Read selected responses to our survey on Asian women in U.S. media.
Age group Teen’s
“(My impression of Asian women is that) they are little sluts, hoes, bitches and all of that because they dress like school girls with the dress and the socks that go to your knees. And that they are hoes.”
(Female/15/Chicana)
“I would not like to see any images of Asian women on TV. When you put them on TV you create stereotypes. You create an image. Then that’s what everyone looks for when they meet an Asian woman. There is a Robert Townsend quote: ‘He who controls the images controls everything.’”
(Male/18/FIlipino)
“(Asian women) always look like hot school girl slaves, which, I feel is demeaning.”
(Male/17/White)
“Young Asian women have been assimilated into the mainstream of American culture serving as sex idols. They are depicted in sketchy clothing and are prized for their sensual exotic nature. It’s sort of disgusting if you ask me.”
(Male/17/White)
“Asian women are never really the FOCUS (of images); they are with the Black girls behind the Blonde girls.”
(Male/14/ White/Egyptian)
“Every time I hear about Asian girls I hear that they’re really freaky.”
(Female/14/White/Mexican/Italian/ Persian/Many more)
“Most Asian women on television to me almost look White.”
(Male/16/Black)
“These images of Asian women aren’t fair and add to the suppression of women.”
(Female/16/African American)
“The Asian women I usually see in entertainment are extremely feminine, sexually appealing, and give off a sort of wildly sexy American vibe…I’ve also noticed that Asian women in television and the movies seem a lot more ‘American’ than their (Asian) male counterparts. In the past few years, I don’t ever remember seeing an Asian female (under the age of 30) speak broken English on TV. On top of that Asian females are usually clinging on to white males.”
(Male/Korean/19)
“In American media, Asian women seem either dumb and submissive, or sexy and karate chopping! They are portayed as store owners, asking for their “fy dolla” or as Lucy Liu kung fu-ing action stars in skimpy clothes…I would rather see Asian or Asian-American women as they truly are. They don’t have to solve a math problem or get my chow mein; I want them to wear red flower printed silk dresses if they’d like or wear throw back jersey’s and air jordans. It’s all about what they want to do. I don’t want to get one perspective of them: as store clerks, action stars, or sex symbols, but as the diverse, cultural humans we all are. There ought to be multiple portrayals of their identities because some Asian women like hip-hop and some like Hong Kong pop!”
(Male/19/ African/Mexican/ Filipino/Native American)
“My impressions of the images of Asian women in U.S. movies, television, advertising, magazines, music videos, and web sites is that they are the basic stereotypical, and for the most part, false depictions of Asian women that out society has grown to accept. These images include the exotic dragon lady…and the submissive “oriental” girl who is in need of a good white man to save them…these images of Asian women do apply to some Asian women I’ve met in my life, but undoubtedly not to all. But it is interesting to note that the media has not only had an influence in the way Asian women are portrayed, but also in the way that Asian women portray themselves.”
(Male/19/Korean American)
“I would simply like to see Asian cast in a diversity of roles the way whites are. This would portray Asian women much more fairly in showing that they too have many aspects to their personalities.”
(Female/19/Indian American)
“I just wish that Asian women could play more NORMAL, everyday roles as HUMAN beings, instead of the eternal foreigner. Every Asian role is an ASIAN role. For once I’d just like to see an Asian woman playing a less race-oriented role, a role that a white woman could equally play.”
(Female/19/Korean American)
Age group 20’s
“As a young Asian American male, the extent to which I can identify with such images of Asian women remains very limited. However, I must admit that while many of these stereotypical images are imprecise in reflecting reality, at least they’re not disproportionately offensive when compared to other racial groups. Namely, I don’t think African American or Latino women have it any better. With the Connie Chung image, it’s the same problem the Model Minority stereotype presents: the problem isn’t our portrayal as being successful and ambitious, instead it distracts mainstream society from the real problems facing the Asian American community, and in this case, issues specific to Asian American women (i.e. domestic abuse, gender inequalities due to traditional cultural norms, etc.)…Moreover the exotic love interest is no more offensive than the way women iin general are typically portrayed in mainstream society as over-sexualized objects designed for gawking at. As a side note, I think this society is totally obsessed in using romantic relationships as answers to life’s most complicated questions: the romantic comedy has become the most popular religion in Ameica, a society where the consumer is the main hero; loneliness and boredom are his obstacles to freedom, enlightenment, and fulfillment; and romantic relationships therefore become the answer to all of life’s problems, providing passion, comfort, and purpose in spending all that money on clothes, bling, etc. Perhaps within this paradigm, there lies the explanation for why Asian women are portrayed the way they are; while the Connie Chung image promises a woman who can take care of a man financially and intellectually, the exotic sexpot promises spiritual and sexual fulfillment. Either way, however, she is designed to a man’s object of desire and by extension, reward and validation for all his struggles.”
(Male/Vietnamese/ 22)
“They should show more diversity. What I mean is that you mostly see a lot of Chinese, Japanese, or Koreans when there are a lot of other Asian voices out there with unique cultures to present.”
(Male/20/Filipino)
“I would like to see Asian women activist speaking out on television. It would be great to see someone who looks like me speak about issues in out community. We need a voice.”
(Female/20/Filipina)
“I’m not personally offended by the way Asian American women are portrayed; a bit disappointed, perhaps, because the world doesn’t see how amazing most Asian women are. But I must admit that I am more often annoyed that many of these female Asian characters often hook up with white guys in the movies at the expense of the Asian male. However, much of my frustration is attributed to 20-something stupid guy ego shit than to the politics of assimilation”
(Male/Vietnamese/ 22)
“I think Asian women are portrayed in a very exoticized manner especially in the music industry. New hip hop songs have taken advantage of the negative image of Asian women as purely sexual beings. I realy cannot identify with these portrayals at all…However, being a South Asian female, I think that images of South Asian women are not as prevalent as those of women of East Asian descent. Therefore, the negative images of Asian women do bother me greatly but because they do not overwhelmingly contain South Asian women, I feel a sense of security knowing that ‘my’ culture has not YET become a product of media forces.”
