"Asian Fit" Glasses

Interesting and thought-provoking perspective of an Asian adoptive parent with an adopted child from Taiwan -- keep reading and you'll get to the part about glasses:

I still belong to some adoption groups, and usually ignore the emails flying back and forth, but happened to read one recently that totally got my back up. An AP wrote something about how it took forever to find glasses that would fit her newly adopted older children “because the bridges of their noses are so flat. OK, nonexistent.” In a follow-up email she referred to her son’s chin as “the biggest protrusion on his face.” Who says things like that? A non-minority who is so secure in how people should look. But based on other things she says, it seems she really is trying. Still, I wish she would watch how she says things about her children. These are kids who now live with white people in a super white area who stand out because they look different from everyone else around them and they don’t need their white parents to say shit like that.

I have to say again that I don’t consider myself an angry Asian (though lately I’ve been thinking I might be a closet angry Asian). But it really bothers me to know that around the country, there are a ton of Asian children who were adopted by people like the AP mentioned above, or worse. How many APs are not even on these forums at least trying to talk about racial issues? How many of them don’t think about or care about the loss of their children’s cultural identity? Who think the best way to deal with racism towards their children is to ignore it? Given the number of adopted children from Taiwan, and the number of APs in my forums, I’d have to say a lot of APs out there just don’t care and don’t make it a priority. That bothers me a lot.

But I get why they don’t. Being a parent is hard enough to begin with without throwing all that other stuff in. To quote myself from my more clueless days, “People who adopt just want a baby to love. They don’t want to join a crusade.” So yeah, I get that – but I’ve changed my mind. Now I think if you do plan to adopt a child that is of a different race than you, then you have a duty to educate yourself and them about their birth culture, and expose them to the food, people, and language of that culture. And not say shit about their flat noses.

I agree that saying shit about your child's Asian features is out of bounds.  And there are lines of glasses designed for better fit for Asian features -- like this company, for example, which explains why "fit" is different for many Asians:

Most of the eyewear products available are tailored for Caucasian features. As Asian facial characteristics are different than those of Caucasians, it’s no wonder Asians have scarce choices of eyewear products that fit them properly. Asians have higher cheekbones and lower nose bridges, so the hunt for the right eyewear could be a frustrating experience.

After almost two years of trial and error, the TC Charton eyewear collection is ready to offer optical frames and sunglasses that will truly fit Asian features. While no Asians have the same head sizes and nose bridges, all of TC Charton eyewear models offer the following components that will address the common needs of Asian features.

•Less front curvatures
•Narrower distance between the lenses
•Extra long pad arms for the metal models so one can easily adjust the desired distance and height of the nose pads
•Extra high and pronounced nose pads in all plastic models so the frames can sit properly on the bridge and will not slide down or sit on the cheeks.

But what about this post, titled Oakley "Asian Fit" Sunglasses: Offensive, or Brilliant?:

I recently learned about Oakley's Asian Fit sunglasses, and initially, I was a little offended, because the implications of making an Asian Fit mean that the "normal" fit would be Caucasian, and once again heteronormativity is portrayed as a white male, while everyone else is labeled as "other." Or in other words, everyone who is not white is seen as a freak (Am I reading too deep? Perhaps, but if you get offended and can't realize why, it probably boils down to something along these lines.). Even though I think they should call it something else like "Class A" fit or whatever, once I put aside my initial reaction, I decided it was brilliant. Eyewear should be made to fit everyone well, and I hope the trend spreads to everyday glasses.

So what do you think of "Asian fit" glasses -- offensive or brilliant?