asian american feminism

Asian American feminism came about because of the many overlapping historical, social and systemic structures of hierarchy and oppression. To examine various feminist theories generated by Asian American women, it is essential to first briefly examine the social circumstances, both past and present, that have affected the development and transformation of feminist consciousness among Asian American women today. In addition, the issues of commodification of Asian women's sexuality and their bodies through the intersecting products of racist and sexist media images will be discussed, as well as how the overlapping dimensions of race and gender affect violence against Asian women.

Asian migration to the United States has played a vital role in the construction of Asian women's sexuality. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was one that suspended immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years and halted Chinese immigration for a total of 60 years, but the Page Act of 1875 was what barred Chinese women from immigrating to the states (Lee, 2000, pp. 713-714). The act, which prohibited the entry of immigrant groups considered "undesirable," included anyone from China, Japan, and other Asian countries who came to the U.S. to be a contract laborer, as well as any Asian woman who would engage in prostitution.

The misconception that all Chinese women worked as prostitutes stemmed from the fact that most Chinese females who immigrated to the states in the mid-1800s were disadvantaged women who were usually tricked, kidnapped, or smuggled into the country to serve the predominantly male Chinese community as second wives, concubines in polygamous marriages, or as prostitutes. It is crucial to note that Western subjugation of Asian women was preceded and paralleled by Asian men's subjugation of their female counterparts (Okihiro, 1994, p. 68). Chinese men in the US were prohibited from having sexual relations with white women during this time as well. Subsequently, U.S. immigration and anti-miscegenation laws of the 1800s led to Chinese immigrants finding their sexual interactions both within and outside their community tightly controlled. It must also be emphasized that while the Chinese Exclusion Act played a large part in the decline of Chinese immigration, the Page Act was what essentially prevented the Chinese from creating families within the U.S. The act not only reinforced the policing of immigrants around sexuality, it gradually became extended to every immigrant who sought to enter America and has remained a fundamental characteristic of immigration restriction even today (Luibheid, 2002, p. 31).

Furthermore, legislation singled out Chinese women not because some worked as prostitutes (since there were white women who worked as prostitutes during this time as well), but because it was believed that since they were Chinese, they supposedly spread venereal diseases, introduced opium addiction, and enticed white men to a life of sin (Shah, 1999, p. xiv). This stereotype which degrades Asian women is just one small example of the larger systemic sexism and racism that many immigrants encountered. Implicit in these statements is also the notion that all sex workers and prostitutes are drug addicts, contribute to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and are reckless because of ignorance, poverty and a disregard for personal responsibility.

It is only logical today to talk about Asian American women as a single group and view our experiences through the lens of a feminist perspective since we share the same rung on both the gender and racial hierarchy. This does not mean that we all lead similar lives, but that our lives are largely influenced in American society by several primary forces – such as the existence of racism and patriarchy, to name a few of the oppressive systems that unequally exercise and distribute power. It also makes political sense to talk about how these forces affect Asian American women since it allows for us to organize counter resistance to these forces.

The beginning of Asian women's organizing was a larger part of the Asian American movement in the 1960s, which was inspired by the civil rights movement, and saw activists such as Yuri Kochiyama working together with leaders like Malcolm X from other movements. However, women in Yellow Power and other Asian American groups found themselves facing sexism from fellow Asian American male activists and indifference towards the issue of race in other radical groups that were mostly all-white, where white perspectives and standards were the norm.

As Asian American women became left out of decision making processes and sexually discriminated and mistreated within Asian American activist organizations, this led to many women meeting separately from men to address the issues that specifically pertained to them. For instance, during this time in Los Angeles, a women's collective created community childcare centers and held drug intervention programs for Asian American female youth. But despite these undertakings, women were never proponents for joining the mainstream women's movement or distancing themselves from Asian American activist organizations, though the early Yellow Power movement was criticized for being male-identified. As Asian American women, they believed their gender was inextricably linked to their race and class, and felt that it was more effective to integrate their issues into a larger context of community activism, and under the umbrella of the broader movement. Additionally, working separately from their male counterparts was not always an option since some women did not have the freedom to separate from men because of an economic interdependence, so the idea that women could resist sexism by withdrawing from men reflected a bourgeois class perspective. (Rojas, 2009, p. 20).

Similarly, black women also experienced the double standard of male chauvinism in supposedly anti-oppressive groups that were committed to goals of social justice, such as the Black Panther Party. Within the organization, some men rationalized the right to having "sex on demand," or having the sexual service of black women openly available to them whenever they wanted it. This was justified by the argument that it was their duty to do so in order to "abide as revolutionary sisters" (Rojas, 2009, p. 21). Likewise, some men in Asian American organizations pointed out their own oppression as an excusable reason for their actions, stating that they saw these services from women as just compensation for the sacrifices they were making on behalf of the people (Shah, 1999, p. xvi).

Since neither the early Asian American nor feminist movement accommodated the agendas of Asian American females, it is understandable that many Asian American feminists have experienced marginalization in broad political circles and frustration in identity-based groups. But as Shah suggests, Asian American feminism should not be seen as an addendum to Asian American politics or a variant of white feminism, because despite the impression that Asian American men were at the forefront of the Yellow Power movement (perhaps because of historical misrepresentation or because issues were framed by men who may have dominated), Asian American women have always been involved despite having their voices stifled and participation underdocumented (Cho, 1997, p. 63). Additionally, the idea that Asian American feminism is a variant of other movements like Asian American politics and white feminism, forces Asian American feminism into the margins of other political frameworks.

The Asian American women's movement is essential because it is an articulation of overlapping gendered and racialized contexts. It fills the role of uncovering and rooting out structural inequalities and injustices that go unaddressed by various other groups. Karin Aguilar-San Juan, professor of Asian American studies in southern California, notes that even though we can separate one context of social life from another in theory (the experience of being female from being Asian American, for instance), such a one-dimensional moment never exists due to the interlocking nature of systems of oppression and the complex realities of Asian American life (1999, p. xi).

For example, the commodification of Asian women's bodies is prefigured by the colonial relationship between the West and the East. Stereotypes of Asian women being accessible, cheap, and submissive sexual objects are ubiquitous in American culture. Asian American women must face blatantly offensive depictions of ourselves in the media where we struggle against the power of racist, heterosexist, classist, and imperialist ideologies. But Asian women's sexuality cannot be disengaged from its global context since economic forces and militarism have defined and exploited women's sexuality for profit and as the spoils of war. Instances of U.S. servicemen abroad sexually assaulting Asian women are not uncommon, where a respondent in a national sexuality survey whose mother had been raped by a white American GI says, "A lot of Vietnamese American women and/or our mothers have experienced rape, so that's how we learn about sex" (Nowrojee, 1997, p 79).

