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If you have not read it yet then I would read it only to let yourself get really angry and enraged: http://bit.ly/GX4h4. Marie Claire ran the following article, “The New Trophy Wives: Asian Women,” and I’m not introducing any new concepts or critiques that other people have not brought up. The Author, Ying Chu,” could be commended for trying to print the realization that “excruciating colonial stereotypes—Asian women as submissive, domestic, hypersexual—are obviously nothing new” to the forefront of “mainstream” media, Chu does so without a clear message, without any real analysis, without any substantial evidence. She leads with few celebrity couples as standards. The article itself is so convoluted and haphazardly thrown together that I have a hard time pinpointed what I dislike so here’s a list: it’s over generalized, there are blanket statements without evidence to back it up, relationships are weird and complicated, I’m not sure if I’m more offended as a woman or a Chinese American, it perpetuates a model minority stereotype among other stereotypes, naming glamorous white-asian couples when we can talk about the REAL problems the stereotype generates, just to name a few.
It’s just bad journalism – d7253 summed it up in her response to the article (comments section on the website) saying “it reads like the rant of someone taking a freshman course on race, gender and identity politics.” I would know… I was and am still one of those writers that will throw it down and see what sticks (and hate proofreading my own stuff). There’s no clear message in the article.
Relationships are weird and complicated – “Why are these women falling for rich white patriarchs? Why be a target for headline comparisons to concubines? ” Chu is the one comparing these women to concubines. She makes references to women like Wendi Deng who have incredible contributions that were put on the sidelines to their ethnicity and relationships. Yes, shame on the journalists who described Deng as “The Yellow Peril” but Chu does the same thing listing white-asian relationships in her second paragraph as if women have no say in the matter of their relationships and are hoping to be saved by the “world-class moguls” that serve as “stand-ins for emotionally repressed Asian dads (one cliché that is predominantly true).” If it’s a cliché then don’t reinforce it by saying it’s “predominantly true,” it is as clichéd as yellow fever itself.
Perpetuates Stereotypes – The trophy wives label is not only offensive to just Asian women and Asian Americans but to women in general. Taking from the quote above Chu is assuming that all these Asian women are compensating for daddy issues, have no brain to “really know if it’s a fetish thing.” I like to think we have outgrown antiquated ideals of a woman’s worth embedded in her husband and family, that the days of girls going to college was only to find a proper man for marriage. I would like to hear from the women in these relationships to see what it is like for her and how she made the decision to be in the relationship as it obviously takes 2 people to commit.
This article perpetuates the East Asian Model Minority stereotype that the women are well off and are especially living the high life with their aging mogul beaus. All the examples Chu lists are East Asian and she uses the very stereotypes she calls out in her article as evidence of exotified Asian dolls in these relationships. She goes on a complete tangent from white-Asian relationships to how the west is being drawn into the business practices of the East (might as well use antiquated titles like the Orient here).
“In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell theorizes that Asian kids' intrinsic work ethic makes them outsmart American kids in math. (In the latest Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development international education survey, Taiwanese students were tops in math, while the U.S. placed 35th.) It's as though these Western men are hungry for a piece of that mystical Eastern formula.”
Intrisic work ethic? Mystical Eastern Formula? I’m not even going to dignify that with an explanation… just no, you are wrong. I’m moving on.
Real issues with the fetishized Asian Stereotype – I wish that this article would address some of the real issues of fetishized Asian women and glorified East meets West relationships. Chu makes the quote “15 percent of marriages are between young Thai women and Western men well into their 60s” and mail-order brides. What Chu could have done with this article is to highlight the real issues of Human Trafficking. Asian and Pacific Islander women represent the largest group of women trafficked into the US (http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/wetf/us_assessment_2004.pdf).
“Men who use international marriage brokers often look for API immigrant spouses under the belief that their future spouse will fit the submissive and sexualized stereotype of API women. In some cases, women who enter brokered marriages end up in abusive or exploitative situations called ‘bride trafficking.’” (http://www.napawf.org/file/issues/factsheet_humantrafficking_updated.pdf)
After taking the time to sit down and critique the parts that angered me about the article I can now get on with the rest of my day. Reading this article as the first thing in the morning really gets you awake. Thanks to Angry Asian Man because that’s where I came by the article (http://bit.ly/agWU8). You can read the many many critiques from the comments section for the article, on Jezebel (http://bit.ly/KByuc).
