|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
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?
This interactive article is closed to new input.
Discussions posted during the past year remain available for browsing.
CONTACT US
|
ADVERTISING INFO
© 1996-2013 Asian Media Group Inc
No part of the contents of this site may be reproduced without prior written permission.
|
|
|
|
WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:10:39 PM)
finally something thought provoking,
1st off yes and NO, my reason being is Asian women have more choices in being able to choose who they want to marry outside of Asian men and generally another stereotype; traditionally Asian women are to settle down & start a family with few career ambitions; whereas Asian men are almost committed to sustaining the Asian patriarchy ( whereas women are liberated from it, finding new voice and freedom in America, men are threatened by the loss of tradition and voice in society.) Men in Asian culture are generally heirs and pillars of the family so it's almost expected of them to carry on the lineage/tradition, whereas let's say some guy wanted to date a black woman, they'd stereotype him as not making it, something being messed up with him, even if she was a professional woman like a lawyer or judge, so all these new problems of racial hiearchy in America are stacked up and equally taken into consideration as an Asian guy's motives for marrying non-Asians. It's sad, they usually condemn the guy for being messed up, not smart enough to marry an Asian wife, or perhaps they even evaluate his success in America by what race he ends up marrying ( if he's living in a decent black neighborhood or the white suburbs.) Some very important issues for those "liberated" Asian women in America, just because you've escaped the confines of the Confucian partriarchy doesn't mean that America will give you any more freedom if the stereotype is that Asian women are promiscus and submissive to men. Afterall that's the expectation white guys have in marrying Asian women, is finding a woman that knows how to treat a man, massage him, fetch his slippers, and all the other "wifely duties." Another reason why I don't think Asian women have it any easier is even if they marrying a white guy, the husbands culture is generally the one that dominates in the household and this greatly determines what culture you teach your kids, although I know some cases where the house is fairly equally decided but in-laws can also show resentment to the Asian wife's culture. This has been a very trying subject, even in deciding which race I'm better suited for marriage. Usually I question the intentions of the Asian women that pursue me, or the whites. It's frustrating, even if they are exceptionally beautiful, I question what they find in me and their reasons. If she's Asian does she see me as a white guy with money and power, and if she's white does she see me as something exotic and will she see me as a person. Usually the trend for outward marriage is unequally distributed among women since they say it's based on hegemony ( marrying up into the racial hiearchy, assimilating.) Another sad reason why I think Asian women don't have it made, is there's such an emphasis on Western beauty that often this is very self-destructive to those individuals and their own self of ethnic beauty and self-worth are potentially destroyed. In a nation that defines women by her cup-size, Asian women are constantly trying to make themselves more visible even at the cost of destroying their ethnic features. It's a sad reminder of the only Asian woman I went w/ was a VNamese girl who thought I'd like her more if she got a nose-job, sadly enough I was repulsed to see how little self-esteem she had and shortly after she got picked up by some Asian guys who go for Western noses, heheh. As a minority activist it hurts me terribly to see Asians are perhaps more judgmental about appearance infront of other Asians. As a culture, many have adopted materialism and pop-culture with little or no understand of their Asian heritage give for those things that are popular in America( usually the stereotyped things, carryout boxes w/ fortune cookies, and martial arts,) since those are the things that America has defined as being acceptably Asian and many Asians would rather present themselves as American than Asian for fear of being look down on as just coming here. I wish more Asians engaged themselves in forums such as this, yes we have some prominent celebrities in our culture but honestly those people are the most detached from being Asian, if anything they're seen as token Asians in Hollywood, necessary props, It can be safely assumed that many of them are perhaps compromising their identity as American and less with the Asian community; honestly if they really viewed themselves as minorities and advocated issues in the Asian community they'd never make it. Really you don't have to be a racists to make a statement that this society is colorblind, generally Asians have been taught to stay out of pulbic debate and just accept things the way they are. It's sad how white/black politics masks the issues in other minority communities and how many Asians feel powerless to engage in arguing back. Generally I wouldn't stay too long on a site like this, it only reminds me of the homogeneity in the Asian community( inclusive nature, as well as white community) as though they don't have the confidence w/out their big cars and luxurious assets to make a statement, so they creep back to this little niche and hold whisper sessions, why can't Asians and whites have more dialogue