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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, 06:10:55 PM)
"Asian Dom-
You strike me as a little person stuck in your own little box with a distorted lens. The box is full of hatred of America, whites, the president, the media, etc etc. You need to get out more and stop ranting about every little thing. If you hate America so much then why do you live here?
PS Why did you choose a sign on name that means a woman that gets paid to beat up a man for his sexual pleasure??"
me
Me,
Oh boy, this is going to be so much fun. This is why I saved the "BEST" for last. You know, sweetheart, before you criticize, you might want to look in the mirror first.
Now, who's the "little person" in the "little box" INITIATING negative comments about Asian women ALL OVER Goldsea? Who is the person who claimed in the "Whiting Wongs" forum that white women were "better-dressed, better-educated, taller, well-travelled," etc. etc.? Who was the one criticizing AF weight in the weight forum because she's too FAT herself, both physically and egotistically? Who is the one presently attempting to claim in the Material Wealth forum that Asian women are more materialistic than white women? (This is just the least, BTW; you've disseminated your anti-AF propaganda just about everywhere here.) And don't hand me the rubbish that they're other me's, because the writing style and mode of "thought" is exactly the same.
As such, you could also use a little of your own advice, honey. Maybe you need to stop viewing others with a "distorted lens," "get out more" and "stop ranting" about Asian women. Maybe you need to quit thumbing through the pages of your vapid fashion magazines and quit seething over why Asian women wear a size 2 and why you never will. Maybe you need to read the news and analyze the media.
OK, maybe something like Foreign Affairs or even the New York Times is beyond your third-grade comprehension and analysis skills, but even if you were to read newspapers for the average plain Jane, you would know that while a majority is happy with the Bush administration--60-70%--not everyone is. Same goes for the state of affairs in this country. And that it's not just minorities who voice complaints, but whites as well--to whom, BTW, I know you would never ask "WHy do you live in the US if you don't like it so much?" People like YOU exemplify the narrow-minded, bigoted white one step removed from the KKK. Maybe you ought to go there instead of wasting your time on Goldsea and dissing Asians.
I chose my moniker because it was a play on a popular stereotype, albeit with a meaning twist. I don't take anyone's anti-Asian crap and if I have to whip the hell out of them to knock a little sense in to their P-sized, white-washed brains, that's what I'll do.
Meanwhile, I don't need to ask you why you chose your moniker, Me. It exemplifies you so perfectly: petty, narrow-minded, self-centered, self-obsessed, and very, very small.
How appropriate.
Asian Dominatrix
Thursday, June 06, 2002 at 09:35:41 (PDT)
"american media are due to white people in general and not related to the fact that the media anywhere is a money making machine."
It is due to white people in general. White people being in the majority drive the markets, and the media responds to this majority demand. The majority wants to see Asian women as whores, and so the media supplies. Never once have I argued that it is not a demand and supply phenomenon. The problem is with the people.
Researcher
Thursday, June 06, 2002 at 09:35:37 (PDT)
maxdacat,
Kudos to you! I'm glad you're seeing the point. This is the only way in which dialogue and harmony can begin to find a way thru this forum.
I suppose with the negativity flying around here--whites seeming defensive to Asian complaints (i.e., "Me's" comments are a great case in point) and Asians becoming impatient and hostile in reaction--it's easy to get the impression that we're blaming whites in general for the sad state of the media. Speaking for myself, I am not angry at all whites--since many openly ridicule the media, anyway--or even all whites in the media, but rather those who take advantage of their position as being the dominant members of society and continue to recycle negative stereotypes of Asians. (The recent Abercrappy and Fitch T-shirts are just one example.) The same goes for anyone in the corporate world and academia who seek only to protect white privileges.
Yes, we do understand the logic of the media as a money-making machine, but come on, don't they make enough from one movie--millions and millions--to sacrifice money for principle every once in a while? It's not like they're going to be down and out in Beverly Hills the minute they make a movie with a positively portrayed Asian even in a minor role!
As for Asians in Australia, this is kind of a leap in the dark, but I think the reason why they don't complain as much about the media as Asian-Americans is partly because, first of all, the role of media in the US is so much more hyped up. (If I'm not wrong, we're the ones who came up with the slogan of the 30-second sound-byte.) Next to Mammon, Media is God! Secondly, with Australia being more culturally like Britain than the US, there probably isn't as much a consciousness of equal rights and opportunity; the British women's movement, for instance, still lags behind ours. (I guess they're still slightly more hierarchical and deferential over there.)
So if you put the two together--that many Asians are both angered at the way they've been displaced in the real world and the world of media--you can begin to understand why some of us can easily express more outrage than we really mean to.
Asian Dominatrix
Thursday, June 06, 2002 at 08:54:29 (PDT)
Researcher,
I think we're talking about two different Richardsons. I was referring to the Matt Richardson on the gender divide forum here at Goldsea (hence the name--Doormat), not Bill Richardson.
Asian Dominatrix
Thursday, June 06, 2002 at 08:18:06 (PDT)
reality is supposed to bite!,
"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."
Those were your exact words. If I misunderstood your intentions then I apologize. However, can you see how that could be seen as being almost anti-AF and painting them as being sell-outs? Or even implying that AM are entitled to AF? You didn't state that you think IR dating is a good idea. You just gave the impression that if you IR date then your giving up your Asian identity. That's it, that's all.
As for the scolding remark...check the paragraph before it. I had stated that there indeed has been AF bashing on these forums as well as others. Since other AMs who have been bashing AFs read this post it was intented to be for their benefit.
Proud 2 b Azn
Thursday, June 06, 2002 at 07:13:29 (PDT)
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