(Female/Punjabi/20)
(Response to question: What other images, if any, would you like to see of Asian women in the US media?) “Good girls who don’t date and live with their parents and who are afraid of sex because of the pain. Who have ‘boring’ lives and have ‘boring’ jobs. It’s more true than other images out there. Plus it’s funny because it’s true.”
(Female/27/ “Full-blooded Taiwanese”)
“As an Asian woman, none of [the stereotypical “Oriental”] images represent me in real life. While I, like most women, want to look attractive, I do not find the exotic Asian girl attractive. Like other scantily clad women with too much make-up and flat-ironed hair, she is obnoxious. There is something distasteful about trying SO hard to look sexy as I feel sexiness is achieved in subtlety. This is true for all races…I (also) do not identify with what I perceive to be whitewashed Asian American women yuppie/professional on the television screen, married to white men and wearing pantyhose…there is something soul-less about the Asian American professionals I see on TV. They seem driven to conventional and financial success with blinders on, eager to assimilate and achieve, or at least imitate, whiteness.”
(Female/23/Japanese American)
It’s… important to me that all people realize that the images they see on screen of all races are just that: images. They do not represent whole races of people, or even individual people themselves. They represent a screen image of a person.”
(Female/23/Japanese American)
“I went to see ‘Movin’ Out,’ the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp musical currently on Broadway, and I was excited to see the leads played by a black woman and an Asian in the cast. I was really disappointed to see that (the Asian woman) was pretty much cast to play a Vietnamese prostitute…It occurred to me that if the Vietnam war had not happened, Asian women probably would not be employed on Broadway.”
(Female/25/Korean American)
“I am an Asian woman in my twenties. Seeing (images of ‘exotic Asian women’) makes me upset because they feel like a personal attack on how unglamourous I am. I don’t like the thought of having to make myself ‘exotic’ in order to be attractive. I want to be who I am..It makes me sick to my stomach when my boyfriend (who is white) looks up Asian porn on the internet. I can’t stand to see girls like me with gigantic fake boobs.”
(Female/22/Cantonese)
“In terms of magazines, televisions, and film, I don’t feel that the stereotypes have changed that much. There are more Asian actors, however, it’s still only a handful and the roles are still very limited to the ‘nerd,’ ‘bitch,’ ‘doctor,’ ‘prostitute’…They are the same old stereotypes, only dilutedsame characters without the gong sound (although sometimes there’s a gong-like, Chinese ballad in the background).”
(Female/27/Korean American)
“I would LOVE to see an Asian rebel girl. Ha ha, that’d be great. Mebbe a smoker/drinker, listens to hardcore metal or emo or something. Basically someone so far out there, so extremely distant from the stereotypes that it makes other people so ‘Whoa…is that possible?’”
(Male/22/Korean American)
(In response to question, “What other images, if any, would you like to see of Asian women in the U.S. on T.V. and other media?) “I’d just like to see more representations in general. (When that happens), then ask me if I like them. At this point there are so few it’s hard to answer.”
(Female/20/“American of Korean descent”)
“All of the Asian women in movies are more often than not sexualized to the extreme…Black women are portrayed similarly.”
(Female/21/African American)
Age group 30’s
“I believe that much of the issue here still lies in the hands of consumers since US culture is finely tuned to supply and demand. In the case of television representationuntil TV programs and ads start bulking up and easing their tenacious grip on our sad and needy psyches to feel adequate and popular, increased viewings of Asian women will do nothing but allow our racial group to more actively participate in the buying/throwaway game.”
(Female/Japanese American yonsei/33)
“I haven’t really seen too many Asian women in movies. There’s usually just one Asian lady, like Lucy Liu, that’s in almost every movie for a few years. Then, they disappear and star in TV shows no one watches. Prior to Lucy Liu, the hot Asian lady for five years or so was Tia Carrere. It’s as if Hollywood only requires one Asian lady for a specified number of years, dumps her when they get bored, then creates the next hot Asian star.”
(Female/30/Filipino)
“I can personally identify with (being the target of) the bullshit stereotype of ‘exotic Asian whore beauty’ that stems from white people seeing Miss Saigon and believing that every Asian woman is here because she was saved from a life of prostitution by a white man. My girlfriends and I were in Downtown Minneapolis on Washington Ave. We are all Korean adopted women, fairly attractive, and conservatively dressed for the evening. Anyways, while my friend and I waited for my other friend to come out of the Loft Literary center, two tall Caucasian college students from the U of M walked by and asked, “How much?” Then ten minutes later, a car stuck in traffic after the Gopher Basketball game, stopped in front of us and screamed, “Me love you long time.” We do not speak with broken accents, and we did not come from a life of prostitution in a third world country. Since there are hardly any other images in the media about Asian women, whatever is shown in the media will become a ‘stereotyped’ truth that will continue to box me into a role I don’t want to be a part of.”
(Female/31/Korean adoptee)
“As an Asian man, I would like to see the image of Asian women in relationships with Asian men. While Asian women might suffer from a lack of accurate representation, I fear that Asian men suffer from no representation at all. Perhaps it might not play into the issue of Asian women and their representations, but in failing to recognize the influence of the other half of that culture (Asian men), do we not do an injustice to the entire culture as a whole?”
(Male/34/Filipino)
