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Opposite Ends of the Spectrum
A glimpse into why the Western world simultaneously fetishizes Asian women and emasculates Asian men
by Justine Torres
In Western society, there is a prevalent double standard in how Asian men and Asian women are perceived as attractive. At opposite ends of the racial spectrum of allure, Asian men are emasculated while Asian women are hypersexualized. However, upon second glance, the feminization of Asian men and fetishization of Asian women are deeply intertwined. This double standard was initially enforced by history and has been perpetuated over hundreds of years by mass entertainment and modern media. It is important to note that this article analyzes the perception of Asians and attractiveness through a largely binary lens. Much of the research and history that relate to this double standard focuses on the experiences of cisgender, heterosexual Asian men and women, failing to take into account the rich narratives of individuals from the LGBTQ+ community. Asia is also home to tremendous ethnic and
cultural diversity. There is a tendency to group all Asians under one monolith, disregarding and diminishing each cultural group’s unique history, celebrations, and individual identities. Oftentimes, people fail to realize that there are signifcant inconsistencies in perception even among Asian men and Asian women.
For example, although Asian men are signifcantly less likely than white men to be involved in a romantic relationship with a partner, an article co-authored by Dr. Grace Kao, a sociology professor at Yale University, reveals that there is a substantial discrepancy in Asian men’s odds of romantic involvement within female Asian subgroups (namely East and Southeast Asian women) are more likely to be subjected to fetishization than others.
Regardless, Danielle Sohn, a third-year University of Florida student, noted that “at the core of it all, all women of color are incredibly dehumanized” and that “all women of color aren’t given the credit that they’re complex individuals who lead very different lives.”
Western stereotypes about Asian individuals originate back to the mid-1800s, when a major wave of Chinese American men immigrated to the United States to construct the First Transcontinental
Railroad as a labor force. This
demographic shift was also accompanied by an immense wave of xenophobia and, more specifcally, the establishment of the “Yellow Peril,” a sentiment defned by Merriam-Webster as “the alleged danger that predominantly white Western civilizations and populations could be overwhelmed by Asian peoples.”
The fear that Chinese men would steal the jobs and livelihoods of white Americans spread rampantly throughout America, culminating in the passage of a number of xenophobic anti-immigration laws. The most notable of these laws was the
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers to U.S. soil and effectively
“I just don’t date Asian men.”
established a power imbalance between the East and West that forced Asian men
into positions of subservience. fnancially support themselves, oftentimes had to take on occupational roles such as laundering, dishwashing, and cooking, roles which were often seen as “womens
work,” thus emasculating Asian men in comparison to their white counterparts.
Asian women were also victims of Yellow
Peril. Amidst the xenophobic sentiment that pervaded the U.S. at the time, the country also passed the Page Act of 1875, which aimed to prohibit the immigration of unfree laborers and (primarily Chinese) women brought in for “immoral purposes,” further bolstering the power dynamic between Asians and white Americans and
establishing the notion that Asian women are sexual in nature.
After World War II, these ideas were broadcasted to the rest of the Western
world with the rise of the “Lotus Blossom”
trope, which was formed on the basis that Asian women are hypersexual, disposable objects of desire.
“I’ve always had a thing for Asian women.”
One modern example of this is the Broadway musical “Miss Saigon,” which depicts the futile relationship between an
American GI named Chris and a 17-yearold Vietnamese prostitute named Kim during the Vietnam War. Moreover, even when Asian women were portrayed outside of the Lotus Blossom image, they were placed under the trope of the “Dragon Lady.” In these fctional stories, Asian women were known to weaponize their “inherent sensuality” and were perceived as female embodiments of Yellow Peril. Thus, Asian women were always constrained under the narrative of sexual embodiment.
Aside from romanticizing the objectifcation of Asian women and enforcing the belief that they will always be inferior to white women, all of these stories possess an underlying current of white saviorism.
