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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
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:11:00 PM)
Asian Female Perspective:
Thank you for your post. I appreciate your honesty and am glad that you are on our side.
Several quibbles:
"It's like we're all blamed for something a small number does." Yes, but that small number gets the lion's share of the press and attention. Asian men do not even get the scraps from the table, which makes it all the more important that what precious few media figures we have be positive.
"AF don't chastise their Asian brothers for dating non-Asians." Actually, some do. While I'm glad to hear that the majority prefer AM, I have heard quite a bit of resentment from AF who are upset when they see AM-WF couples, including my own sister. I'm sure if the power dynamics were reversed, we'd hear more grumbling from AF. But this is a minor point.
"Please stop hating every AF actress who play roles oppositing non-Asian men in the media."
Right; we shouldn't blame the actress per se, but the producers who constantly focus on the WM-AF cliche. Why are there so many AF-WM news anchors? But Long-Duk Dong WAS criticized, and many AM feel that the actor WAS selling out, just as they criticized actor Steve Park's portrayal of a weak, insecure Asian Man in "Fargo." We SHOULD criticize those roles while being aware that options for actors are limited. It's nice to know that better roles are coming out for As AMs, male and female, but I think we shoudl still criticize ALL roles that denigrate us, whether it be Long Duck Dong, or the Joy Luck Club.
But in the end, you make very good points that we shouldn't be fighting with each other, and I respect that. Thanks again and hopefully we can continue to work with each other, not against each other.
PBC
Friday, May 24, 2002 at 14:38:15 (PDT)
Yes you are blind:
Hitler was dumb, you are blind, I can see: Jews are white...dont bother me with the aryan/semitic divide. jews are white, and so are many lebanese and iranian (rudi bakhtiar of cnn). all i see is white. may be you need glasses.
Far Sighted
Friday, May 24, 2002 at 11:52:21 (PDT)
Researcher,
I think what you wrote was great! I find that whenever an Asian stands up for him or herself in response to racism, the majority gets all angry. This website caters to Asians because we have very few places to speak our minds. White people can hear a lot of their voices and see their ideas just by turning on the TV or watching a movie or seeing an advertisement. I know that not all white people's views are reflected in the media and that's for sure. But at least whites can relate to it in some way shape or form. Most of us Asians can't and a lot of what we see just bashes us. So we come in here to speak our minds. But whenever we stand up for ourselves (such as saying we are smart or good at something and that the media is wrong) we get bashed. If we can't have a little pride in here where else are we going to have it? It sure isn't going to come from the white owned media.
Applauds Researcher
Friday, May 24, 2002 at 08:54:11 (PDT)
No, I don't know all AF's in the entire country, that would be impossible, but I live in a large city where this a very big asian population, and I see AF's every single day, and quite a few of them are like that. That is just my opinion, correct or incorrect.
I don't send out unintentional impressions that seem offensive, I'm not even sure what you mean by that. I am a quiet, non assuming person that doesn't feel the need to be either gregarious and charming or snobby and conceited when I'm in public.
Also I was never brought up to be gregarious and loud and to speak to strangers, I was also brought up to be elegant and exude self-confidence, but not in a snobby way.
wf
Friday, May 24, 2002 at 08:48:35 (PDT)
WF in Georgia,
The media executives are the ones who tell the public that racism happens in films and television "because it caters to the white majority." They say that all the time to justify the bad things they do. Your arguments mirror their arguments almost exactly. Though there is much truth to their excuses, it does not explain the countless inconsistencies. If you keep repeating their excuses, you are only protecting them. You are only helping them by spreading and reinforcing their ideas.
It is understandable that you took "Catering the Majority's" post very personally since you are Jewish. But personal biases and anger aside, what he wrote was a very insightful argument. He points out something that many people do not see because the media executives' justifications seem to "make much sense." If you keep drowning out his arguments with faulty information, you are only protecting your own agenda (and the media executives) at other people's expense. In essence you become part of the problem.
The Rickster
Friday, May 24, 2002 at 08:35:12 (PDT)
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