r/hapas

About

r/hapas is a subreddit in which multiracial Reddit users that have in common an Asian background share their stories, talk about themselves, their issues, experiences, families and related topics, such as hapa representation and reception in media. Originally created by Tenda Spencer as one of his main forums dedicated to bad-mouthing and shunning WMAF couples and their offsprings, the subreddit holds a commonly negative reputation and being labeled as an incel community.

Origin

Created on September 28th, 2014 by user hapa666^[1] (one of Tenda Spencer's many sockpuppet accounts), r/hapas' original description went as "A Subreddit devoted to providing a safe space for Eurasians to discuss the unique challenges of being children of White Fathers and Asian Mothers." On March 31st, 2017, Canadian YouTuber and political commentator Lauren Chen shared a screenshot of the subreddit's description (shown below), commenting "PSA: If you're looking for a dose of victimhood, racism & insecurity, I recommend r/hapas 🙃 Also, only white dad/Asian mom mixes welcome?".^[2]

Having received 110 likes in 4 years, Chen's tweet hinted at the subreddit's agenda while referencing that she's also a hapa, but with a white mother and an Asian father.^[3] The choice of the term "hapa" for the subreddit remains unknown, but what might have inspired Spencer to choose it are likely the works of American artist Kip Fulbeck like The Hapa Project,^[4] as well as the meetings and interviews with hapas by Japanese-American YouTuber Max D. Capo,^[5] which Spencer ironically referenced in one of his video titles.

History and highlights

Despite its blatant anti-WMAF narrative, the subreddit caught the attention of various hapa Redditors, who would occasionally post selfies. The selfies of users like SethKhan (shown below, left) and SinisterRoomba (shown below, right) were shared also on other websites, such as 4chan.^[6][7]

On August 8th, 2020, a pinned post by the moderators, asked the users of the subreddit to submit their selfies to r/HalfieSelfies.^[8] Under the username EurasianTiger (or "ET" in short), Spencer used the subreddit to promote several of his comics,^[9][10][11] and became widely known on lookism forums, 4chan, incel communities and spread his activity to more frequented websites, mainly Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. As some r/hapas user were reportedly banned from the subreddit for calling them out as toxic,^[12] "trying to promote less hate"^[13] or disagreeing with the moderators,^[14] some others created alternative subreddits, like r/Alt_Hapa,^[15] r/hapaworld^[16] and r/HandsoffHapas.^[17] Meanwhile, r/hapas started gaining a sudden spike in popularity, as well as obtaining its infamous reputation in the online community, gaining as far as 9,971,395 views reported on March 22nd, 2017.^[18] A series of Starter Packs, featuring r/hapas started appearing on Reddit and Imgur, mocking its userbase. On r/starterpacks, user EmailsfromPluto22 posted one on February 2nd, 2018, which received over 200 upvotes in 3 years^[19] (shown below, left). Another was posted by a deleted user on September 19th, 2018, and it recieved over 50 upvotes in 2 years^[20] (shown below, right).

On February 6th, 2018, on Chinese social network service Douban, user Udbaner and various r/hapa users contributed to the creation of a list containing the most notable WMAF and AMWF hapas, sorted by gender and chronological order of their births.^[21] Spencer inserted himself in the list as "EurasianTiger – Hapa awareness activist." even though he was doxxed several months prior. Many of the images posted in the subreddit were deleted over the course of the years, but a good number of them were archived on Pholder.^[22] Despite many offensive posts were deleted, several examples of r/hapas users insulting,^[23] labeling negatively,^[24] and organizing operations against WMAF couples and relationships^[25] can still be found in the subreddit. On August 17th, 2017, r/hapas earned its own page on the Incel Wiki.^[26] On May 2nd, 2019, Avazz user Persephone N. started a petition named "Get r/hapas investigated by reddit",^[27] claiming that the subreddit consisted of hundreds of fake accounts belonging to its creator. The petition recieved over 170 signs in 3 years. On January 26th, an anonymous user on the 4chan board /tv/ posted a collage of screenshots showing r/hapas users talking negatively against WMAF couples, mixed babies, creating hours-long videos about WMAF, expressing their dislike towards Caucasian features and similar talking points^[28] (shown, below). The collage has a yellow Wojak and a Poljak in it, likely implying that those in the subreddits were not actual hapas, but full-blooded Asians.

Several r/hapas users were found cross-posting in other Asian-centric subreddits, particularly r/aznidentity and r/AsianMasculinity,^[29] and writing a fake article, pretending to be an Asian woman.^[30] These antics made many from 4chan and Reddit hypothesize that the subreddit was frequented by a large number of full-blooded Asian identitarians pretending to be hapas in order to create negative material against WMAF relationships and families.^{[31][32][33][34][35]} A more recent subreddit named r/ToxicAMWF was created with the purpose of doing what r/hapas and r/aznidentity seemed to doing for several years, but towards AMWFs instead.^[36][37] The subreddit created a series of Starter Packs and images containing AMWF hapa criminals and couples (examples shown, below).

However, r/ToxicAMWF's public activity seemed to be short-lived, as it was set private after a few months and its posts were reposted on Imgur and archived on Pholder.^[38] Twitter users who claimed to be "hapa children of WMAF couples" that appeared to be throwaway accounts and never continued any activity^[39] raised suspicions on the activity surrounding this topic. A thread on lolcow.farm about the connections between r/hapas and other subreddits like r/aznidentity was created on June 20th, 2017. ^[40] In the thread, anonymous users highlighted a similar case in which a Medium writer named Angie Lee, who wrote a viral article about being a white supremacist Asian woman, was in reality wrote by an Asian male who promoted Asian masculinity on his connected Twitter account^[41][42] (shown, below).

As of currently, r/hapas has changed its descriptions and is seemingly frequented mainly by users who are aware of its reputation and are trying to renew it.^[43] A post made by user CDR40 on June 10th, 2021, talked about his disappointment in finding out that most of the subreddit's activity was negative and toxic, while he was instead looking for a place to be proud of his background with other hapas. The post recieved over 145 upvotes in 5 days.^[44]

On YouTube

On June 20th, 2017, a YouTuber named Quapanaut made a video in which he displayed in succession a high number of WMAF YouTube personalities, including some Blasians and Chindians with Asian mothers. The video is titled "Hapas: Our Dads are White and Our Moms are Asian" and by the end, it flashed the subreddit's name. The video received 39,000 views and 385 likes in 3 years.

On July 15, 2017, YouTuber TerryTV mentions r/hapas, and EurasianTiger in particular, insulting him. The video is named "I Got Roasted On Reddit For Being Half White" and it received 145,000 views and 11,000 likes in 3 years.

On December 31st, 2017, YouTuber clo5ure uploaded a video titled "My beef with r/hapas" in which he would mention the subreddit's bias against WMAF. The video received over 13,000 views and 265 likes in 3 years.

On February 24th, 2020, TEDx Talks uploaded the video "Why Mixed Race Babies Aren't The Answer To Racism | Annabelle Schmitt | TEDxPSU" featuring WMAF hapa Annabelle Schmitt on the topic of White Male Asian Female relationships. Schmitt mentions r/hapas as "incel for hapas" and discards their opinions. The video received over 16,000 views and 335 likes in 1 year.

Search Interest

External References