The 8Asians Writers Talk About: Asians and Swim Goggles

Our internal e-mail lists have us discussing all kinds of stuff: Asian American identity, representation in the media, the experiences of activism in an academia setting and its progression as we transition to the working, adult world. And sometimes, we talk about swim goggles and the Asians who love to wear them.

Jozjozjoz: Anyone want [to blog] this? Made in America.
Efren: weird… I’ve actually never had a problem with swimming goggles even though I have the requisite Asian slanty eyes. Maybe the reader hasn’t noticed that a lot of the top swimmers in the world are Asian, and who don’t need “special goggles” for their eyes… Or maybe she never learned how to adjust the eyes so that it does fit her eyes perfectly… Okay, maybe I should turn off the snarkiness for a bit…
Bo: No, I was thinking the same thing, Efren. I don’t usually have problems with goggles. However, I do feel for the writer. I’ve got the most asian of asian feet. Short and really wide. Trying to cram my size 6, double wide feet into Italian made shoes is an exercise in torture. However, I discovered my paradise last time I was in Thailand. All the shoes fit me perfectly. Short and wide. I think I bought about 5 pairs. Same thing in Korea.
Christine: I’ve resolved that I must make a lot of money so I can go and shop in Asia … or at least scrummage through the Asian stores here to find clothes that fit me properly. I found heaven when on a whim I bought a regular Tee shirt from Japan and put it on. Angels sang from the heavens as I discovered that that which I was missing in my wardrobe – clothes that actually fit. I shopped like crazy on YesStyle.com when the loonie was on par with the greenback.
Ben: Funny. I’ve never had any issues with any of it, from goggles to shoes. Course, I’m a little big bigger than ya’ll. haha.
Rick: This reminds of my experience trying out my new sprint goggles for swimming my laps. It would seem to fit well when I first put it on but once I start doing my laps, I noticed that water would trickle into one of the lenses. Not enough to completely fill it but I would have to stop every now and then to take it out. I couldn’t figure out why it was doing this. The thought of me having more of an Asian facial structure which may not been compatible with the sprint goggles came to mind for a while. But it was just a thought and generally sprint goggles are different from regular goggles, they’re smaller (but still very round). I’ve not had problems with other types of goggles though.

Other Asian swimmers: what say you?

(Flickr photo credit: jmurawski)