Have you ever been with an Asian woman before?
About this zine “Have you ever been with an Asian woman before?” is a zine currated by Helen Yeung of Migrant Zine Collective, in collaboration with Gemishka Chetty and Aiwa Pooamorn for an interactive art installation for First Thursdays in July, 2019. Driven by poets, visual artists, creatives and activists, the work focuses on feminist conversations, and reclaiming our narratives as Asian women in Aotearoa. All contributors have submitted their work in response to the misogynistic and racially charged question of: “Have you ever been with an Asian woman before?” This zine aims to offer a space for Asian women to release their pent up anger on experiences of being exoticised, fetishised and treated as the Other, and celebrate their unruly, bold and unapologetic voices.
Contact us Helen Yeung/Migrant Zine Collective Instagram: @migrantzinecollective Facebook: Migrant Zine Collective Email: migrantzinecollective@gmail.com Aiwa Pooamorn/Gemishka Chetty/Creative Creatures Instagram: @creativecreatures Facebook: Creative Creatures Email: crewativecreatures@gmail.com This zine may be photocopied and distributed for non-profit or educational purposes. Printed in Aotearoa/New Zealand, July 2019.
Beware of the old white grandpa at point chev beach, he walks there every afternoon By Aiwa Pooamorn (@mama_aiwa)
If you go to point chev beach the one with the glory hole toilet an old white grandpa in a faded polo t-shirt grey slacks and leather jandals will tell you he is: •lonely •single •divorced •neglected by his two kids He will stare through thick gold-rimmed glasses at you you in your saggy warewhare one-piece your half-empty bottle of $8 red wine He will ask if you are: •Filipino •Malaysian •Indonesian •Chinese •Thai He will tell you he knows Thai women: •Thai women they love to drink •Can’t roll their r’s •Thai women tell him they not ‘postitute’ •They give him good massage •They ask to have a glass of his wine •They drink the whole bottle
My vagina bleeds once every month My vagina bleeds a potent type of red, Gushing through my body like an unapologetic waterfall, But still I choose to cover it up and hide it away. My vagina bleeds because the women before me couldn’t go to university, My vagina bleeds so that one day the blood, that was lost, forgotten and abused. Delivers strength, resilience, and not just to be your muse. My vagina bleeds and suddenly you find me disgusting, My vagina bleeds only to feel the pain from pushing that tampon up until it reaches my brain, trying to fit in with the pretty blonde girls who make it look so easy. My vagina bleeds, my mother tells me, My vagina bleeds, science explains to me. My vagina bleeds, and you think you can put your dick inside of me? My vagina bleeds, only to find that I’m your cumdumpster, wasting my body for your exotic pleasure, but karma sutra doesn’t own me anymore. How dare you grab the vagina that bleeds, Or did you forget, it was also that vagina that allowed you to breathe. For every vagina, there is a dick, And for all those dicks, they better keep themselves in check. A bleeding vagina, is not something you know, So don’t tell us our pain is unreal, Because we don’t complain when you reach down and scratch your balls, And yet I seem to gather you have the audacity to call us whores. My vagina bleeds worry into the river of sadness, My vagina lies, just to survive, My vagina bleeds with the guilt and the shame of boys laughing at my blood stained bee-hind. My bleeding vagina is blessed and its cursed, its kind and its egotistical, its confused and its certain, My bleeding vagina should have the right to her choices, to her dreams, to her desires. My vagina bleeds, and it bleeds, and it bleeds.
My Vagina Bleeds By Gemishka Chetty (@chetty_g)
Marie Kondo & the Orient in NZ news Excerpt from an essay on inferential racism By Eda Tang (@eda_tang)
One way that inferential racism is maintained is through ‘us’ versus ‘them’ discourses, which are articulated through biased interpretations of reality. A Stuff NZ article titled, “Marie Kondo and the allure of extreme lifestyle choices” frames the Netflix star through the lens of Orientalism (Stock, 2019), a Eurocentric way of “dominating restructuring, and having authority over the Orient” (Said, 1978). Said characterised the Orientalist vision by both the Western-masculine quest for Oriental mystery and sexuality, and the political and economic control over the Orient (Sardar, 1999). The first component manifests in the use of the word “allure” in the headline, suggesting that the lifestyle is a seductive performance of Asiatic mystery. The writer introduces Kondo as a “petite Japanese princess” which fetishises her domesticity and perceived feminine obedience. This ultimately reduces her to an existing and common stereotype of Asian women, who are perceived as passive and compliant. The familiar portrayal of an Asian woman in media under the lens of Oriental mystique does not seem outrightly racist, but normalises the degradation of Asian women as passive objects for male consumption. Although the trademarked KonMari tidying method is a spiritual Shintoism practice by way of appreciating all parts of worldly elements (Mcdougall, 2016), the writer rebrands it as an “extreme measure”, appropriating Kondo’s method as a way of saving money to “leave us wealthier” (Stock, 2019). Thus, the latter component is observable through not only the writer’s rejection and demonisation of this non-Western practice, but his repurposing of it for ‘his own people’s’ capitalistic gain.