Moreover, the ever growing increase in global trafficking of women and girls for domestic and sexual work also contributes to the view of Asian women as commodities, instead of individuals with rights. The oft-marketed idea that Asian women are passive and servile women willing to please men is compounded and fused with Western tourism in Asian countries by men who seek out sexual services in these places, which subsequently adds to the objectification of Asian women and their bodies.

The normalization of the female body is one that homogenizes and causes the construction of femininity to erase race, class, and other differences, to become a tool and strategy for social control. Images in the media tell us what clothes, body shape, and type of movement are acceptable and required to constitute a ladylike woman. Femininity becomes a concept of imposed limitations and women's bodies become objects, and ultimately the primary determination of their value and worth (Bordo, 2010, p. 460). Narrow standards and images of what is beautiful (thin, light-skinned, blonde- hair, blue-eyed as ideal) has become internalized in many women. Women of color face great social pressure to conform to prevailing dominant white beauty standards, since our culture still primarily values Caucasian phenotypes over other ones.

One of the first important early studies conducted in 1954 by psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark shows just how ingrained Western standards of beauty have become in our culture. In the study, upon giving black children the choice of a white or a black doll, results showed that the children frequently preferred to play with the white dolls over the black ones, that when asked to fill in a figure with their own skin color, they usually chose a lighter shade than was accurate, and that the children gave the white dolls attributes such as good and pretty, but the black dolls were viewed as bad and ugly. Ultimately, these results were used as evidence that this internalized racism was caused by being discriminated against and stigmatized by segregation, and was used to make the case for desegregation in the Brown v. Board of Education case (Segregation Ruled Unequal, and Therefore Unconstitutional). Even today, this value placed on whiteness still exists. The same doll study was repeated and documented in 2006 by filmmaker Kiri Davis, in A Girl Like Me, who found that the results had not changed (Feng, 2007, para. 1).

Carmen Van Kerckhove, a mixed woman and frequent contributor and writer at Racialious, recounts her own experience at an early age of learning about how whiteness was intrinsically valued by her own family - "Growing up in Hong Kong as a Chinese/Belgian girl, I remember being constantly complimented only on my European features: 'She has such light skin! Such a high nose bridge! Beautiful light brown hair!' I don’t ever remember receiving any positive feedback on my Chinese features" (Kerckhove, 2007. para. 2).

Other issues that women of color must face include worries about relaxing their hair to conform to straight-hair beauty standards, or using products such as skin bleaching creams to lighten their skin color. These "fairness creams" are used extensively in India, and are also marketed extensively abroad in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa (Glenn, 2009, p. 179). But one of the primary debatable issues within the Asian American community is getting blepharoplasty, or cosmetic eyelid surgery. This surgery creates the coveted fold, or crease, in the single eyelid of those who do not have the double lid. Because the eye is the quintessential sign of Asian difference, it has also come to represent the focus point of racial taunting for some people. By obtaining eyelid surgery and transforming one's appearance, the procedure becomes a form of assimilation and conformity to white beauty standards (Leong, 2008, para. 7). Some have said this act of conformity stems from wanting to look white.

Others such as Kerckhove (2007, para. 5) do not fully agree with the explanation that eyelid surgery is obtained because of a desire to be white. In addition, she states that the mainstream media's usual treatment and framing of the eyelid issue makes many of the same assumptions, such as how the fact that there are many Asians who do have the double eyelid is rarely mentioned in media coverage. Secondly, the notion that the surgery is equated with wanting to look white is not entirely true.

Blaming it completely on a racial self-hatred is too narrow of a conclusion. The context-free, racial-free, and cultural-free explanation of internalized racism doesn't address the larger social and historical issue of why we feel inferior, nor why we are making choices such as these to alter our appearances.

Since our culture's sense of beauty is defined by those who are in power and have the ability to enforce what is beautiful, the desire by Asians to obtain double eyelid surgery cannot be simply reduced to the aspiration of wanting to look white. Instead, it reflects the action of a group of people who are trying to proximate the look of those who are the most powerful and richest in society – those who are white. It makes sense that some Asian Americans would desire eyelid surgery since this type of surgery is tied with the idea of racial covering and of difference. By going through this operation, some Asian Americans may be seeking out homogenity to blend in more with their peers and to avoid being picked on or seen as the different "other." They are only responding to the racial stigmatization that goes along with the Asian eye, as well as the difficulties of taking pride in a culture that has been historically denigrated.

Kerckhove (2007, para. 6) argues that since Asians born with double eyelids are the ones considered to be more attractive (because of the prevalent Western beauty ideal), Asians without the double lid may be obtaining the surgery to emulate Asians who naturally have the crease, and not to look like whites. Acquiring double eyelid surgery for some may seem like an act of personal power or agency to enhance one's beauty, but it is nevertheless one where the person is conforming to normative standards of beauty. The act of getting operations such as eyelid surgery or rhinoplasty to emulate white phenotypes still reinforces the idea that "white is right," or that the "West is best," along with the notion that physical characteristics which indicate ethnicity are negative features. This person's decision is not so much an individual choice, but one that is influenced by systemic factors.

For instance, in the film Never Perfect directed by Regina Park (2007), the viewer follows Mai-Anh, a young Vietnamese American woman as she goes through the decision of getting eyelid surgery. The viewer learns that even Mai-Anh's own mother reasserts the dominant culture's standards of beauty on her own daughter, by telling her she needs to get eyelid surgery if she wants to be considered beautiful. Since the act of equating one's body with value and worth then becomes so closely tied with the notion of self-hate and self-objectification, it is not even a question of whether or not cosmetic surgery such as this is empowering. Though becoming temporarily happier, the woman who obtains eyelid surgery has essentially surrendered to cultural standards of the "ideal" woman and is instead colluding with and perpetuating the normative standards of female beauty, by reproducing and reinforcing what is valued in society. This act of self-objectification has already stripped away one's power and undermined one's self-esteem.

In Out of Body Image (Heldman, 2008, p. 52), the author discusses how women's bodies become exploited through their objectified nature, where parts of a women's body become what is paid attention to, and not the actual person behind the body. Self-objectification occurs, where a woman views her own body as a sex object that is continually watched under the omnipresent male gaze. In Never Perfect, the viewer learns that when Mai-Anh finds out one of her former boyfriends has been looking at magazines like Maxim and Playboy, she gets breast augmentation surgery in response. This self-objectification is learned early on and shaped by societal pressures and unrealistic images such as the ones in mainstream media. It is not surprising that females who self-objectify, such as Mai-Anh, are more likely to possess low self-esteem or be depressed, because they are essentially basing their intrinsic self-worth off of how others view their physical bodies.

And because Asian Americans are underrepresented in the media, this omission effectively renders us invisible. But when we are seen, the images of Asian American women that are presented in the media are distorted ones that lead to us being stereotyped and seen as sexualized, racialized beings. The exotification and objectification of Asian women occur through the intersections of both race and gender.

