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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, 06:10:47 PM)
Man I am so sick of stereotypes... I barely know any AFs or Ams like that mentioned here who hate and/or ashamed their race thank goodness! I am a 16-year-old Filipina who lives in an all-white community but I'm not anti-Asian or anti-white or anything like that all! I am totally in touch with my roots, I love being Filipino, I even make visits to the Philippines whenever I can and stand for me and other people who are Filipino! I don't see any other race as inferior or superior than any other, I judge more on the person and their character/personality and not their race! This really bugs me that there is such ignorance but anyway, I'm living proof of an Asian-American who lives in all-Caucasian but still is in touch with her roots and doesn't look down on other Filipinos, etc. Ignorance and racism are taught, it's not some personality trait conjured up by genes now is it?
Pinay in Cali
Thursday, July 04, 2002 at 20:20:20 (PDT)
Asian Dominatrix:
I know you've mentioned this before, but how tall are you, and how much do you weigh? Just curious...
Curious
Thursday, July 04, 2002 at 18:53:09 (PDT)
Maxdacat,
Your example of the Asian girl being overshadowed by the white girl is exactly what I'm talking about. There was one commercial from Oil of Olay a few years back which showed women from around the world using Olay. I noticed that the clip for the Asian woman was not only the shortest, but even cut entirely in another showing of the same commercial. The racist s***s!
I don't know if you're a cat lover, but it's kinda like when cats always take second place to dogs and are nearly always portrayed as evil and shifty in contrast to the dog. But that's material for another post!
Strength in Numbers,
"AM's should take heed and support their AA sisters...If one group goes down, we all go down."
Yes, that is SO true! Ever notice, BTW, how some AMs on this site defend WFs who diss AFs? Can you say SELL-OUT? Now, I don't have problems with AMs preferring WFs because love is love and no one owns anybody, but why do those AMs feel they have to support WFs AT THE EXPENSE of their own sisters?? Yoiu know the ones I'm talking about:? the ones who make fun of AFs for being "short-legged, flatchested, etc." even tho' only a certain no. of AFs have those traits.
Similarly, I have little respect for the WM who uniformly disses his white sisters as "fat, hairy, etc."--which I see every once in a while on other sites. After all, how can you love another woman when you diss your own mother and sisters??
As for the subject of feeling threatened, I do think that some WFs--certainly not all--resent blacks and Asians pursuing professional careers. And when they see Asian women dating/marrying white men--"their" men--they get even more resentful. How dare Asian women take their jobs and their men?? Because these women are taught from an early age--ESPECIALLY if they're uppermiddle class and above--that they are "Daddy's little princess" and everything they want is everything they get, they get even more P.O'd. I have noticed for the most part that when white women stare at me, it's usually the conservative and usually better dressed ones, not the casual ones: you know, the rich bitch who thinks that only whites deserve to be well dressed. (I.e., it's OK for a blonde to be toting a Burberry's or LV bag while chatting on a cellphone, while an AF who does the same is materialistic and ANNOYING!)
Liberal white women tend not to behave in so immature a manner. When I attend huge Democrat rallies, I do not encounter any of these privileged assholes. Or if they are privileged, they at least have been brought up properly and have REAL manners.(True ladies!)
t.b.,
I've encountered ethnic minority girls who diss their own kind, but it's not like boys are completely innocent either!
One of my cousins used to get bullied by his classmates (partly because he skipped 2 grades). Interestingly enough, one of his worst bullies was another Asian boy. My cousin told me how he heard a white boy saying "look at the chink beating up another chink."
So to you Asians dissing other Asians to please whites: get real! No one is going to take you for being white! You'll only be laughed at all the more for denying your identity.
Asian Dominatrix
Thursday, July 04, 2002 at 08:41:11 (PDT)
TO A NEW DAY COMING: I would just ask you to please give SPECIFIC EXAMPLES of how whites in your area have relegated Asians to "inferior status".
I am *NOT* talking about giving a bunch of generalities or a rant about nebulous social stigmatization and marginalization. I am asking for the specific ways the whites in your area have placed asians in an inferior status. Please give concrete examples and situations.
I would contend, that if you CANNOT give specific examples of this, then it's "all in your head" and you have a chip on your shoulder, i.e. a "persecution/victim complex".
By the way, I am white and my wife is African American.
DC Guy
Wednesday, July 03, 2002 at 23:50:25 (PDT)
blah,
IF you go to Hawaii, just hang out at the tourist beaches and never get off the tour bus unless you are told to. That way they (Hawaiians) can leach your money and you won't have to run into the locals.
Show me the MONEY!!!!!!
Wednesday, July 03, 2002 at 22:06:58 (PDT)
I am an Asian American (of Chinese extraction) 27 year old woman and I am fed up with this "victim mentality" I see in AA women today here in the US. Why do so many AA women (and men, sometimes) focus on how supposedly "discriminated against" we are, how white culture "oppresses" us, etc. All these AAs who feel like that, who really feel ungrateful for everything America has provided us, and who think we're victims (and complain about whites all the time) should just GET A LIFE!!
The US is simply the fairest, most decent country on Earth, and yet minority groups like we Asian Americans like to whine and complain about how we're supposedly "oppressed". Well, the real deal, people is that the only TRULY oppressed people in the USA have been African Americans, and Native Americans, and that's IT. PERIOD!!
So, all you AA people out there who suffer from this victim mentality should just get a grip and look at how the US provides freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, free enterprise, etc. whereas many countries in East Asia (with the obvious exception of Japan) do not provide these things. Would these AA people here in the US, who complain so much, rather live in those countries and experience the oppression there? If they did live there, would they complain about it so harshly? And, if American white people lived in those countries, wouldn't THEY be discriminated against by Asian Bigots??