This patronising attitude renders Shintoism and Japanese culture by subject to ridicule, as “it takes an extreme person to live it faithfully” (Stock, 2019). While the article’s intention may be to lightly parodise a trending Netflix show, it deals with a culture that is personal to some of New Zealand ethnic minorities. The word ‘extreme’ is used 15 times in the article, caricaturing and delegitimising the daily practices of many Japanese and other Asian cultures. Simultaneously, the writer continues to perpetuate the belief of the West as civilised and ‘normal’. Moreover, it echoes a common discourse to portray Muslim communities as ‘extreme’, which subconsciously homogenises and radicalises an entire population of people. News written through the Western figment of Orientalism ignores New Zealand’s multiculturalism, favouring Western values as central and neutral. This Eurocentric bias is a byproduct of predominantly white newsrooms, and ingrained attitudes reflective of systematic biases. Unconsciously, Orientalist discourses essentialise non-Western societies and legitimise existing power relations, which continue the marginalisation of those ethnic communities without the political and economic power to represent themselves. The way that news shapes a community’s ‘way of life’ is what makes inferential racism more dangerous than overt racism, as it unknowingly defines who gets to feel more at home in that community.
DIALOGUE EXCERPTS WITH A CREEPY OLD FAT MAN [UNI TUTOR IN AN ART FOUNDATION COURSE] Anonymous Notes: - He seemed to have a thing for asians (He listened to some Korean music and posted photos on social media of some Chinese actor who he thought was “quite sexy” who looked like a fucking 20 year old while he’s 65+) - Always used to get right up in people’s faces when talking to them and sit too close, especially girls, and go out of his way to help them. - He prob was just trying to be a helpful teacher but was socially awkward and weird and helped girls more often. Though prob cos guys wouldn’t have a bar of him and would steer clear of him. The girls were a bit softer and ‘easier’ to push help on and have long talks with. == [After a one-on-one discussion we occasionally have about our art projects] Him: Do you have any questions? Me: umm… (pretending to think). No. Him: Why not? (trying to be cheeky/funny). Ask me a question. Ugh fuck off and stop trying to force people to converse with you == [On a soft sculpture (like a plush fabric toy) I made of a vagina and tampon with red polka dots on it (The brief was to make a vessel and object that goes inside it. It was made just to be funny/vulgar)] Him: That’s quite naughty, quite sexy. I like it. [Dirty/flirty tone of voice + *shoulder nudge*] Fucken ewww. Do you not notice the tampon next to it?? And don’t fucking touch me [He always referred to a lot of things as “sexy”, even posted a photo of a flower and wrote “you sexy thing”, just to try and assert some sort of sexual energy when he’s the fucken opposite with this protruding boulder-like stomach and ugly creepy face]
== When helping me make a portfolio to get into a bachelor course (and making it seem like it’ll take way longer than it should. Like MONTHS instead of a week or so like other people do) and giving a title for the vagina sculpture, which was ALREADY named “Vessel” Him: What should we call this?...Pink Pussy?” (Dirty smirk on his face) When I mentioned vagina sculpture Him: I don’t like the word va-GI-na. It sounds nasty and mean… I like the word PU-ssy. It sounds nicer. Wtf. Isn’t that more disrespectful?? I dunno. Later on when I had an interview for AUT’s visual arts, the man looked through my portfolio on his laptop beforehand, liked my work, especially “the vagina one” which he referred to pretty casually. Realized vagina IS the more normal word for it and the old man tutor was just being his creepy self.
== When he tried to get to know me asking what other stuff I liked outside of art: Him: Do you like guys? Or girls? Me: Guys Him: It’s ok if it’s girls Me: Him: …Ok so it’s guys. Do you like kiwi or Asian guys? Me: Kiwi Him: Why not Asian? There are plenty of handsome Asian guys == Him: My daughter’s bi. She used to be with an Asian girl... We (Him and his partner) always wished it was her… but she’s with a guy now Ew you just wanted an Asian girl in the family. == Him: What music do you listen to? Me: Poppunk/ poprock Him: ... like Kpop? Jpop? UGHHHHH. OMFG. Stop pushing all your wannabe Asian tastes on me fucken creepy cunt.
