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GOLDSEA |
ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Are AA Women the Real Victims of Prejudice?
sian women get a free ride at the expense of Asian men. That's the received wisdom here in the U.S. This belief appears premised on the suspicion that American society sees Asian women as sexy exotics in need of rescuing from the cold clutches of Asian men who don't know how to smile except evilly.
The real victim?
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Credit Hollywood for its tireless casting of Asian women as sexual accessories to white heroes while suppressing the very existence of Asian men except as unsavory paper tigers. Credit too the TV networks that uncover bevies of talking Asian women but rarely their male counterparts.
In fairness this media fantasy of the Asian race was partly inspired by recent history. Devastated and impoverished Asian nations sent tens of thousands of war brides and orphans, followed by several million desperate immigrants willing to hock their identities while toiling to build new lives.
Male-dominated societies toast new women as exotic sexual prospects while suppressing new men as an exploitable lower class or even enemy aliens. The women get all the breaks and the men get all the lumps. Even worse, the women have their heads turned and adopt a scornful attitude toward their own men. So goes the complaint of some AA men.
The women have a different take. Sexual predators bearing insulting stereotypes must be fended off while coping with women who see them as unfair competitors. Add to that the pain of being scorned as sellouts by AA men for no more reason than their apparent welcome by American society. Worst of all, complain AA women, is being begrudged the right to take simple pleasure in their own identities. How much easier just to face straightforward racial prejudice!
Do Asian women really have an easier time in America? Or do they suffer from the double-whammy of insulting stereotypes from non-Asians and unfair persecution from Asian men?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Wednesday, Jan 22, 2025, 06:38:55 AM)
Asian Female Perspective,
Wow, what a post!
About the deprecation of AF's in media: you seem to be one of the very few posters who's pointed out the fact that AFs are just about as equally victimized as Asian men. If Asian men are made to look weaker and dumber than white men, the same applies to Asian women in comparison to white women. In other words, we're all still riding like Rosa Parks at the back of the media bus!
You have to understand that a number of whites--mind you, not ALL--are not comfortable unless Asians and other ethnic minorities are made to look second best. It's not enough that Asian women in particular are made to appear backwards and submissive in contradiction with current Western ideals, but that we should ALSO be made to look less intelligent and less attractive than white females.
Just consider some of the whites (or those who claim to be white) at Goldsea, for instance. Whenever a WF makes some statement about feeling superior to AFs and AFs attempt to vindicate themselves, AFs get criticized for it: in fact, this has happened to me a few times, partly cos' there are so many idiots who mistake "MANY" whites for "ALL" whites.
It's as tho' it's a crime to claim that Asian women can be AT LEAST AS physically attractive, intelligent, educated, etc., etc., as white women and that somehow a celebration of Asian beauty and brains is a denigration of white beauty and brains. In fact, it's a heinous crime to say "yes, there are tall, gorgeous women like Andrea Jung with Ivy degrees who also happen to be successful, stylish, elegant, etc."
Or maybe it's just a simplistic Western "us" vs. "them" mentality as in "Axis of Evil"? (Altho' of course it is this "simplistic" mentality that has led the West to its evils of slavery and imperialism.)
At any rate, the fact is that in having made to look inferior to white women nearly all the time in the entertainment world, Asian women are as much victimized as Asian men. If Madame Butterfly or Miss Saigon don't get dumped for white women, then it's Asian women who are made to look less attractive and clever as in the MTV ad and the "Strong Medicine" show that you pointed out.
That's because the white media wants Asians and other ethnic minority on BOTTOM. To vindicate white superiority so that they and their own kind will be guaranteed the best service, the promotions, and the best positions in society. You will almost never find an ad or show featuring a tall, very attractive Asian woman with degrees from Yale and Harvard striding confidently through a boardroom or even a model-like Asian woman entering a club and having heads turn to look at her admiringly. You will never find fashion spreads featuring an Asian woman standing amongst white men staring at her beauty just you like you see plenty of comparable ads of white women standing amongst non-white men. (One ugly white fashion editor didn't want a pic of Naomi Campbell in such a pose because "it makes black women look too powerful." )Just like you will never see a tall, studly Asian man admired by all. No, the celebration of beauty and brains is saved for WHITES ONLY.
The fact is, we Asians need to put our energies into fighting all negative Asian portrayals instead of fighting amongst ourselves as to who has gotten the bigger share of the white man's media pie. The fact is, the white fatcat producer is only going to devour the pigeon pie and leave some of the crusts for the white woman after he's done belching. The rest of us will have to lick up the stale crumbs on the plate.