The sexualized demonization of Asian American females dates back to the stereotype of Anna May Wong, a Chinese actress from the early twentieth century who was constantly portrayed in her roles as a seductive, exotic, "dragon lady" with the power to snare men in her trap. The characters she played were usually deceitful or murderous women who reaped the consequences of their misdeeds by being raped (Hopwood, n.d., para. 15). During this time as well, the degree of anti-Chinese sentiment in the U.S. was so ingrained that Hollywood frequently typecast Wong in a demeaning light. She typically wore form-fitting cheongsams, Chinese gowns, not necessarily to be seen as Asian, but to be viewed as an "exotic foreigner." Here, race takes on a sexualized connotation and leads to the fetishizing of Asian women. These stereotypes not only hurt the self-esteem of those who are affected by them, but also reinforce negative treatment by misinforming others about an entire group of people.

Much discourse has been generated around the current problem of one-dimensional, degrading media images of Asian woman within society. Representations of the Asian woman as being delicate "lotus blossoms," or hypersexual geisha girls have also long fascinated the male Western population. These familiar stereotypes that are perpetuated in the media are especially marketed towards anti- feminist men, who view Asian women as being more passive and deferential than white women. This logic has been used to explain Western men's sex tourism in Asian countries and use of mail order bride services, since they find it difficult to meet a white female American who is willing to fill the role of a subordinate partner (Nowrojee, 1999, p. 78). These representations of Asian women play a very crucial role in shaping our status, self-image, and potential.

Sexual violence and assault is also racialized against Asian women as well. Because of the stereotypes of Asian women as being passive, many women experience race-targeted sexual violence. For instance, in 2000 in Spokane, Washington, two white man and a woman specifically sought out Japanese women in a plan to kidnap, rape, torture them, and videotape these acts.

According to police reports, the rapists had a sexual "fantasy" and "fixation" about young Japanese women, who they believed were "submissive." During a one month period in autumn [of] 2000, the predators abducted five Japanese exchange students, ranging from age 18 to 20. Motivated by their sexual biases about Asian women, all three used both their bodies and objects to repeatedly rape – vaginally, anally and orally – two of the young women over a seven hour ordeal (Kim, 2009, para. 11-12).

One of the attackers stated that he singled out Japanese women under the belief that they would be submissive and reluctant to come forward to police for fear of dishonoring their families and cultural shame – the women were told that if they told anybody what had happened, the videotapes would be sent to their fathers (Eranios, 2000, para. 8). Despite the fact that the attacker admitted to specifically looking for Japanese women to rape and torture, the district attorney in the case did not charge the crimes as being motivated by racial bias or as a hate crime. In the case of the Spokane assault, the police detective in charge of the case stated that there was no racial motivation, but that instead the attacker "...was very infatuated with the Japanese race."

The unwillingness to categorize the targeted sexual assaults of Asian women as hate crimes stems from the misguided belief that weight should be attached to the attacker's claim of an attraction or fetish for the victim's race. But there is a disconnect – while authorities do not see the "fetish" as an excuse for rape, it is used to excuse the belief that the attack was a hate crime or a form of racial discrimination. In the Spokane case, the idea of rape itself is frowned on, yet the racial motivation behind the act is accepted. Society is told that it is not a hate crime to rape an Asian woman because of her race. But these Asian women were specifically targeted in these violent attacks due to stereotypes about them being passive and easily dominated.

In 2005, a similar situation occurred in Los Angeles when a serial rapist targeted at least thirteen Asian women (primarily Koreans) to rape, assault, and rob them. Again, the LAPD and authorities did not label these hate crimes or view them as racially motivated (Kim, 2009, para. 17).

Asian women are particularly vulnerable to routinely being dehumanized in popular culture as sexualized, meek and voiceless objects. This has led to disturbing results – in 2002, a study conducted by Jennifer Lynn Gossett and Sarah Byrne found that in a content analysis of 31 random pornographic websites, of the ones depicting the rape or torture of women, nearly half used depictions of Asian women receiving the abuse (Stockdale, 2005, para. 4). These images, compounded with mainstream stereotypes of Asian women as subordinate and sexually submissive, normalize violence against them and make it more socially acceptable to objectify them based on race. Essentially, dehumanizing others is what allows people to be able to commit violence against others.

Violence is a universal assertion of power and control and it can be understood in the context of power inequalities and issues of control. The problem of violence against women (domestic violence, sexual harassment, rape, etc.) has largely been framed by society as women's causes, where women organize around these problems without much involvement from men. Similarly, in the essay Men: Comrades in Struggle, bell hooks (1984, p. 555) talks about how the feminist movement is one that has been primarily generated by the efforts of women, and rarely by men. Although men's lack of participation is due partially to anti-feminist sentiment, it is also because liberal feminists created a situation where they assigned the gendered task of making feminist revolution to women themselves. In addition, women did not stress that men should assume active responsibility in struggling to end sexist oppression.

It is incredibly vital that men share equal responsibility in struggling to end sexism. Otherwise the feminist movement will only reflect the sexist contradictions that it aims to get rid of. Similar to how those in dominant groups must do the work of eliminating oppression by taking it upon themselves to learn about it, the parallels between anti-racist struggles and anti-sexist struggles are very much alike. Not only must whites play a primary role in the anti-racist struggle, men need to also share equally in feminist struggle.

What is more, additional obstacles to overcoming other issues such as racism include the stereotypes surrounding Asian Americans as being passive and apolitical, which contribute to the invisibilization of our contributions to the struggle against racism. Myths about Asian Americans (i.e. the model minority myth, which states that Asian Americans achieve the highest degree of success out of all the minority groups) obscure the damage done by the discrimination we face and reinforce the notion that we are the least oppressed minority group.

"As Nisei poet Mitsuye Yamada writes, I am weary of starting from scratch each time I speak or write, as if there were no history behind us, of hearing that among women of color, Asian women are the least political, or the least oppressed, or the most polite. It is too bad that not many people remember that one of the two persons in Seattle who stood up to contest the constitutionality of the Evacuation Order in 1942 was a young Japanese American women" (Pegues, 1997, p. 9).

When race is merely seen in black and white terms, Asian American activists become invisible and our issues are ignored. An awareness of the need for activism and a development of feminist consciousness among Asian American women today has developed through a similar process, where the Asian American women's movement developed out of a necessity against the prevailing structures of a dominant discourse that tended not to recognize their efforts of organizing with both feminist and anti-racist objectives in mind.