It's well known that in CHINA, black African university students studying there have been viciously and savagely attacked by groups of Chinese youths. Some have been murdered. WHY? because they are black, and many, many, many Chinese people in China are totally ignorant, and even hateful, towards Black people!!
So, my fellow Asians! Let's get off this never-ending politically correct "high horse" we're on and stop complaining about the alleged discrimination and atrocities against us perpetrated by white America!!
WE ARE NOT VICTIMS!! The ONLY racial groups in the USA which have been true victims are African Americans and Native Americans!!
CLT
Wednesday, July 03, 2002 at 21:05:00 (PDT)
Hi J.Chang:
I don't think you're totally wrong when you say: "And when some Asian men manage to rise above their average race brethren, some of them exact revenge by dating white and then openly go out of their way to disparage Asian women." But are you being racist yourself by implying that the "average" race brethren cannot be attractive to non-Asian women. What do you mean "rise" above their brethren, that he is better looking or rich or has a phd from Harvard?
And I would think they would be the least likely to "exact revenge" as they are the least likely to suffer from a desire to get "revenge" against Asian females by dating white women. Sure, desire is a lot more complicated and interesting than simply love at first sight...but don't assume that most Asian men who date a white women do this from a shattered ego desiring revenge. Again, I would think those who do this would be the least likely to suffer from such a fragile and despicable hurt ego.
Anyways, read what other people write...dating can be but certainly is not most of the time about revenge or compulsion or whatever...sure there is the girl who wants to get revenge against her daddy by dating the bad boy or sleeping around but to say that most or all females are like that is to betray little knowledge of females or dating.
Again, to say that you should appreciate their "unique perspectives on life"--what you're talking about is their experience with racism. If you think you should date someone because they similarly understand and sympathize with racism then it's understandable...but to ascribe a certain "worldview"--a goodeldy-gook, meaningless abstraction--you're just doing the same thing that people do when they say the Asian "mind" is this, is "effeminate" or "conformist"--simplistic jargon that is used to oppress Asians more than to uplift them.
Anyways, again read what I write, my talk of Asian beauty was in the context of talking about the power of media images to basically determine young minds' idealizations of beauty and then to compare it to the reality. People who believe they are free and creative and free spirits or whatever--wake up...
AsianThoughts
Wednesday, July 03, 2002 at 20:15:56 (PDT)
"glad that you like your non-Asian women, but your life will be much richer if you learn to appreciate Asian women not only for their outer beauty but for their unique perspectives on life. In many ways, Asian female individuals have worldviews that it is impossible for white or black women to even conceive, worldviews that complement the modern Asian man."
Seven percent of American women have a passport...and of that a staggering 75% are Asian American women. No wonder they have a world view that is impossible for white or black women to conceive.
State Department
Wednesday, July 03, 2002 at 12:53:36 (PDT)
"Most Asians that left their home country came here for money!"
Everyone came here for money.
"I am black this is not just my observation other blacks, whites and latinos believe the same thing. You guys need some real asian pride."
We minorities need to stick together but we dont.
"You need to exposes your culture to mainstream America not to the whites you fawn after."
Very true!
"If asians would exposed both the good and bad in their culture it would humanize them in the eyes of blacks, whites and latinos."
But, let us face it...blacks have not been yet humanized in the eyes of the white people at least here in the South.
"The Jews had the same problem! Hitler didn't like the Jews because he felt they were superior!"
The blacks in this country have a different problem...many whites dont like the jews because they feel that they are inferior.
"He believed they were a threat, they were mysterious, they were perceived as smart, rich and cheats!"
Many whites believe that the blacks are a physical threat, they are perceived as not very sharp, poor and potential carjackers!
"Who does thet sound like also! So after the WW2 the Jews did some major P.R. work and they got a country from it!"
Asians have several countries...so the comparison is mute.
Look here pal...we minorities need to stick together...otherwise the whites would continue to dominate us.
Asian
Wednesday, July 03, 2002 at 12:50:39 (PDT)
Mr Holley:
"Most Asians that left their home country came here for money!"
My Viet friends would disagree with your statement. They didn't come here to strike it rich, they were escaping from the Communists. Just thought I'd share because some people don't know that.
Asian Domin:
I suppose it is annoying to read negative posts. It really does leave a sour feeling in one's gut.
Anyway, last night I ran into a friend of mine, a WM, whom I haven't seen in a while, and he had gotten married. He said that he went online to an Asian women dating service, and that's where he met his wife, who is Filipino. He met her twice in person before getting married, and then she moved here. I've seen ads for sites like that on the internet, and I don't know what to make of the whole thing. Seems like an awfully long way to go to find a spouse.
What do people think about AF dating services? Has anyone here met their spouse through one?
previously wary wf
Wednesday, July 03, 2002 at 10:24:07 (PDT)
Asian Dom:
Commercials for cosmetics in which I've seen Beautiful Asian women along with other ethnicities:
Maybelline Diamond Lipstisck--Asian cutie modelling a purple shade of sparkly lipstick
Féria Hair Color: Asian woman shaking a long head of black hair with reddish brown highlights
L'Oreal for kids Shampoo: Cute asian girl shown washing her hair and it quickly drying
Open Brand Hair Color: Asian woman with black hair and reddish brown highlights being the main model featured with wind billowing out her long locks and a serene smile on her pretty oval face
Maybelline Nailpolish: one of the models was a cute Asian girl modelling a glittery purple shiny nail polish
These commercials were observed on MTV, the WB, FOX, and on ABC. They were advertised during Road Rules, Smallville, Dark Angel and The Mole: the next betrayal.
I guess you haven't seen them yet, but they are getting heavy rotation on shows aimed at men and women under 25.
TV Watcha
Wednesday, July 03, 2002 at 08:09:11 (PDT)
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