Is it racist to refer to someone from Asia as an "Oriental" rather than "Asian"?

Question

When I was a child, people from Asia were routinely called Orientals and there was no slight or disrespect suggested by the common use of the term. "Orientals" were simply people from the Orient. Now, it seems that many young people in the US think that calling these people "Orientals" is racist and we all need to be indoctrinated into the current PC thinking.
I asked my girlfriend what she thinks and she doesn't think the word "Oriental" is racist at all. What do you think?

JCrockett · Accepted Answer

It's just one of those words that people decided was offensive just because it's old. Period didn't mean it pejoratively then and they don't mean it pejoratively now, but it's cool to be a victim so blah blah blah oriental is racist now.

noohair · Accepted Answer

The word has gone out of favor. The word police at it again.

ChrisMaster69 · Answer

One of this problems is the use of the word Asian

in the UK it pretty much refers to Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi

people will then refer to Chinese, Japanese as countries

if I was to say we were going to an Asian restaurant and went to a Chinese, everyone would be confused and disappointed having expected curry.

A Wiki example.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asians_in_the_United_Kingdom

While it’s since changed the reference was originally
Quote:
East Asians in the United Kingdom are East Asians living in the United Kingdom. They have been present in the country since the 17th century and primarily originate from countries such as China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. They are called "East Asian" or "Oriental", although – dependent upon the context – the use of the term "Oriental" might be considered by some to be derogatory or offensive.[6][7] In the 2001 British census, the term Chinese or Other is used.
unquote.

DJB72 · Answer

There are terms I'd describe as offensive that are generic used as slang for people from the Asian continent, but "Oriental" isn't one of them any more than "African" is when describing a person whose origins are in Africa or "European" for someone from Europe.

I think as a society we need to get our collective heads out of our collective assholes over the whole "offensive" issue. I live in South Africa, a country that still has deep wounds over genuinely offensive behaviours and policies in recent years. My wife's family have used offensive racial slurs do describe me without recognising that as a white man I can be offended dexactly the way that they would be if I used "k****r" to describe them. It hasn't happened I nearly twenty years now since I pointed out how genuinely offensive it was that way. If someone used the "k" word Or "n" word to describe my wife then we would have a problem. But Western Society be to lead the way out of the snowflake culture it's become before we all suffocate in the shit we find ourselves in inevitably when our heads are up our collective backsides

jeffnevrotski · Answer

Now its these questions that feed into the bullshit. Any word could be defined as racist in one persons mind. In philadelphia we played a game called chinc at recess and after school was it racist? Not in the least bit it was basically poor mans racketball we used our hands and s pinple ball or raquetball and the first wall we could find. Chink was the sound the ball made when it hit that crack where the ground and wall meet. When you heard chhhink you earned bragging rights and won the game. I could go on but its the media who designed racism to sell. They are the only ones that keep it alive. It wouldn't exist if not for them. When i was a kid the only races we hated were the ones we ran and didn't win. there's no place for hate just because someone looks different we are all the same we all put our pants on the same way I'm no better than anyone else and neither are they. Its unfortunate that the media fuels it. Its ironic how the news makes a piece of shit iconic (floyd) he was no medwl citizen but if it was me on my knees executed by police , or if i was being choked and they knew i couldnt breath, or if u was in the cop car killed in the back seat with hams cuffed and locked behind me y'all wouldn't be losing any sleep bobody riot for meand thats a fact -burden- when the nat stats show more white people are shot by police than black people

Massageman · Answer

This is the sort of stuff that gives me a headache.

How many "official, non-offending" names/titles is someone supposed to track in their daily living? geesh. Actions speak louder than the words, anyway. If you treat someone with respect, these "approximated, blanket classifications" take on far less meaning.

Some food stores have "Oriental" and "Mexican" above those respective areas in their stores. Others have "Asian" and "Hispanic" in THEIR stores. Which is racist? None! As long as they have Sweet-sour sauce and Tortillas, I'm good.

BipBipLeddus · Answer

I've only ever heard someone refer to people as "orientals" in a hateful context, but the word itself carries no such meaning.

It's not racist. I'm an oriental Asian. Indians are Asians, but not oriental.

Asia is a big continent. India, the middle east, Russia, it's all Asia. The Orient is specifically the places that come to mind when you think "Asian": China, Vietnam, Korea, Mongolia, Japan, all the island countries, etc.