A perspective such as feminism only becomes politically relevant to people when it addresses ways in which interactions with others (both publicly and privately) can be changed – otherwise it will continue to be located at the periphery of society rather than at the center. Like bell hooks states in Theory as Liberatory Practice, theory is not inherently healing, liberatory, or revolutionary. Feminist theory can only fulfill this function when we ask that it do so and theorizing is directed towards this end (1994, p. 32). Of course, using a term does not necessarily bring a process or practice into being, and one may actually be practicing theorizing without knowing or possessing the term, just like people can act in feminist resistance without ever using the word "feminism."




References

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Review of Alexa Albert's Brothel: Mustang Ranch and its Women

Recently, I read the book Brothel: Mustang Ranch and its Women by Alexa Albert, and it completely changed my ideas and perceptions of legalized sex work. The book was an extremely interesting investigation into legalized brothels. Personally, I was surprised to learn that prostitution is legally sanctioned by Nevada (although it is the only state to do so), since it is so taboo in American culture. Even though prostitution is attached to a great social stigma, the book dispels myths about this mysterious world. It is an essential contribution to society's arena of public health information, as well as an empathetic portrait of the women of Mustang Ranch.

In the beginning of the novel when the author is offered a visit to Mustang Ranch's brothels, she goes through possible ideas in her head of what these prostitutes may be like - drug addicts, survivors of sexual abuse, etc. It is very interesting that these common stereotypes that most people believe about prostitutes are completely dispelled later on when Albert gets to know these working women on a much deeper level. Additionally, the public's commonly held misconception of prostitutes contributing to the spread of HIV and the blame of their recklessness on ignorance, poverty and disregard for personal responsibility are called into question as the author learns that each of the women is incredibly conscientious about protection and condom use.

Prostitutes are not social deviants, and are no different from other women. All the working girls had stories about being disrespected and misunderstood. The author's acknowledgment of the women as condom experts and great sources of public health information is automatically seen by her own sister as an acceptance and approval of the practice of prostitution. However, Albert is still undecided about it – she fluctuates between feelings of ambivalence about how Nevada's legal brothels are actually clean, legitimate workplaces, and the idea that despite the benefits that come from legalization, prostitution is still a fundamentally objectifying, dehumanizing business that does women more harm than good.

I also have the same feelings of ambivalence on the issue of legalization, because afterall, the practice of sex work still seems to be one that perpetuates the idea that women's bodies are commodities and can be bought and had for a price. Similar to Catharine MacKinnon's argument for banning pornography on the grounds that it normalizes violence against women (which is partially due to the fact that pornography makes it more socially acceptable to objectify them), sex work and prostitution reinforces the idea that women can be reduced to objects and this contributes to the normalization of violence against women as well. A recent example of the violence that occurs to those working in the sex trade is the story of the "craigslist killer," a BU medical student that murdered a prostitute he had arranged to meet through craigslist. It is obvious that sex trade workers continue to be victimized at alarming rates.

Jessica Valenti, founder of Feministing and author of Full Frontal Feminism, states in her book that because violence against women has become so common, young men in the U.S. have been brought up to think that they have constant and available open access to women's bodies and sexuality. Rape and violence is expected, and this breeds a culture of acceptance (rape culture). Women also always get blamed for being the victims of violent crimes. In the case of the woman who was murdered by the craigslist killer, a common response I seemed to hear was, "She should have known better anyway, since she was working as a prostitute and that's one of the risks to be expected." But this only places the onus on the woman, where she must take responsibility for protecting herself against rape or any other type of violence, while the excused man is let off the hook and not held accountable for his actions. The focus needs to be on the perpetrator, not the woman. Essentially, dehumanizing others is what allows people to be able to commit violence against others.

The author also recounts her experience of being mistaken for a working girl at Mustang #2, where she is groped at the bar by a man. After he realizes she is not actually a prostitute, he is ashamed and begins apologizing profusely. It is fascinating to note that the man feels prostitutes are somehow intrinsically different from other women. Even though the author pities the prostitutes for the men they end up servicing, she is also judgmental of the johns as well. It is fair to say that both the working girls and the men who come to brothels deserve to be better understood.

Criminalization of prostitution has failed to eradicate the sale of sex, and instead, has driven the industry underground with prostitutes unable to come forward in the case of abuse of injury. Criminalization also unfairly targets prostitutes and not the men who exploit and abuse them. But controlled prostitution can be seen as sanctioned pimping by brothel owners and the government, where some brothel owners exploit their own workers. However, the idea of decriminalization bothers me because this would mean the elimination of mandatory testing of STDs and medical checkups. Of course, the author raises a good point with the question of why prostitutes must be the ones who are singled out for testing, as opposed to other service professionals who come in contact with the public such as surgeons and dentists, who are not routinely screened for HIV or hepatitis.

The women at Mustang Ranch decide to work there for different reasons, though more often that not they do it because of financial hardship and out of a profound sense of personal responsibility, sacrifice and commitment to their families to provide for loved ones. Again, this goes against the commonly held belief that women who prostitute themselves do it because they are flawed characters lacking in moral values, or typical substance abusers who need money. What surprised me was how the women made up stories to family members about the nature of their jobs that were almost true, but not quite. The fact that some of the women explained to relatives that the large amounts of cash they earned was made through selling phone sex or drugs, is fascinating that these activities would be less objectionable than prostitution. Fear of rejection from family and friends points to the prevailing stigma still attached to the act of selling one's body. But sadly, the compulsion to lie about doing this only reinforces the shame associated with prostitution.

(her)story

I was born and raised in New York City's Lower East Side to a working-class immigrant family. Early on, I watched my parents confront the problems of classism and xenophobia, as well as having to deal with my own insecurities as a teenager of having less than everyone else. My mother worked full-time as a waitress in a restaurant to make ends meet, and usually this meant standing on her feet all day. When she became sick and subsequently disabled by severe rheumatoid arthritis, my father was left to struggle as the sole income-provider with having to raise my older brother and I. To make things even tougher, neither of my parents spoke English or had gone to college after high school before immigrating to the U.S., so my father usually ended up taking on minimum-wage jobs.

My mother was soon admitted to a string of hospitals, most of which did not have adequate translating services or a sufficient number of nurses or staff personnel to care for her. Though my mother eventually learned how to walk again on her own after staying at a rehabilitation center, I heard horror stories from her about how she had to watch the patient next to her in her hospital room call for a nurse to no avail, only for the patient to end up soiling the bed she was in. Because my mother was a non-English speaker, she had the additional issue of having trouble communicating with hospital staff and nurses, and was often ignored as well.

As I got older, the issue of class and position in society became one of the most influential factors in whether or not I would be able to go to college. Although my parents had never had to deal with being unable to feed their two children, higher education was another matter. While it had been two years since my brother had been accepted to and decided to attend an out-of-state university, my family's financial state had gotten worse since then. Technically, our family was making far below the poverty line for a family of four. My father explained to me and my mother that he wasn't sure if he would be able to send me to college – that he might have to sell his car off for what money he could get for it to be able to assist in paying for the school I had chosen. This was the first and only time that I watched my father break down and cry in front of me.