between our communities. Don't they know that the only thing that will change popular stereotypes are from associating with members of the other race on the same level as them and having positive experiences. If both races constantly hide from eat other, then the only information they hear is stereotypes and all they feel towards the outside world is insecurity. I used to say that the reason whites and Asians don't hug family members/etc often enough is because both races are particularly judgmental. But I have no choice but to embrace both my cultures, since I honestly don't understand the concept of hate from the racial point of view, that's an environmental influence. Even as I grew up my experiences can be summed up as being bittersweet in both communities, since we were treated as though we were outcast. I stopped hating, even though I hated the stares people gave my father and perhaps as a young child I picked up on these racial intonations to the point I didn't accept my father in public. But as I studied other Amerasians, I saw how whether this model was predominantly white or predominantly Asian it would be re-enacted the same so why should I have to pick a race to identify with. I'm the one who has the overriding ability to access both worlds why stay secluded when diversity is my birthright. I used to hate whites, and view them like most minorities with strong suspicion and like they were a bigger fish and would swallow my cultural identity, but these things I never really knew either since I was raised in the white community, this was just learned behavior from the black community when I went to high school in the inner city. As I studied Eurasians and Amerasians, I for the most part opened up to whites, I saw how they were just as equally victims of racism in this case and how I shouldn't have to be made to chose a parent I like more based on the racial acceptance. There's nothing wrong with my parents, it's this damn society that can't accept that there isn't some inequality behind a white man marrying an Asian woman. I want to abolish the stereotypes that Amerasian/Eurasian children are the result of unequality status b/w whites and Asians. In fact the interracial literature I've read recently draws a very connection between intermarriage and education. So most Asians/Whites that have the same level of education or similar career ambitions are the ones who have cut through the illusion of race in America. As for those ones that don't make up that statistic, DAMN YOU, u just fucked up. My personal mission is to dissolve the stigma born to Amer/Eurasian that we are a reminder of inequality during from war and prostitution, I can ensure myself this by attacking militarized prostitution at Army bases throughout Asia. I am working with the Amerasian School in Japan. After I saw "Miss Saigon" I was shaken, all I could think was if soldiers get deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan/ Middle East and they pleasure themselves with local women of those countries then history will perhaps repeat itself with the biggest paternity case. Those areas are far more anti-American now than even post-war Southeast Asia for children of servicemen to be abandoned to that region would make another generation of mixed breeds suffer what the fate of the last group. I sometimes wonder what kind of relationships would have existed if America had won the VN War, would it just be another S. Korea, would it be America's concubine. Why S. Korea would think its a better opportunity to bring in foreign money and help foster good relationships with their U.S. allies. Why don't they see U.S. presence in their own country as a mockery of their own ability to rule as a sovereign nation ( neo-imperialism.) America basically took over the industry of comfort women that Japan ran before it was defeated. well, I've run a tangent...I just wonder if anybody replies to these. Perhaps I've just learned to reason outside of one school of thought growing up between culture, eavesdropping on even on the more racist conversation, taken for a complete idiot, all these things have contributed vastly to my insight, sometimes I still go unannounce since I do like to know how people think about Asians. I'll go about as if I were interviewing them, asking them key question, unknowing that I'm half-Asian or half-white, and I would get down to how people really think when they think there's no minority or white within listening distance. People often feel betrayed when they discover I've sat through their racial gossip and they're surprised I wasn't offended. I tell them I was once that way too, I believed everything I heard since I didn't have any real experience with people outside of my racial group at the time. By knowing an exception to their stereotypes, then people will change, since if they really value your friendship they would get defensive if somebody was talking derogatory about your race. I have many students and I how to enlighten others. Amerasians have suffered much at the hands of both Asian and American society, and there is a lesson that whites can learn about this blind hate and it's effect on innocents since whites are so seldom victoms of racism themselves, Amerasians were the case that made me change my whole attitude towards my father and other whites. But the more accounts I read of Asian women and their Amerasian children the more I cried and the less I hated, my tears swoll my heart with compassion and tolerance. Now I only try to relay the message to my half brothers and sisters in both communities to understand. Only then would they share the reality I live in.