White saviorism, according to an article by “Healthline,” is a term that refers to white individuals who believe that their responsibility is to support and uplift communities of color because these communities lack the resources, willpower, and intelligence to do it themselves. Accordingly, the media’s fetishization of Asian women — and its accompanying undercurrent of white saviorism — suggests that Asian men are an inferior romantic option compared to white men. Hollywood’s portrayal of Asian men has also played a role in their subsequent emasculation. One example of this is This stereotype can be traced back to a New York Times article published in 1966 by sociologist William Peterson. Amidst the Cold War era, in an attempt
the depiction of Asian men as awkward, bumbling immigrants with accents, which subconsciously enforces the idea that an Asian accent is attributed to lower levels of intelligence. A notorious instance of this characterization is depicted in the beloved 1961 movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” In the flm, white actor Mickey Rooney dons yellowface, wearing makeup to imitate the appearance of an East Asian individual, in his performance as Mr. Yunioshi. This reflects that Asian men were not even given the chance to represent their cultures in cinema. weaponized against Asian men is that of the “nerd,” the intelligent Asian man, most often in a STEM-related feld, whose societal power comes at the cost of their sexual power. This one-dimensional characterization, while seemingly harmless, or even favorable, reinforces the model minority stereotype.
to appease potential allies, he describes Asians as “a minority that has risen above even prejudiced criticism,” having achieved their success “by their own almost totally unaided effort.”
Aside from diminishing the fact that Asian Americans are still very discriminated in every level of society, this stereotype establishes a rift between Asian Americans and other people of color, contrasting Asian Americans with Black Americans, who Peterson claimed were “problem minorities” who deserved some of the prejudices against them. Furthermore, even when Asian men step out of movie roles and take on roles as doctors and lawyers in real life, they still aren’t seen as up to par in comparison to their white counterparts. “It’s like the mean level of [attractiveness for] Asian men is lower … as if for an Asian American man, you have to be really welleducated, have lots of money … maybe that person is seen as almost as attractive as a low [socioeconomic status] white person,” Kao said. “It’s not that socioeconomic status doesn’t matter, but maybe Asian men have to overcompensate for some of these things.” Asian American women, on the other hand, fnd themselves contending with an entirely different set of issues. Sohn, who identifes as Korean American, spoke from experience. “There’s this spectrum in terms of datability and sexuality; you’re either incredibly sexualized and your only role in life is to serve the sexual desire and needs of white men, or you’re disgusting because you’re not a white woman.”
Sohn and many other Asian American women are hyper-conscious of how they’re perceived in the dating world, with the fear of being fetishized always sitting at the back of their minds. Yet, this sexualization of Asian women has even farther-reaching consequences than being perceived as sexual commodities.
Research from the Asian Pacifc Institute on Gender-Based Violence reveals that as much as 55 percent of Asian women in the U.S. report experiencing intimate and/or sexual violence in their lifetime.
Moreover, reporting forum STOP AAPI
Hate revealed that there were almost 3,800 instances of anti-Asian hate instances over roughly a year during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 68 percent of the attacks targeting Asian women. Most recently, the hypersexualization of Asian women was used as an excuse to justify the Atlanta shooting in March of 2021, revealing that Asian Americans are still experiencing the ramifcations of racial stereotypes to this day.
“What a lot of people see on screens could be their … only representation of how they see people … if they think that all Asian people are a monolith, they are going to diminish what makes us unique, what values we hold deepest to us, our cultural celebrations,” said Mikee Orense, a fourth-year student and Filipino Student Association Advocacy Chair at UF.
The answer to the desexualization of Asian men and the hypersexualization of Asian women is not to sexualize Asian men more.
Instead, it is to see and represent all Asian people as multi-faceted and fully-realized individuals.
Slowly but surely, the narrative is shifting. In the year 2021, even amidst the rise in racism against Asians due to the coronavirus pandemic, the world is witnessing a cultural paradigm in the making.
“Can you cure my yellow fever?”
Hallyu, also known as the wave of Korean pop culture across the globe, has seen the rise in popularity of K-Dramas and K-Pop, and movies and television shows such as “Crazy Rich Asians,” “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” “Never Have I Ever,” “Parasite,” “ShangChi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” and “Squid Game” have brought Asian culture to a global sphere and represented the Asian community in a positive light.
Ultimately, Asian Americans seek to be seen and heard as fully-developed, complex people. They deserve to be represented, not to further a white narrative, but to showcase the beauty behind their own stories.