It just means "east of Europe"

NamerOfStars · Answer

"Orient" just means "east". That's why you look for the markers to "orient" a map- before the compass was discovered, many maps were oriented with East at the top. Referring to only one specific ethnic supergroup as "Asian" is considerably more racist, if anything is; Benjamin Netanyahu, Mohandas Gandhi, and Vladimir Putin are all Asians- and all *ethnic* Asians, at that- it's not just where they happen to live.

The one caveat is that the decision of what constitutes "the East" is ultimately kind of arbitrary; head East from Japan, and you'll hit the US. The only East pole humanity knows of is on another planet.

It's not something I'd worry about; generally, people who aren't offended on behalf of others will at least make an attempt to be polite in asking you not to refer to them in a specific way.

DeeDeeDeVour · Answer

Even though I was born in the USA to white American father, my physical features are extremely as I have taken much of my Filipino mother's physical genes. I have been often considered as "Oriental Asian" by people familiar enough to distinguish Asian women from eastern (oriental) Asia (including the southeast) from the rest of Asian women. It does not offend nor bother me if I am simply referred to as "Asian" instead of "Oriental" or "Oriental Asian" since that is also correct despite the fact that I am actually an "Asian American" which I should be categorized as.

While growing up in California, I was actually considered "Exotic Asian" or simply "Exotic" by some white, black, Hispanic and migrant European schoolmates. They'd insist they meant that as a compliment since they thought the essential meaning of exotic is "hot" and/or "unique" which I actually didn't mind either.

t-8900 · Answer

I've never understood WHY it would be racist anymore than calling myself white or something. It's a way to distinguish physical characteristics. I could say "oriental" or i could say "South East Asians" which is longer and still might not get across what I'm talking about to the uncultured masses. I can't even say "Desi" for West Asians because people in the USA have no idea what that means or might only thing it refers to people in India. It's annoying I live around a bunch of uncultured swine! XD

Bluemax · Answer

My wife, ethnically Korean, never thought the word "oriental" was racist.

I believe that *any* word that begins politely can become racist or insensitive as the next generation grows up. Witness when I was a boy that it was polite to use the word "negro" (Martin Luther King Jr. used it routinely). It was polite to use the term "black." Now African American is generally the only word not considered offensive to anyone.

curiosi_tea · Answer

I'm really uniformed on this, but "Asian" refers to people on/from the continent of Asia so I would assume that would be generally more liked, however many people only use it to describe people who could also be described as oriental, so I've heard of a lot of "oriental Asians" reclaiming that term.

LingyRolls · Answer

Considering Asians in Asia use the term oriental all over place, in going up say its not racist. Oriental Princess is a huge makeup brand. Oriental is everywhere over there. So if the people it applies to aren't offended, then self righteous white woke liberals shouldn't be offended either. I know they will be anyways because they LOVE to be offended... But they shouldn't be.

Apulu_3 · Answer

Eh but in my history book (As an Asian) it is said that the people who are interested in the culture of Asia and are willing to be a part of Asia are Orientalists. Whatever but how is this even racist? I mean me as an Asian didn't felt insulted or offended then why people of US are thinking it is racist? Someone please explain me from which point of view it became racist?

notwoke · Answer

all the girls in the pics are phenomenal looking. There's not a single woman of any other race that compare to any of them, not even close. (OOH that was not PC). I don't even try to keep up with what the snowflakes are offended by anymore, it changes everyday. I'm sure breathing air offends them.

TheorionMage · Answer

Is your ethnicity tracible back to Asia, China or Japan?
Were you BORN there despite your racial genome?
Then 'Orient'-al is a VALID descriptor.
If it LOOKS like a duck, ... quacks like a duck, and acts duck-like. Superficially, TREAT it like a duck.~

WonderBell99 · Answer

Are Indians classified under Asians as well? Some people argue that they are not.. while some say that they are. India is a subcontinent in Asia, so technically, Indians are Asians (South Asians, to be specific) I’m not sure if the term “Orientals” has derogatory connotations. I personally, am not offended by it at all, and do not think it’s racist.

I believe it all boils down to a person’s intentions.

NaultD · Answer

It's an outdated term to say the least. Even Asian is getting outdated anymore. The Asia content is as, if not more diverse as the European content.