Seeing him sob uncontrollably was a wake-up call of sorts for me. As I watched him cry, I realized that the emotions of despair he displayed stemmed from the shame and embarrassment he felt from not being able to financially provide for his daughter when she needed it, and the frustration he felt in having failed (in his opinion) to live up to society's standards of what it meant to be a "good" father and a real man. At this moment, I understood the pain he felt resulted from him being hurt by rigid societal sex roles. His general sense of frustration was also caused by the feeling of hopelessness he (and other members of my family) experienced on a day-to-day basis when it came down to the overwhelming problems of never having enough money or resources, and struggling against dehumanizing stereotypes of being characterized as "the other," and misunderstood by the mainstream white world. Oftentimes I felt as if I was asked by all sides to be a representative for my race, in addition to being a walking workshop to those who didn't understand my culture. Yet I had to participate in the dominant white world and learn its ways, feeling the discomfort of having the image of myself as an Asian-American woman disfigured and not understood when in the dominant world.

Living in a world where the dominant culture was white meant I had to learn its language as I grew up, its self-conceptions (and inaccurate stereotypical conceptions of other women such as myself), even though these tools were inadequate for expressing my experiences. As I struggled to deal with sexism and racism, I realized the dominant groups in both instances (males and whites) have the privilege of defining the oppressed group. Women do not have the power to define themselves under patriarchy, and instead are characterized in a male-defined culture. This is parallel to how those who hold power in white-defined culture have the luxury of not having to learn about other groups' experiences or their worlds.

Perhaps this is why I had felt hurt by a friend's seemingly unaware and ignorant comment that he agreed with a suggestion that Texas legislator Betty Brown recently put forth last year – that Asian-Americans should change their names to resolve identification problems and "to make it easier for Americans to deal with." (Implicit in her statement is that the "real" American is white). My friend's belief that Asian-American immigrants needed to forget their culture, heritage, identity, and history by adopting new names so as not to inconvenience the dominant group (so the default, dominant culture can continue to hold the luxury of not having to learn about others), showed me his lack of understanding and undervaluing of other cultures that were not his.

Despite race, class, and gender functioning as interlocking systems of oppression that have negatively influenced my position in society, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the privileges that I possess. The fact that I was actually able to attend an institution of higher education and engage in discussion on such topics such as feminist theory in an academic context, has led me to understand that within academic communities, people must learn specific discourses to understand what is being said as well as to speak and write with credibility. But while it is really empowering for those from working-class communities of color to learn this language, most students with a higher-education take this benefit for granted. Even as people from poor communities are still fighting to access academic language and discourse, the fact remains that this is a privilege mainly available to those who have the money to obtain a higher education in the U.S. (and these people are middle-class whites for the most part).

I am also privileged in the fact that I am a straight, cisgendered female living in a society where heterosexuality is the norm. I benefit from the social institution of heterosexuality, where I am able to marry the person I love, not have to worry that my partner will be beaten for loving me, and talk about whom I love without fear of losing my job or of other people's reactions. I also benefit from the socially constructed institution of gender, where my non-deviation from how a woman is expected to appear is not looked on with disapproval. Not acknowledging these privileges I receive (invisible as they may be) only reinforces the ways that the dominant norms of heterosexuality and cisgendered identities are affirmed in our culture. By not talking about it, we unconsciously support oppression by perpetuating these norms, where the notion of an invisible, "default" identity is seen as possessing such aspects of being straight and cisgendered. What the invisibilization of privileged characteristics does is to make invisible the privileges that go along with them. This is incredibly similar to how many people in the U.S. believe it is rude to describe someone in terms of race, or how many approach anti-racism with the idea of "colorblindness" and not seeing "it" ("it" being race). But again, not seeing race or mentioning difference only leads to a dominant culture (white) being assumed as the default, in the same way everyone is assumed to be straight unless it is stated that they are not. Erasing difference only reinforces racism, or any other -ism.

Many times I have been frustrated when people claim to never notice a person's race, because the discourse of color blindness states that the way to treat people equally and eradicate racism is to stop acknowledging racial categories altogether. But when one starts to simply ignore the role of an important socially-constructed category without actually addressing the negative effect it has on people in these groups, one isn't ending racism. Like bell hooks said, the refusal to recognize difference, rather than difference itself, is what separates people. Ignoring race only makes it harder to talk about, since anyone who attempts to start a conversation about racial inequality ends up being accused of perpetuating inequality and/or being racist for bringing the topic up.

To actively eliminate oppression means owning up to these privileges that one receives, which means those in the dominant group must be the ones to challenge the problems of racism, classism, sexism and homophobia. There has been a great deal of reluctance and resistance on the part of the privileged to put a name to what they are. It is tough to do so, because this means legitimizing the idea that privileged people exist in a specifically privileged state rather than just being the default or norm. In short, seeing difference. To begin the long-term work of rooting out structural inequality, people must recognize their own privileges, and understand that from this possession of power over others stems the oppression of marginalized groups through institutionalized systems.

Thoughts on Food Not Bombs

Today was the second time I've felt frustrated at a Food Not Bombs meal in the past month.

Background information: On Friday meals at Park Street on the Commons, there are usually several elderly Asian women who like to go through our bags of free produce/fruit/baked goods and take a lot, sometimes more than they should. Volunteers have told them not to take so much, since there are other people who need the food as well, but it's difficult with a language barrier since they don't speak English.

This afternoon as I was waiting for others bringing our folding tables from the church to arrive, and moving coolers of food on the ground around, I hear a white woman near the open bags of food scolding the Asian women. I think her name is Carolyn. She is a regular visitor to both our Friday and Sunday meals. “No, don't take all that,” I hear her say.

She suddenly sees me, the only non-white volunteer present there. She faces me, exasperated. “Why don't you say something to them?” she asks irritably. “You have to explain to them not to take all the food.” She emphatically says the word “you” so I understand that she is referencing the fact that I am Asian, that I have a duty to tell "my fellow Asians" that they should not be doing what they are doing.

I can't deal with whites asking me to speak to, or on behalf of, all people from my racial group. Asians are not a single, monolithic, bland, homogeneous group of people. So why do you assume I'm ethnically Chinese or that I can even speak Mandarin to these women? Cantonese, Japanese, Vietnamese - it all sounds the same anyway, right. Chink, nip, jap, gook - we're all a bunch of squinty-eyed foreigners anyway, right.

At this moment, Kami and Josh arrive and it is this last sentence from Carolyn that they hear. I don't respond to Carolyn at all; I am not looking at her but at the two of them, with what I feel is a sure sign of distress on my face. They say nothing either. I'm not positive what they are thinking - if they are annoyed that this butting-of-heads between the Asian women and Carolyn (as well as the occasional FNB volunteer) happens often, or if they have mistaken the look on my face as annoyance that this is occurring as well, or if they understand what is actually going through my mind.

