queer Eye, advice to my former self, queer media on the rise, programmed bias, and a podcast on happiness
Hi friend!
It’s been one week in my new apartment, a few weeks into finding a freelance role, and a little over a month here in NYC. Everything is slowly coming together as I start to situate myself here in the city.
First, I want to share with you something urgent that could use all the support I can get.
I recently published an article on Medium addressing the cultural insensitivities of the latest season of Queer Eye Japan. Highly encourage you to read it, and if you are compelled to share, please do. Together we can create the social velocity and get this content in front of Netflix, Queer Eye, and the cast.
I share on my Instagram why I created this article. In short, I wish this was the advice I got coming out. For the longest time, I shunned my conservative Asian roots to find the queer liberation I dreamed of. But in that, I developed a lot of internalized racism and self-hate.
Culture and identity is not something to "fix". Rather, they are paradoxes to navigate through. Liberation is not a destination, but the journey itself.
And lastly, I published my latest episode of Yellow Glitter - Defying filial piety and Asian parental expectations in career and in life. Lots of insights from my life journey, ditching my career to be a doctor, and the dire consequences of not following our heart’s calling. (Also on Google Podcast, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Overcast, and TuneIn)
Queer media on the rise
GLAAD called the TV industry to do a better job with LGBTQ+ representation and called for 10% by 2020. Yesterday, it released a report saying the industry delivered with 10.2%. Intersectional content is great for diversity, and it also performs well too.
When we lack diversity
David Heinemeier Hansson opened up an Apple Card with his wife using the same information from their joint accounts and got 20x the credit limit. Steve Wozniak - 10x the limit of his wife. One of the reasons? Bias developed into the programmatic logic.
When we hire people that look exactly like ourselves, we risk building products that amplify our invisible biases. Not only is this with the Apple Card, but it’s also a part of the social media platforms we use every day. It's time to do better.
The happiness podcast
Dr. Laurie Santos, a Yale professor who teaches the popular The Science of Well Being course, just recently launched a podcast called The Happiness Lab. Each episode, she dives into an aspect of our emotional psyche and shares insightful stories and science related to the episode's theme. It’s so well-produced and I binged on the entire season episodes this past week.
As always, thanks for reading!
P.S. If you enjoyed this, share or sign up here: mindfulmoments.substack.com
Anything else? You can always hit "reply" to email me directly. 💌
Have a beautiful day!
Metta (loving-kindness),
Steven
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