The country of Ireland and Greece are very distinctive places. In the same way Mongolia is very different to Indonesia.

s10sleeper · Answer

calling someone Asian is technically saying what continent they are from. When you call them oriental, you are referring to people from the orient, which meant countries around China Korea japan etc. You can call people African and they could be white. They are all meant as terms of location of origination,

Stoner710 · Answer

Oriental tends to refer to eastern Asians like Korean China Japan Vietnam Cambodia and Malaysia and Indonesian and Filipino, Asian can refer to from Turkey all the way to Japan even Arabs could be considered Asian due to they’re on the continent of Asia

jshm2 · Answer

Black people were also lynched and called the N word, back in your day too. Get your head out your ass!

The "orient" is no more, just as the Soviets are no more. That side of he world is diversified and changed. Using old terminology just makes you look stupid.

HighValue · Answer

It's not racist. Oriental means what people regularly consider to be Asian because when people say "Asian" some people these days say they are also referring to Indians, etc. too, when people normally refer to them as middle Eastern. Oriental is just a term to be more specific, it isn't racist.

MoJoYoYo · Answer

I accidentally clicked the wrong vote :( No, it's not racist to call someone oriental. I absolutely hate it when people say that calling you certain things is racist. Yes, there are some things that you shouldn't call people of other races because it's disrespectful, but come on! Not everything is racist.

Lw85381 · Answer

I am "None of the above" choices. Oriental is simply an obsolete term today, but it wasn't 60 years ago. It's not racist and never was. I realize some of our younger (Gen Z types) may think it is racist, but they would be wrong. They haven't learned that "just because you think something is racist it is." The greater world does not give a damm what YOU think.

Exterminatore · Answer

Oriental was the term I grew up with. I do not see why this term is a cause for offense. The term Asian is misleading. Considering the Middle East is South West Asia…technically Arabs are Asian too. However when we say Asian we don’t mean Arabs, we mean oriental people.

I use the term Asian because it’s basically required, however I see no shame nor degradation attached to the word “oriental.”

ODC2112 · Answer

The term Asia derives from the Latin Asia and the Greek Ἀσία which in turn originate from the Akkadian asu, which indicated the east. Asia is the territory to the east of Greece. In fact, it originally indicated only the Anatolian peninsula.
So Asian and Oriental are synonymous.

annabananna · Answer

Whether it is racist is really what the intent on the person saying it is. I can’t recall anyone saying the word in a negative manner so I never thought of it as racist.

Anonymous · Answer

I’m Asian and I don’t think it’s racist but it’s not entirely correct either. For me Oriental = East Asians, so you’re basically leaving out the South East Asians people etc

007kingifrit · Answer

so quick history lesson.

500 years ago maps used to face east because we hadn't discovered magnetic north yet. so when you were trying to orient yourself you were trying to angle your map east... thus the word oriental was born.

it doesn't even refer to asia specifically, just east in general.

najekim · Answer

There are a lot of countries in Asia like Russia and India. Oriental narrows those ethnicities to sometimes called the East Orient (i. e., China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Mongolia, Laos) to help define them from other Asians.

AmandaYVR · Answer

'Oriental' used to be used in a disparaging way so I think that's why it's no longer pc or fashionable to use.
But I think it's merely a descriptor, without holding any judgment. I think it should have been assimilated and not replaced.

Anonymous · Answer

You know what. What is “racist” or not is really up to the person. There are some things like derogatory racial slurs that are obviously never acceptable any time or any where. However it would be like calling me a gringo in a latino country. Depending on the context and who it is it all depends.

Birdlegs · Answer

After looking it up Oriental is just the East while Occidental is the west so if someone thinks oriental is racist then they would have to think occidental is racist too which really just doesn’t make sense.

SaoirseS · Answer

It’s not racist and I’ve never considered it offensive. Neither does my mom.

Fireguy17 · Answer

There are so many rules now as to call who what names.
Many of them are constantly changing, it is so hard to keep up.
Why do we need labels to define us in the first place?
You are just a person like the rest of us.