Two weeks ago, on a cold, snowy Sunday meal in Central Square, in a previous incident, a different white woman came up to us and told us we should find a place with some sort of overhead shelter to protect us from the blowing snow and gusty wind. She seems concerned. “Isn't there some sort of awning you could serve under?” She mumbles something about a footbridge near a place in the neighborhood. She then pauses for a moment to the two volunteers she is talking to, and says in a lowered tone, “You need to be careful of setting up there though, because, otherwise...you know...all the black people will take your food.”

I am standing a few feet away with Brandon and his girlfriend. The three of us give each other incredulous looks silently. The woman has probably lowered her voice due to my presence in the vicinity, but clearly not enough for me to not hear what she has just said. When the woman walks away, we do indeed acknowledge the ignorant and racist nature of the comment with each other, as well share the story with other volunteers who arrive a bit later, but the incident leaves me with a feeling of uneasiness and a bad taste in my mouth. Why did no one step forward and expressly state to the woman that racist remarks of her kind would not be tolerated by the group?

Dear Food Not Bombs,

I started cooking vegan meals with you when I was 15 years old in New York. Now in Boston, I love hanging out with and meeting like-minded radical people who are doing an awesome thing by saving food from being wasted on a weekly basis by cooking and serving it to the homeless and needy. But being the only person of color (almost all the time) in a largely hetero white-male group makes me wonder if I'm just a token yellow face to you in a Eurocentric-dominated movement? I don't doubt that you have a good grasp on white privilege and institutional racism, as well as its harmful stereotypes, but can we address the fact that racism is indeed entrenched in our culture and needs to be fought against both within the movement and within society at large?

On that note, I'd like to leave y'all with this:

http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20090627201129661

Thoughts on CLPP

Going to the CLPP conference at Hampshire College recently has made me much more hyper-aware of the need for social justice and active engagement where people strive to build powerful and meaningful relationships with community members and fellow activists – people who don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk. 

One thing that really surprised me that I learned from a friend (who is currently attending her last year at Hampshire), was that students at the college just don’t talk about the intersectionality of race or class, and the privileges that come with it.  Gender seems to be an openly discussed topic, since there are many LGBT & Q friendly people there, but things like wealth and power are not discussed as much as I would have thought.  I had always assumed that the intersecting framework of race, class and privilege was something college-educated students at such a liberal institution like Hampshire would discuss frequently.  So when people of color (in an environment like Hampshire) don’t talk about class privilege that others (their more well-off peers) possess, are they enabling it?  The fact is if we don’t acknowledge the issue, it becomes "the elephant in the living room" that no one dares mention.  And this only results in us internalizing our oppression, and people with power and social privilege to internalize their superiority.

Coming from the viewpoint from someone who grew up in a poor household, people of color are used to acting in a solely reactive manner, and often never think about building specific visions or goals within our communities.  We have this mentality of scarcity where as we grew up, we never had enough - enough money, enough food, enough shelter, or security.  But as long as we sustain strong relationships with our community and family, we will always possess real wealth.

I also attended an art and activism workshop during my visit at Hampshire.  Later, I remembered how someone mentioned awhile ago to me that they did not understand why minorities sometimes refer to themselves as "people of color."  This got me thinking about how it is often the case that the phrase is used in an academic context, which subsequently led me to think about how people must learn specific discourses within certain communities (such as academic ones) to understand what is being said.  However, not everyone has access to academic language because the fact remains that this is a privilege only available with those who have the money to obtain it in America (and those people are mostly middle-class whites).

After growing up in a poor household, I will say that it is really empowering for people from lower class backgrounds to learn this language.  College students with a higher-education level can take it for granted, but people from poor communities are still fighting to access it.  But when we as marginalized groups go back home to our communities as newly-empowered cultural activists and use this academic language (which is jargon to outsiders), people in our neighborhoods end up looking at us quizzically and tell us they don’t understand what we are saying (like when we try to explain theories of oppression, systems of power, effects of colonialism, etc.), which is disheartening to say the least.  It’s a struggle to communicate. 

However, the combination of art and activism is a way to reach out to everyone, not just those who have the privilege to understand and learn to speak certain academic discourses when it comes down to it.  Art is universally understood and not something that requires special training or years of studying in a higher institution to comprehend, for that matter.  It is accessible to all, and that is what resonates strongly about its crucial use allied with activism.  But despite all this being said, systems of power are taking ownership away from the artist and turning the creation of artwork into something else with the purpose of reproducing it to profit off it.  But the creative process to self-determine is our power, and it is important to always remember that.  

Obama, APA Political Empowerment and Feelings of Ambivalence

From the start, Barack Obama’s candidacy for president stirred up a political zeal among many that people thought would remain dormant. His vision of equality and diplomacy for both here and abroad rallied a diverse spectrum of voters, including marginalized groups and many alienated from the business of politics as usual. Obama’s movement was deeply rooted in change and one that galvanized activism within minority groups.

This was a historic election year where Asian Pacific American voices were heard. We showed we were a decisive force and played a critical role in the emergence of a people of color majority in the U.S. Research shows APAs voted in greater numbers than before. The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund’s exit poll illustrates that APA voters voted for Obama by more than a 3 to 1 margin. Looking at New York City, APAs voted overwhelmingly for Obama - 74.6% of foreign-born APAs supported Obama, compared to 89.8% of those who were native-born. The APA community empowered itself through political participation and civic engagement. For the first time, Asian Pacific Americans saw someone like them, another person of color who they could relate to and could represent them in a historically white U.S. presidency.

However, I am torn between feelings of confliction of celebrating the occurrence of the first non-white person to be elected to the White House, and the growing signs that Obama may go back on his word. Since Obama’s notable victory in the primary there have been many disconcerting warnings that he has been moving away from the core pledges he made to more centrist ones, including the use of mercenary troops in Iraq, the escalation of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan and his switch to a pro-Israel stance, which have upset and dismayed many.

Compromising on goals, playing it safe and rebuffing radical change will not result in real progress. Sakhi program coordinator, Anannya Bhattacharjee once said, "If we are not going to do political work that truly threatens business as usual, why are we doing it at all?" Everything in life is political. Getting involved is empowering and important, especially if immigrants, the poor and other politically disenfranchised groups are to be heard. But despite the fact that Obama is often heralded as a savior of sorts by many minority groups, he still serves the interests of private capital and its drive toward military and economic expansion. How can one believe that he is truly different when many of his financers who funded the Democratic Convention did so with corporate money, and are more concerned with capital gain? Obama may seem different on the surface but those who have financially invested in him stand for business as usual, and are most likely not supporting a candidate that will impose radical change to U.S. domestic and foreign policy.