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| User | Points |
|---|---|
| curtis | 1928 |
| ebeh | 1161 |
| Madhuri | 1145 |
| erinjerri | 1074 |
| spamfriedrice | 551 |
| oliveoil | 457 |
| Calvin Prashad | 358 |
| JennyG | 281 |
| jenn | 219 |
| chriswong | 155 |
Those massage parlor and escort services ads show that there is a larger problem with the nagging sterotypes about Asian women
Does anyone know how we could get newspapers to pull those sections? I'll be posting and blogging about the Village Voice's disgusting three pages of Asian escort service ads in a few days.
first of all, you got it backwards---WHITE GUYS are TROPHY HUSBANDS!!
as a white 28 yr old who's lived in both wisconsin (hick town) and san francisco (chinatown of the west), here is my take.
i grew up in wisconsin with all white folks, and didnt get much love from the dumb blonde hos in my town, but once i went to berkeley for college i was in pussy heaven. all the chinky girls who joined white soririties were fawning for me. i dont think it was necessarily b/c they liked me, they were like that to all my pledge bros... to asian girls, all white guys are the same (and vice versa), but by hooking up with a white guy, they feel like they are "well adjusted" and have assimilated better than their immigrant parents.
anyways, nowadays im banging this bangin philipino gal who is a lot better in bed than any chinese gal i've been with. but even when we go out to eat at chinese restaurants, i get all kinds of dirty looks from jealous asian guys. i love it!
Mods please consider removing above post.
i am just telling it the way it is. if it hurts your feelings or threatens your psyche.... well the truth hurts!
the above poster is a waste of space and a drain on humanity
This person wrote the same exact thing in the comments section accompanying the original article. They clearly intend to offend and their remarks not constructive to the discussion.
Suck it up guys -- welcome to the Internet! This isn't a place where we coddle fragile Asian male egos.
comment deleted by me
Coddle fragile Asian male egos? Well the internet shouldnt be a place where we indulge lying racists and sexually frustrated white males chasing after stereotypes and illusions.
Nonetheless, I say we leave the comment made by the potential "trophy husband" on the site. Honestly, it just makes him look idiotic.
The guy is an idiot -- I'm leaving it up there. He's just trolling for lolz. And the idea of getting "offended" at crazy white people seems so 1999 to me. If actual Asian American women on our staff actually start to get offended then I'll reconsider but listening to Asian American men whining about "sexism" only when it concerns their egos doesn't interest me AT ALL.
yea... i think as women, we learn to just ignore BS like this. honestly, it would take too much time to respond to all the crazies out there.
I think white guys should keep their eyes and hands off our Asian women!!! And our Asian women need to focus on Asian men!
I can only hope that Anonymous Coward was just trolling for lolz instead of actually trying to put together a serious reply.
As a ABC GUY who’s lived and worked in Los Angeles, Singapore, Bangkok, Hanoi, Taipei, AND Shanghai, I will tell you the the TRUTH why the yellow fever phenomena exists and why you have been betrayed:
1) ALL asian cultures have an ingrained disposition for looking for mates (both girls+boys) with PALE SKIN. This is why you never see asian girl + blacks / indian / mexican.
2) Pretty asian girls with pale flawless skin and petite bodies are a dime-a-dozen in asia, ESPECIALLY in the entire Jiangsu province (Shanghai), and local Chinese guys will treat them as such. Not a problem for hot 10/10 girls, but average and below-average girls feel marginalized, frustrated, and lonely.
In comparison, laowais have a very lowered standard of beauty because white chicks are so fat, vulgar, and unfeminine. So, laowais will fawn over and chase average looking Chinese girls and make them feel pretty, special, and wanted.
This is what makes SPGs embrace western culture, talk with a fake/exaggerated aussie/british accent, and betray asian guys. If you’ve studied psychology, it is because they are “preserving their ego”. ie, “asian guys don’t appreciate me the way white guys do, therefore asian guys must be inferior”. Don’t EVER mention this to a SPG though, she will just get super defensive and say something like “love is blind” etc. (Well if love were so blind, why aren’t you SPGs slutting it up to blacks? LOL)
When it comes to ABC/CBC guys THE TABLES ARE TURNED! In America + Europe, asian guys have it the worst. White girls ignore them and SPG asian girls “betray” them, so a huge number of lonely asian guys are chasing the leftover non-SPG girls. Supply and demand -> frustrated lonely guys with lowered standards of beauty.
Anyway, these ABC/CBC “expats” who come back to work in China all of a sudden find themselves in man’s paradise because they possess the desired laowai qualities (civilized, romantic, lowered standards, $$$), but also look Chinese enough for the girl to PROUDLY show off to her parents and friends.
3) Hollywood propagates the idea that white guys are sexually superior to asian guys. This is so obvious and insulting that I don’t need to explain it. In countries like northern Vietnam where Hollywood “propaganda” is muted, it is very rare to see asian girl + laowai.
Lucky for us though, a lot of rich Chinese companies have been buying up stakes in American film studios, so in the next few decades we will start seeing asian guys pimping it on the big screen. For example, do you know why Ken Watanabe was portrayed as such a pimp handsome guy in Inception? It’s because asian investors financed Christopher Nolan’s film company.
Anyway, Asian guy, hope that makes you feel better. And just so you understand the context, although I look Chinese and hold a US Passport, I spend most of my time in asia for all the reasons above.
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