Ccheeto99 · Answer

I think the main way the word oriental is used now is when describing an object. Oriental rug, oriental store full of oriental food and etc.. So when you call a person that, it just seems to objectify them and it sounds dehumanizing in that way. In this case, I’d just say to get with the times., I wasn’t around during the time when oriental was used to describe people, but the mainstream way the word is being used now has clearly been shifted.

humpbackjack · Answer

I don’t think that the majority of non Asians are meaning anything racial at all but a lot of Asians take it that way or are offended by it so I make a point never to use that word unless I’m referring to a product or area never a person

Lillie_xo · Answer

i mean i dont love being called oriental  just feels like I don't know but i dont know if calling it racist is too much

msc545 · Answer

Asians find it offensive, so I would take their word for it and never use the term at all. Also, it is seriously outdated.

ShaTTeredMasterpeace · Answer

So, for me it all depends on intentions. I personally do not use the word to reference them because it just sounds wrong to me.

MCheetah · Answer

Option B. I don't think it's racist, but I do think it's old-fashioned and a little cringey to hear nowadays.

Daniela1982 · Answer

Not every oriental is Asian such as Filipino and Dutch Indonesian to name a few. So I personally do not consider it racist,

TheBMG · Answer

I once worked with a woman who was Japanese American. She was born and raised in Hawaii. When I asked a question and used the term oriental she quickly corrected me. She’s said “Oriental is in reference to a rug, I’m not a rug.” So I chose not to use the term in relation to Asian culture. I don’t want to offend anyone.

DARKCLOUD1945X · Answer

Growing up in the 1950s I always was thaught and thought of people as people no one was called Black but Negro {1950s speak} Asian Wog {worthy Oriental Gentleman or Rice Burner} Native American { Red Skin Ect} a person walking down the stree was just that a person, times have changed and really not in a good way. I talk to people not their color or race.

Avicenna · Answer

Awesome pics of hot Asian women, Older. I don’t see anything racist about it, but in my lifetime they’ve always been referred to as Asians.

Lyndsielee666 · Answer

I’m Asian and don’t think it’s racist. Most definitely been called worse

Whiskeys1 · Answer

I just call her by her name like Rachel or whatever.

BCRanger10 · Answer

Politically incorrect, and possibly even insensitive? Sure. Racist? No.

KostasKouvalis · Answer

To the contrary, it's actually more accurate as "Asian" can technically apply to anyone from the Asian continent. They don't call North Africans, "Africans"

Shark_61695 · Answer

Hmm... is it racist to refer to someone as occidental? How about northern? I know it is insulting to call someone a southerner but is it racist? (Just kidding, you can't help where you are born)

htmndg183 · Answer

I don't know. In the UK, the ones from the far east are referred to as "oriental". The ones from the subcontinent are the ones referred to as Asians there. In reality, if you're from any part of Asia, you are Asian.

Grubhub · Answer

Not really. I get called racist when Insaw Asians a flat. They don’t have the bodies black, Brazilian or Hispanic women do. I’ve been called racist by Asian women for saying that. I love me a cutie with a booty

Guanfei · Answer

Technically no, for a westerner, Asians are orientals. It's just another way to say it, more general.
For example, I'm french. So I'm technically french, european, westerner, and you could find other words for it, none of them being racist.

Anonymous · Answer

both in its literature and the language of officialdom – has proved resistant to the use of this lexicon of acceptable terms, as exemplified by the portrayal of peoples as 'Oriental' and 'Negro'. What makes such language racist is the historical legacy it carries – that is, its symbolic importance. Survey evidence shows that the majority of those so described find the terms offensive. Countries have dealt with these linguistic issues in a variety of ways, including the use of the legislature and action by library associations and professional bodies in the USA. In Britain it has fallen upon the judiciary and universities to prohibit such terms. Given the momentum currently being achieved by public authorities in their response to race equality legislation

Leonharted · Answer

Don't know, don't care. I don't call them oriental anyways. "East Asian."

spartan55 · Answer

Yeah, racist or not, I'd just stay away from that one.

Better_off_here · Answer

either way, i think Asian woman are very attractive :)

Gwenhwyfar · Answer

This all goes back to Palestinian literary critic Edward Said’s essay on Orientalism

AviatorTom · Answer

IMHO, the term Oriental simply means "from the East", it's not racist.

Anzhus · Answer

But you know Asian may also refer to countries like India and Burma, Pakistan, Afghanistan etc right.

Anonymous · Answer

There's no difference between Orientals and Asians in US proved by all the pics. So not racist at all.

888theGreat · Answer

Whosit Game from 1970's , our family played this a lot. Notice Geisha Girl card.

Is it racist to refer to someone from Asia as an "Oriental" rather than "Asian"?

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