![]() ![]() It’s part of a pattern that repeatedly occurs with Asian Americans, a tendency to create all-encompassing narratives in the hopes of finding a common identity. There is a consistent focus on aesthetics, lifestyle, and what to drink (boba). Back then, people would just randomly approach you over anything.”Įven though ABGs - as these women prove - have been around since the 90s, the term only began surfacing in the past decade a Google search will lead to listicles and videos like 15 Things ABGs Know All Too Well, 24 Hour ABG Transformation, or 18 Types of Asian Girls. “We never started anything, but if anyone had a problem with us we defended ourselves. My coworkers recalled fights they used to get into at clubs and parties. Hence, Asian Baby Gangsters sprang up as a way to gain social capital, a familiar teenage defence mechanism to fit in and advance themselves within their communities. If you weren’t ‘hanging out’ with a gang you were a total dork. He would give ten years for a burglary charge and a lot of the bigger members got life, so after they cleaned up my generation was full of wannabe gangsters. Jennie Kan, another member of the group, chimed in: “The Chinatown gangs were really active in the 80s, until Giuliani locked everyone up. Asian girls at the time were either seen as nerdy or gangster.” The majority of us wore black, and hairspray and Sun In to lighten our hair was trendy. We listened to a lot of hip-hop, then trance music came later. Mabel Szeto, who is rumoured to be the fiercest of the crew, said “there was definitely an Asian party scene, with promoters like Genasia and KM Productions, mostly in Midtown or out in Queens. With their thin, tattooed eyebrows, fashionable clothing, and ombréd hair, they were some of the original ABGs. They grew up in the greater New York area, in Queens, Chinatown, Jersey City, and the Lower East Side, and entertained the younger servers with stories about their youth. While working at a restaurant, I met a group of women coworkers who had been friends since their high school days in the 90s. Before staking a claim on the label, I wanted to better understand its origins and how the cultural trend developed. Today, some are ‘reclaiming’ the label, capitalising on the ABG hashtag on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, while others make long posts about how the term should be retired, its original meaning warped beyond recognition by ignorant teens. It’s a vague and blanketing thing as an easy to reach joke it is prevalent, with the punchline often leveraged against women. Some Asians will become sharply defensive if they are associated with the term. Despite the glamour, ABGs today are generally regarded with negative connotations, similar to the Valley Girl or dumb blonde stereotype. They attended every rave (and posted it on Instagram afterwards, naturally). The ABGs had navel piercings and rose tattoos and perfectly filled-in eyebrows with an effortless fade. At my predominantly Asian high school in the early 2010s, every grade level seemed to have its own ABG clique.
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