@chinesegoth
A NON-EXHAUSTIVE LIST OF THINGS I WANT TO SAY (BUT I WON’T) AS I FEEL YOU TRYING TO REMOVE MY BRA By Natasha Lay 1. Oh OK, I didn’t realise we were doing that-2. But why would you even want to have sex with me? 3. I mean, I don’t even know if I’d have sex with me. 4. Oh shit, am I the first Asian woman you’ve ever been with? 5. Or first Asian, whatever. 6. What the hell are you doing with my feet please stop doing that with my feet 7. Oh god, please don’t tell me I’m the first nonwhite person you’ve ever been with? 8. You grew up in GI and you’re a goddamn compsci student, how the hell is that even possible? 9. Not saying that that’s the case, but if it is, then that actually kind of makes me feel better. 10. Well, because at least that means you don’t have a weird fetish, right? 11. Unless you’re doing some weird gotta-catch-em-all thing, in which case, ew ew ew 12. I probably shouldn’t say this right now, but you kind of remind me of this dude who told me that I reminded him of his ex, who of course, was also Asian and of course, looked nothing like me, and I laughed at the time because I thought that was a hilariously awful thing to say but I think he thought I was flattered. 13. Yeah, I still had sex with him, unfortunately. THE COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF THINGS I SAID AS I FEEL YOU TRYING TO REMOVE MY BRA 1. Oh, it’s a front clasp.
Submitted by Sneh Patel
East Asian Erotic Cinema: A Departure from the “Powerful Phallus”? Exerpt from journal article published in Interesting Journal, 2018. By Helen Yeung
While In the Realm of the Senses, along with The Handmaiden and Lust, Caution, inconsistently displays similarities to Western hardcore pornography and even patriarchal representations in contemporary Western cinema. This raises the question as to whether “East Asian erotica” can even be considered a separated, homogenised genre from the West. Interestingly, an examination of Oshima’s career as a Japanese film director reveals strong connections to Western cinema, particularly the growth of French New Wave filmmakers in the 1950s and 1960s. The Handmaiden itself has been adapted from Sarah Water’s historical crime novel, Fingersmith, a story set in Britain during the Victorian period, and Ang Lee has commented on the attractiveness of Western culture, directing multiple award-winning American films over the years. Perhaps Lehman’s (2007) idea of East Asian erotic film offering a “radical critique of patriarchy” merely stems from normalised Western stereotypes of East Asian women as passive, hyper-sexual entities for male consumption. Such a view is contributing to the West’s perceptions of itself as masculine, dominant, progressive and strong, while the “East” is portrayed as feminine, weak, submissive and backwards. As cultural critic Bell Hooks (2014) comments, ‘from the standpoint of white supremacist capitalist patriarchy, the hope is that desires for the “primitive” or fantasies about the Other can be continually exploited, and that such exploitation will occur in a manner that reinscribes and maintains the status quo’ (p.45). In Lehman’s (2007) case, the ending of his chapter inherently fails to differentiate between the rich socio-political mosaic of the “East”, jumping from generalised, outdated claims of this region to only encompass China, Japan and India; to assuming that erotic traditions and attitudes can be understood through a few ancient texts. Such a view continues reinforcing orientalist narratives of the non-Western world, in this instance, perceiving the “East Asian erotic film” as a mystical departure from reality, failing to take into account the intersections these films have with the West.
mysterious asian woman / 25 / 5.0 uber rating / cum for a ride then get the fuck out / why? / feelings mess up the upholstery, brad / mysterious asian woman’s pussy is opulent / mysterious asian woman is a sagittarius / plot twist: scorpi-o-no stellium / mysterious asian woman is an astronomer / turn ons include calling her shi shen / mysterious asian woman is aloof / unbothered / sexy / spicy / mysterious asian woman makes 50 dumplings in 20 minutes / weeaboos love dumplings / mysterious asian woman loves weebs / mysterious asian woman has a dragon tattoo / where? / mysterious asian woman wants you to guess / why? / mysterious asian woman wants you to imagine her n a k e d / you’re welcome / if mysterious asian was a font she would be Japanese 3017 / mysterious asian woman seeks lover who will eat her out like her pussy is yamcha / mysterious asian woman lOooOVEs dragon ball z / mysterious asian woman loves a dragon ball z pun / if you know what mysterious asian woman is saiyan / mysterious asian woman wants to feel validated by white culture / white women / white men / hi brad / p s y c h / leave mysterious asian woman the fuck alone - Anonymous