Let's not be fighting over them: let's put our energies into making our own phoenix pie and see it rise into the sky!
Asian Dominatrix
Thursday, May 16, 2002 at 08:52:59 (PDT)
AFP,
a very sensible, well worded post....what sort of courses did you do in college?....who studies hollywood in college anyway...sounz like fun!?.....did they tell you that the film industry marginalises everyone in it anyway.
i don't worry too much about lack of Asians in hollywood coz i can always watch a real asian film if i want....the quality is usually better anyway......look at how jackie chan has gone downhill since cracking the US market.....compare something like Mr Chan & lady rose to rush hour which denigrates both blacks & asians
maxdacat
Thursday, May 16, 2002 at 05:02:32 (PDT)
Asian Female Perspective:
Your points are well taken.
About Asian men preferring white women: you may have AM friends who prefer white women, but please be assured that they are the exception rather than the norm. The only reason you see so much WF preference on the message boards is that the message boards are separated by topic--as a result, the relative few AM interested in WF gravitate towards those boards and tend to be the only ones who gravitate towards those boards. If you don't believe me, go visit the expatriate residential areas in Asia. There are tons of WFs there, many of whom would be considered above average in looks, but almost all of them find themselves home on weekends, dateless. These women complain about their loneliness and desperation, but they have nowhere to go, mostly because AMs love their AFs.
Now about the AF issue: we don't disagree with AFs on everything, but we (and I think this "we" should include both Asian men and Asian women) need to defend AMs when certain AFs speak out against us or disrespect us or our race. Understand that AMs are a minority in this country. Not only do we face prejudice from white people, but many many AFs attack us through both their words and their actions. You say that many AFs love AMs, but the fact is that a majority of AFs born in this country marry white men, not Asian men, (see works by Larry Shinagawa or that famous book by Phoebe Eng), and many refuse to consider anyone who isn't white. We walk down the street and see that almost all the AFs in AF/WM pick the ugliest, least attractive, and (when you talk to them) the least intellectually gifted white men. Meanwhile these same women sit around talking about how proud they are of their culture. It reeks of hypocrisy. Young Asian boys grow up seeing this behavior, which is why they learn to distrust Asian women. Of course not all Asian women are like this, but a disproportionately large number are.
When AMs play geeky roles, we do attack them. Check out manaa.org. We attack them like crazy. AMs don't get flack for playing opposite WFs, only because the media has emasculated us to the point that we celebrate any kind of assertion of humanity. But I think I agree with you--it would be nice to see them playing opposite AFs.
Spirit and Light
Wednesday, May 15, 2002 at 20:20:51 (PDT)
to Asian Female Perspective
YES! Couldn't have said it any better myself. Kudos for your observations, and I second your opinions with much enthusiasm. I've been kicking a few of these ignorant AM butts around Goldsea for so long now just to get them to understand this, and here you have wrapped all of my sentiments into one eloquent post.
If only there were more women like you, bravely standing up and supporting our AMs--in the face of such negative stereotyping of the AMs that would make a weaker woman cringe--we as a group would be a force to be reckoned with.
If we, as AFs don't publicly show our loyal support and love for our men, who do you think will? Certainly not the non-Asian communities, who use all of us Asians as comic relief or villains to be conquered by Whites. I think that not only do we have to have Asian Pride in ourselves, we also have show that we are proud of our men and what they have accomplished here, as a minority group, faced with plenty of opposition.
And you know what, it's not just for our AMs. It's for our successive younger generations growing up here in the US, who desperately need positive reinforcement and images by leading-edged adults (like us) so that they will be able to feel pride in themselves (as well as their Asian peers) and not feel the need to whitewash themselves to fit in with the "in-crowd" and to distance themselves from their "un-cool" Asian peers.
OK, so now, the AFs have a more positive image. Well, what the hell are we waiting for! We need to use this positive image and spread it out to our men by supporting them and giving encouragement and to love them, in full public view! I would even venture to toss out my old-fashioned prudish hesitation for "public displays of affection" if it would help our cause. After all, how can AMs continue to be bashed if all the AFs (who are already a coveted image in the White world) are in love with them and are FLAUNTING it in public?!?
One last thing. The AMs here who are bashing us need to be informed of their lack of understanding of what the average AF must endure even as she continues the fight for justice alongside her AM. Talk about lack of empathy for your sexual counterpart. Love must be a give and take thing. It's just too exhausting to give without being given anything back in return, so please do us a favor and...love us back just as vehemently as we love you.
MLK
Wednesday, May 15, 2002 at 15:40:09 (PDT)
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