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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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Discussions posted during the past year remain available for browsing.
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:10:57 PM)
"typical" asian woman:
where are we livin? in reality. reality is filled with racism and sexism. I think what's frustrate a lot of am's here is how af don't seem to be aware of just how few wm are actually genuinely interest in you as a person and not as some easy submissive china doll. by the way these wm want you to think that they're unique non-racist men living in a non-sexist and non-racist world. people (example any dictator) or groups (example microsoft) in power always want you to believe that there's an equal and level playing field. it helps them to maintain power.
all the fighting pushes us away:
we're not going to say the things you want to hear. we're here to debate. tell you what we think and find out what you think. We're trying to define what the real problem is and figure out what we need to do to resolve it.
I haven't read one post from an am that states that af are materialistic, conceited, or inferior to white women.
I think the am here are trying to convince af that they may not be doing what is in their best interest when they abandon the asian culture and community and of course am's.
reality is suppose to bite!
Monday, June 03, 2002 at 10:45:35 (PDT)
to all the fighting pushes us away:
thank you! you're right. we need to stop bashing and blaming. it gets us nowhere. we need to work and support each other. the essay, Asian Woman's Burden on the homepage of goldsea is a very well-written and addresses this problem insightfully. let's not try to blame or find out who is more right or wrong. let's try to understand the other side because we are going to have to face society together.
AAM
Monday, June 03, 2002 at 06:43:18 (PDT)
So Researcher,
we meet again.....most of what you say is a bit hard to follow but i take your point about geography.....it all gets a bit hard coz i travel so much (10 countries in the last 10 months)....for yes a US company.....when i write reports for my boss in philly i have to change my spelling from UK (ie correct) to the US variety......it's called assimilation - maybe you should try it some time!
maxdacat
Monday, June 03, 2002 at 03:48:20 (PDT)
all the fighting pushes us away,
I hope you took a moment to take a deep breath and relax for a minute after that post. I can understand where your coming from. AF have basically been hit by both sides. Where I'm from it's a small percentage of AF that date WM. Yet the AM that I'm around all the time keep concentrating on that small number until it gets to the point where they think it's rampant. I for one could careless who anyone dates. In fact I'll go so far as to say that it's a healthy thing in that it allows ppl of all cultures to understand each other better. Please don't fall for the same trap and take the words and actions of the minority for the majority. I really hope that you could take a step back and see that not all AM feel the way you've described.
Take care,
Proud 2 b Azn
Sunday, June 02, 2002 at 19:23:03 (PDT)
<<"don't mean to labour a point but you seem to have a chip on your shoulder about lack of asian representation in the media.....i gotta fall back on some old cliches but it would seem to come with the territory (of being a minority)....if you can't handle the heat get out of the kitchen."
Of being a minority...well, may be the whites who complain about Affirmitive Action or too many Asians in UCLA and Berkely should get out of California. It is the whites who have chip on the shoulders and have reputation of distorting the reality. Being in the majority does not give one the right to lie. Portraying AA women as what they are not is a lie.>>
AMEN!
Asian Dominatrix
Sunday, June 02, 2002 at 09:41:50 (PDT)
All the fighting pushes us away,
Yes, yes, yes! I've seen enough of AF bashing on Goldsea from both WFs and AMs and some WMs (particularly that "(Door) Mat" Richardson), altho' I will hasten to add--in order not for certain fools to take it the wrong way, that--that I don't mean all or even most WFs and AMs, but a certain number of them. (Unless, of course, it's the same cowardly person posting under different handles, wanting others to believe that his/her half-educated opinions are shared by others.)
Now what fools am I talking about? I mean the fools on this site who go about claiming that WFs are superior in every way to AFs. Much of it reconstructs negative stereotypes about AFs: If a WF is well-educated, she is "intelligent", if a AF is well-educated, she is a "geek." If a WF is expensively dressed, she is "elegant and stylish"; whereas if an AF is equally expensively dressed, she is "materialistic and status-conscious." Etc.
It's the same double-speak applied to WMs and AMs. If a WM is caring, he is called "sensitive," if a AM is caring, he is called "gay." And if a WM is assertive, he is "courageous," while an AM who is assertive is called "foolhardy." You get the picture.
But, of course, those who go about bashing AF's say more about themselves than they do about AF's. They are the ones who believe at least at some subconscious level that whites are superior and that they should have the best that America, if not the world, has to offer. This is why when an AF DARES to defend herself or other AFs on this site, she is immediately branded a "racist."
Researcher,
I'm going to repeat what someone else has said and suggest that you become a journalist. Spread the truth, gal! Don't let the fools get you down!!
I'm just sorry that it's such an uphill battle. That it's s-o-o-o difficult for some of the peeps here to understand that as much as we Asians turn away from the media, others who are not insulted by it--mostly whites and some blacks--continue to absorb much of the anti-Asian bias and perpetuate discrimination against Asians.
Now, I've said this before but I'm going to say it again, since most people here don't seem to have a clue that media DOES matter. If there hadn't been so much negative reporting about the Japanese auto industry and "Japs taking over the (white) world," maybe, just maybe, Vincent Chin wouldn't have been killed. And it's not just the dumb white trash too uneduated to think for themselves who buy into it: there are LOTS of these same fools--albeit with college degrees and what-not, sitting in boardrooms, think-tanks, enjoying tenured positions at prestigious universities, etc. who continue to keep the glass ceiling in tact.
So, keep on keepin' on!
Asian Dominatrix
Sunday, June 02, 2002 at 09:39:00 (PDT)
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