This is why change needs to occur from the bottom up. Blue Scholars’ Geo states, "Philip Vera Cruz said, 'A movement must go beyond its leaders.' I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to have Obama lend his charisma and leadership to a revolutionary cause instead of a reformist one." It is up to individuals to build the movement from the ground up and alternatives to the two-party system must be created. It is vital that people understand that real change can only occur and be sustained when we create a direct democracy instead of depending on a representative government.

On Stereotypes and the Sexualization of API Females

This photo essay focuses on the topic of the stereotypes of sexualization, passivity and submissiveness of Asian Pacific Islander (API) females. Currently there exists a form of exoticism which sustains postcolonial relations of power and dominance. Travel advertisements are explicit about "docile" and "willing" Asian women (Davidson and Taylor, 1999). A large percentage of sex customers seek out women whose racial, national, or class identities are different from their own. This may be related to the social perceptions of the sexual/moral purity of Western white women.

Sex industries totally depend on the eroticization of the ethnic and cultural. Like bell hooks (1992) states in her essay Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance, "Within commodity culture, ethnicity becomes spice, seasoning that can liven up the dull dish that is mainstream white culture…The 'real fun' is to be had by bringing to the surface all those 'nasty' unconscious fantasies and longings about contact with the Other in the secret…structure of white supremacy."

In the first photo "Dragon Geisha Lady," notions of racial distinction and hierarchy are present. This photo is overt with its sexuality and is a conventional representation of a hypersexualized stereotype that Asian American women have to contend with. In this picture, the woman is dressed in a kimono-style wrap dress with a dragon motif, holding a Japanese fan. The manner she is dressed and styled in emphasizes her sexuality (short dress, high heels and long fingernails). Interestingly, there is confusion about the nature of the geisha profession. Geisha are portrayed as prostitutes in popular Western culture. This explains why this photo does not accurately portray how a geisha traditionally dresses. However, geisha do not engage in paid sex with clients – they entertain the customer by reciting verse, playing musical instruments, or engaging in light conversation (Henshall, 1999).

There exists a desire for a high degree of control over the management of others as sexual, racialized, and engendered beings and to strip them of their autonomy and control. This is at least a part of the backlash against the women’s movement in the West. Prostitute women are socially constructed as "others" – but if she were really dehumanized to this extent, she would cease to exist as a person. Thus most clients appear to pursue a contradiction (Davidson and Taylor, 1999).

The prostitute woman is viewed as acting inconsistent with her gender identity by taking an impersonal and active approach to sex. The prostitute-using man, however, is behaving consistently with the attributes associated with his gender. Prostitute use is socially sanctioned through the fiction of biologically determined gender roles.

Western male tourists contrast their own generosity and humanity against the failings of local men. One can see sex tourism is about sustaining a white identity for white men. David Wellman (1993) states that the creation of self requires the social construction of another. "Self implies other; without Other, there can be can be no Self." Thus without sexually controlling API women, whites have no identity, power or privilege. Their economic and racialized power is used to possess these women.

Likewise, here one can see a nude Asian female again wearing heels, with a dragon motif covering her body, a fan in one hand and Chinese knotted charms hanging from her hair. This photo was taken of April, a contestant on Season Two of America’s Next Top Model, whose ethnic background was not actually Chinese, but half-Japanese. At the same time the show’s judges criticized her about how she should be proud of her Japanese background, the show’s stylists exotified her in a manner that was not even uniform with her ethnicity (Hyphen, 2008). Depicted in the "Dragon Lady" stereotype (movies from the early century have been successful in portraying Asian women in this manner), April will presumably seduce the white male standing in the photo’s background into self-destruction.

Meanwhile the nude white male directs his gaze towards her, underpinning the idea of the male gaze in society. "The male gaze is so pervasive…that it is assumed or taken for granted. Females are shown offering up their femininity for the pleasure of a male spectator." This practice says much about the social relationship between the observer and the observed. The image of the female nude in 17th century European painting, for example, has always been one that is inactive and traditionally reclining. Under his gaze of possession, the observer sees her as an object of desire and a creature in his domain (The Male Gaze, 2007).

The idea of women depicted in extremely sexual ways reinforces the gender institution. As a social institution, the attitudes and behavioral norms that are specific to one’s gender are established patterns of behavior that have a particular and recognized purpose. Gender is an institution that is socially constructed, which refers to the many different processes through which the expectations associated with being a girl/woman and a boy/man are created and maintained by society. Social behavior and social attitudes are influenced greatly by many structures; gender being just one of several others including race, class and sexual orientation.

Intersectionality is the idea that race, gender, class and sexual preference are all factors that can contribute to an institutionalized oppression. People persist in trying to categorize others in either/or categories. One is either male or female, black or white (Collins 2001). In addition, these dichotomous premises are ranked - males are superior to females, whites to others. Race, class and gender function as parallel and interlocking systems that shape the relationship of domination and subordination, as one can see from the photos discussed. Racism and sexism are both institutionalized. As a result, differences in power may constrain our ability to connect with one another even when we think we are engaged in dialogue about differences.

Here, an advertisement in early 2008 for the restaurant "Chinese Laundry" in Providence Monthly featured a black and white image of a nude female torso with traditional Chinese characters tattooed down the side of her body and a black banner containing the text “see what you are missing” across her breasts. A bar of text across the top of the advertisement read, "good things come to those who wait." A month later, the advertisement was printed again in the magazine - this time saying, "the wait is over." Groups like the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum objected to the marketing, stating that it was offensive "…for its dehumanization and commodification of the female form, and its exoticism of Asian cuisine and culture. While we recognize that 'sex sells' is a common marketing tactic, this particular image evokes racist stereotypes of Asian women as hypersexual, submissive and 'foreign.' " (National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, 2008).

The advertisement implies that diners of this restaurant will be able to conquer the East, not only gastronomically, but sexually. It suggests insidiously, that having an Asian woman is as easy as going to an Asian fusion restaurant. Here the female form has become an object for sexual consumption. The woman is further objectified and dehumanized because she lacks a face, hands and legs (and lacks humanity or the ability to act for herself), but her sexual aspects (breasts, crotch and thighs) are displayed (Lamb, 2008). Without using explicit physical markers to depict an Asian woman, the ad makes up for this with the tagline’s language and the writing on the woman's torso.

Additionally, it plays on Orientalizing fetish stereotypes of Asian women and the stereotypical association of Chinese/Asians with the laundry business. The restaurant tries to draw on the "mysteries of the Orient" appeal of Eastern cuisine to entice customers. It is distinctly reminiscent of late nineteenth century depictions and perceptions of Asian women as a sexually novel conquest.

