The recent shooting in which a white man shot and killed 6 Asian women and 2 others in Atlanta, Georgia finally awoke America to the longstanding discriminatory practices against Asians. While deeply tragic, this shooting did not seem to surprise the Asian American community, as hate crimes against Asians have sharply increased during the Covid-19 era. However, this hate crime differs from others, as it stems from an even more pervasive and dangerous narrative revolving around Asian American women.
The root cause of this heinous hate crime cannot be attributed to the shooter having a “bad day,” as the sheriff in charge of the case put it, but rather, the shooter’s misogynistic, racist views, which prompted him to see these 6 women as mere “temptations.” How did this happen? What forces drove him to think this way?
Unfortunately, his view of Asian women as exotic sex objects is not an isolated case. This fetishization of Asian women has been perpetuated by Hollywood and the media, leading to phrases such as “yellow fever” gradually becoming part of the public lexicon—films such as Miss Saigon, Tales of a Geisha, and Kill Bill cemented the stereotype of Asian women as exotic, docile sex icons. These movies, alongside many others, helped to solidify the “dragon lady” or “oriental femme fetale” trope in which these women are characterized as submissive, enticing, or willing to use their sexuality to manipulate others, specifically white men characterized as innocent and good-natured. On the flip side to this trope, the growing emergence of the “Asian schoolgirl” trope portrays Asian women, especially young teenagers, as shy, innocent, vulnerable sexual fantasies. The rising popularity of anime has normalized the outward fetishization of female characters and the packaging of misogynistic views about women as mere sexual preferences based on race. The rise in this fetish’s popularity highlights the uncomfortable and demeaning power imbalances, both in race and gender, within our society.
The real-life ramifications of these tropes are staggering: since the beginning of March 2020, over 3800 hate crimes have been reported to Stop AAPI Hate, of which over 70% were reported by women. Over 3 in 10 Asian Americans have reported being subjected to various racist and sexist slurs. Within the workforce, despite Asian Americans representing around 27% of professionals, they only hold 1.5% of executive positions; thus highlighting the false narrative of the model minority myth and the actual prevalence of the bamboo ceiling. Due to the intersection between racial and gendered stereotypes, Asian women in the professional workplace are presented with an even more challenging dichotomy-- if they express their opinions strongly and brashly, they are seen as difficult, aggressive, and overbearing “Dragon Ladies,” but if they remain reserved they are seen as shy, obedient, worker-bee type “China Dolls.” This dichotomy put Asian women in a uniquely difficult position that hinders them from gaining managerial positions in the workforce.
However, despite the media’s past bigoted portrayal of Asian women, we can still effectively curb the false stereotype with more complete, dynamic portrayals of Asian women. Movies such as Mulan and Crazy Rich Asians directly oppose the hackneyed, degrading portrayal of Asian women. These box office successes will hopefully inspire media companies to tell more stories featuring complex, three-dimensional Asian American characters who offer more to the big screen than their sex appeal. We can see this trend already happening. Farewell, directed by Lulu Wang and starring Awkwafina, details the story of a Chinese-American woman from New York who visits her extended family in China for the first time. The movie’s refreshing take on Chinese culture and its commentary of the ever-changing identity of Asian American women garnered the movie much commercial and critical success and even helped Awkwafina win a Golden Globe Award for best actress. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before tells the story of a high school romance between a teenage girl and the classic high school jock. This classic Netflix rom-com gave the lead female role, traditionally saved for white women, to Lana Condor, an Asian American woman. Both the movies Farewell and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before show Asian women as they really are -- complex, three-dimensional human beings. Only through more of these accurate depictions of Asian women can we correct misguided, dangerous stereotypes about Asians. Hopefully, the current increased attention placed on Asian American issues will help bring about actual change, so that we will finally get to see Asian women accurately represented on the big screen, and prevent tragedies such as the one in Atlanta from happening in the future.
Bibliography:
Kramer, Andie. “Why Asian-American Women Aren't Advancing into Senior Leadership Positions.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 22 Jan. 2020, www.forbes.com/sites/andiekramer/2020/01/22/why-asian-american-women-arent-advancing-into-senior-leadership-positions/?sh=b2289b873d25.
“The Leadership Representation Ceiling for Asian Americans.”Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 27 May 2020, www.bloomberg.com/company/stories/the-leadership-representation-ceiling-for-asian-americans/
Gupta, Alisha Haridasani. “Tales of Racism and Sexism, From 3 Leading Asian-American Women.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/us/racism-sexism-asian-american-women.html.