‘Are you mixed?’ Filipino American discusses the hierarchy of beauty in the Philippines: ‘To look mixed has become better than full’
Following a recent trip to the Philippines, a Filipino American woman is discussing the reactions she received from locals after revealing that she isn’t mixed race.
On July 19, Krystl Fabella (@filipinaontherise), a Filipino American creator, posted a video on TikTok in which she addressed a common question she gets when she’s in the Philippines.
“So one of the biggest questions I’ve gotten here in the Philippines is, ‘Are you full Filipina?'” she says, adding that this has been asked on “five separate occasions by random people.”
The question has been posed while she’s at a salon or when she’s being introduced to someone new.
“You know, we’ll talk for a bit and then the interesting part is they’ll say, ‘Are you mixed?’ Like, they’ll assume. And I’ll say loud and proud, ‘No, I’m full Filipina,'” she says. “And their response has, like, an excitement about it…This one young girl, her eyes lit up and she looked at her friend really excited like, ‘Oh, you’re full!'”
What especially stands out is the surprise at her being “so pretty” as a full Filipina that follows.
“And then it was this last part that really gets to me: ‘Oh, but you’re so pretty,'” she says. “It’s the ‘Oh, but’ for me.”
In their article, “Phenotypic Bias and Ethnic Identity in Filipino Americans,” published in the National Library of Medicine in 2009, Lisa Kiang and David Takeuchi report that “light skin tone is associated with privilege.”
“Despite the range of phenotypic characteristics available to the Filipino culture, the virtues of Western European values and standards of appearance were emphasized early in the country’s history. The Philippines were first colonized in 1521, under the influence of Spain,” write Kiang and Takeuchi. “Darker skin tone and more ethnic features were thus expected to predict lower income and more physical and mental health concerns in Filipino Americans.”
Fabella posits potential explanations for why other full Filipinos have the reactions they do upon finding out she’s also full Filipino.
“Maybe because I’m Filipino American, I sound American, but that doesn’t really make sense,” she explains. “Next theory [is] it might be a natural reaction of a people having so much of their representation of ‘Filipino looks’ being that of mixed. This is shoved down their throat.”
Filipina journalist Jen Laforteza further discusses the prevalence of mixed or half Filipina women representing the country on a global scale in a piece she wrote for Justice For All, a human rights journal.
“It doesn’t get more obvious than the Miss World Philippines beauty pageant, which has fervent followers and is nationally broadcasted,” she writes. “Seven out of the last ten winners are half-white, with the other three either having lighter skin or Eurocentric features.”
These types of interactions, says Fabella, has made her recognize the country’s hierarchy of beauty, and how this effects mixed versus full Filipinos.
“Now, to be mixed, to look mixed has become better than full,” she says, noting that there’s a history of Filipino women or men who are described as being ‘mestiza’ or ‘mestizo,’ that is, having Spanish origin as a result of Spanish colonization. “But, yo, it was the excitement for me. Like, they were just so excited hear, ‘full blood, full Filipina.'”
‘The Filipino beauty standard has been influenced by Spanish & U.S. colonization. We are still reckoning with that part of our history.’
Some Filipino Americans who identify as both full and mixed have spoken up in Fabella’s comments section.
“You look Filipina to me & there’s nothing wrong with that. The ones who do have a problem w/ it have internal issues abt race. Nothing to do with you,” @dianewil_chookland wrote.
“And then if you are mixed, you aren’t ‘really Filipino.’ You can’t win either way,” @mal.dragon1208 commented.
“I get this often,” @extracurricularethics replied. “The Filipino beauty standard has been influenced by Spanish & U.S. colonization. We are still reckoning with that part of our history.”
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