Similarly there have been other ads like this one, seen in this ad for Tao, an Asian bistro and nightclub. It is important to examine the sexualization of race that is present in this ad as well. The image of a woman’s bare backside with Chinese characters written on her conjures up the usual sexual stereotypes of Asian women as "China Dolls," or exotic, eager to please, submissive, sexual objects, right down to the “happy ending” line - a happy ending being defined as when a masseuse finishes one’s massage with oral sex or manual release (Yu, 2007).

In conjunction with the stereotypical images of Asian women as sexualized beings, they are also depicted as submissive and passive. The "Lotus Blossom" stereotype is representative of the obedient Asian female. It is this yielding and exotic nature that the male looks upon to conquer and own.

In this photograph, the couple depicted is shown in a conventional manner concerning gender roles. The husband is the dominant one with his head looking up, as his wife meekly looks down, averting her eyes while holding on to her husband for support. This assumption regarding gender of women being compliant and docile is one that disadvantages females because through the institution of gender, women are forced to share certain expectations and perform roles that have specific rights and duties attached to them.

The idea of femininity, or a set of social practices and cultural representations, is linked to being a woman. The same goes for the connection between men and masculinity. Gender is learned through the process of gender socialization, the method of learning one’s culture (practices, norms, values, beliefs, motives, social roles, language, etcetera) and how to live within one’s society. Agents of socialization include the media, community, religion and the workplace.

Because gender is the set of emotions, behaviors and expectations assigned to women and men, it is a cultural institution as opposed to sex, which is a biological concept. Judith Lorber (1994) states in "Night to His Day”: The Social Construction of Gender," that while gender is something culturally assigned to us at birth, it is something people actively create throughout their lives as well. There are both subtle and explicit ways in which gendered behavior and expectations impact everyday life. Lorber explains that gender organizes basic institutions like religion, education, work and the state. This is how gendered ways of thinking and acting are upheld.

This expectation about gender disadvantages men as well, because they are forced to perform roles and conduct their sexual behavior according to gendered scripts. Boys who later become adults then must deal with taking on a gendered social status in their society’s stratification system. This is how gender is ascribed (Lorber, 1994).

In this last image, two Asian females are shown smiling at the viewer. Again, the photo references the idea of the male gaze, where women offer their femininity for an absent male spectator. The subservient and obedient characterizations of the "China Doll" and "Lotus Blossom" sexually loaded stereotypes are not restricted to just Chinese or Japanese women, as the females in the photograph are Thai. Their femininity is emphasized through their physical appearance - their long hair is wrapped in flowers, their faces are smiling (which has been shown to be perceived as more feminine) and petite tops, skirts, jewelry and make-up worn.

This is one way that our behaviors are gendered, as the everyday mannerisms of women and men and the way we dress are directly related to how institutionalized gender has become. Deborah Tannen (1993) explains how there is no unmarked woman, because one can never get dressed and not be judged on the message that one’s clothing, hairstyle, jewelry, make-up (or lack of) may be sending. Language is also marked as well because all married women’s surnames are marked. In contrast, men do not have to think about the implications of keeping one’s surname, because it would never even occur to them in the first place to have given it up. This is how their actions would be unmarked.

It is also interesting to observe that the external markers of gender, such as clothing, are what make the transformation of gender possible. If there was no such thing as gender differentiation, then the ideas of transvestism and transsexuality would have no meaning (Lorber, 1994).

The fact also remains that we live in a patriarchal gender scheme. Because of this, society identifies attributes connected to being male as being highly valuable and actively supports the high evaluation of characteristics that may inadvertently become associated with maleness. Because maleness is valued more in our culture, it is why females who act in a masculine manner are viewed less critically than men who act in a feminine manner. Referring to a boy as gay/womanly is different than teasing a girl for being a tomboy since there is a power implication in this distinction – that the traits of maleness are cherished and respected.

Essentially what men and women do does not matter in the social institution of gender. Even if they do the same things – the social institution of gender insists that what they do is perceived as different (Lorber, 1994).

The photos analyzed show how complex gender is. It is a structure learned through the process of socialization, forming from conventions that are both socially and culturally created. Because of this, it is an institution that causes systemic oppression, alongside sexual preference, race and class.

Works Cited

Collins, Patricia Hill. 2001. "Toward a New Vision: Race, Class, Gender as Categories of Analysis and Connection." Pp. 57-65 in Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions, edited by S. Shaw and J. Lee. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield.

Davidson and Taylor. 1999. "Fantasy Islands: Exploring the Demand for Sex Tourism." Pp.368-380 in Men’s Lives, edited by M. Kimmel and M. Messner. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Henshall, K. G. 1999. A History of Japan. London: Macmillan Press LTD.

hooks, bell. 1992. "Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance." Pp. 21-39 in Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston, MA: South End Press.

Hyphen. (2008, April 18). America's Next Top Model: Bay Area Search. Message posted to http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/blog/2008/04/americas-next-top-model-bay-ar.html

Lamb, Jennifer. (2008, March 4). Fusion Restaurant Objectifies Women. Message posted to http://www.reappropriate.com/?p=1102

Lorber, Judith. 1994. "Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender." Pp. 1-16 in Reading Women’s Lives, edited by L. Smollin. Boston, MA: Pearson.

National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. (2008, March 21). Asian Americans Protest 'Chinese Laundry' Restaurant. Message posted to http://newamericandimensions.com/blog/?p=194

Tannen, Deborah. "Marked Women, Unmarked Men." The New York Times Magazine. June 20, 1993.

The Male Gaze. 2007. http://it.stlawu.edu/~global/glossary/gaze1.html

Wellman, David T. 1993. Portraits of White Racism. Boston, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Yu, Phil. (2007, Jan 5). The Tao of Racism. Message posted to http://www.angryasianman.com/2007/01/tao-of-racism.html

Photo Credits

"Dragon Geisha Lady;" N.d.; retrieved from Costume Emporium Plus; http://www.costumeemporiumplus.com/servlet/Categories?category=Oriental

"April;" 2004, Jan 13; Nigel Barker; retrieved from Hyphen; http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/blog/2008/04/americas-next-top-model-bay-ar.html

"Chinese Laundry;" Feb 2008; advertisement; retrieved from Providence Monthly Magazine. Feb. 2008.

"The Tao of Racism;" 2007, Jan 5; Phil Yu; retrieved from Angry Asian Man; http://www.angryasianman.com/2007/01/tao-of-racism.html

"We’re Sudah Hitched;" 2008, May 10; Choen Lee; retrieved from We’re Sudah Hitched; http://domnwanyee.blogspot.com/2008/05/omoon-tang.html

"The Red Umbrella;" March 28, 2008; Manuel Libres Librodo Jr.; retrieved from Dhari Devi Photo Gallery; http://www.pbase.com/manny_librodo/image/96176253