DustChild
johnpaul-hornbeck@uiowa.edu
Wednesday, October 30, 2002 at 23:14:39 (PST)
[128.255.52.162]
Everyone does not get an easy ride in this country. We are all equal and been through rough and good times all together as AMERICANS. This is no easy task for anybody but we all made it. Asain women are in the same category with everyone in this country. I don't think one side's been through more than the other, we have all been through our days.
Amen!!
pastor
Tuesday, October 15, 2002 at 09:12:22 (PDT)
[162.83.147.228]
Political Observer,
"No, asian women don't get an easy ride here in america."
Wassup.. just got back from long day out and saw your post and I had to comment. lol
Yes, you are right about this. But.. you can say this to almost anyone living in this country. It's for sure that asian men aren't getting an easy ride here either. We have to work our way to the top, at the same time, facing tremendous pressure from society and asian women marrying out [not that it matters anyway lol]. Now this is not an easy ride for us [AM], but we still made it some how.
Azn-Pride
Thursday, October 03, 2002 at 08:16:56 (PDT)
[162.83.150.234]
No, asian women don't get an easy ride here in america.
A buddy of mine recently left a small south bay area law enforcement agency to work for another police agency.
There was a sergeant in his former department who couldn't stand asians. When an asian woman got raped, he deliberately stalled the investigation and told officers on the scene not to call an ambulance. He was a vietnam veteran.
The incident was reported and the sergeant was reprimaned I believe, but he maintained his job and the incident was common knowledge in the department.
I couldn't believe what this guy did because I knew him on a casual basis. It blew me away that he kept his job.
Political Observer
Monday, September 30, 2002 at 14:18:00 (PDT)
[167.230.38.7]
truth,
A very interesting post. However, I have a hard time believing that this "study" wasn't already influenced in some way.
Please correct me in I'm wrong but you were trying to convey that there was some kind of universal standard for beauty in which most of the worlds population can identify with. That we're all perhaps in some way born with the ideal notions of beauty that’s encoded in our DNA.
A few things that I'd like to point out is this.
Firstly, you mentioned that the judges of these experiments were only allowed to use their own "personal standards of beauty and not to consider popular norms.". I question how that can be possible. How did they select their judges? What made them qualify to become judges? How were they already influenced in their culture? The countries of India, China, Brazil, and Bali are still influenced to a certain extent by Western media. Who do you suppose came up with the notion that Nordic whites are the most beautiful and threw that out to the world? I can guarantee it wasn't Blacks or Asians.
Second, how can you guarantee that the two scientists (Peter Frost and Pierre Van der Herghe who would fall into the category of Nordic whites) did not already draw their own conclusions to their experiments and influence the results in some way? I'm not saying that their results were fraudulent I’m merely pointing out a possibility that perhaps their conclusions might even be unconsciously persuaded.
Lastly, how did they obtain their data? Moving on I’d like to point out that a beautiful woman regardless of ethnic background would be considered over a less attractive woman in another background. In other words, if you show a picture to the judges with Halle Barry and on the other picture you show Richard Simmons in a dress. No matter what happens the judges are probably still going to pick Halle Barry…unless you from Scotland. Correct? Who’s to say that the woman on the left in picture one is EXACTLY as beautiful as he woman on the right in picture 2? This goes back to my second point. How do you know that they did not already consciously or unconsciously pick incredible WFs and not so incredible non-WFs? After all, that would be the only possible way of knowing which race of women is the most beautiful if they were all completely EQUAL in beauty. Since there is no way this can be achieved without overcoming point 1, 2, and 3 it’s would be next to impossible if not impossible. Developing a complete and total standard of beauty would somehow be influenced in one way or another.
Proud 2 b Azn (AM)
Sunday, September 22, 2002 at 15:35:02 (PDT)
[64.228.112.36]
NEWEST COMMENTS |
EARLIER COMMENTS
|