Beyond March

Celebrating Women’s History Beyond March

BY VICTORIA FALK

Throughout early American history, women were treated as secondclass citizens – "the weaker sex." It was commonplace for women to be either ignored, abused, and mistreated and denied the same fundamental rights afforded men. Traditionally it was thought that "the women's place was in the home," and "women were to be seen and not heard." It was not until August 18, 1920, with the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, that women finally received the right to vote. Although that was a great victory after a nearly 100-year battle for voting rights, the struggle continues to this date for true inclusion and equality for women in our male-dominated American society. Thus, there was a need to recognize and highlight the contributions made by women to American society. The monthlong celebration of women's accomplishments began as a mere week-long celebration. In 1981, Congress passed a law encouraging the national celebration of Women's History Week during the week starting March 7, 1982. Each of the following years, the nation recognized Women's History Week until 1987, when the National Women's History Project pushed Congress to pass a law designating March 1 to March 31 as Women's History Month. From then on, each year, the month of March has been recognized as Women's History Month. During this month of March, women's contributions, which have traditionally been ignored and overlooked, are brought to the forefront and celebrated. This has been a time to acknowledge women in general and honor specific women who have gone above and beyond in leadership, politics, business, the arts, and other fields. As we take time to reflect upon women's contributions, we must remember to thank all women. Women such as female doctors, nurses, police officers, teachers, child-care providers, grocery store workers, and others who have worked hard during this pandemic to ensure that life and business continue to function as orderly as possible, as we find ways to adjust during these unprecedented times. Let us also acknowledge those powerhouse women, the trailblazers, the change-makers who are making history: 1. Kamala D. Harris, born to a Jamaican father and South Asian mother, is the first-ever female Vice-President of the United States. 2. Debra Anne Haaland is the first Native American woman elected to Congress. 3. Rita Moreno is the highest acclaimed Latina actress, having won a Grammy, Oscar, Emmy, and Tony award. 4. Letitia James is the first woman of color to hold statewide office in New York and the first woman to be elected Attorney General. 5. Patrice Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi, co-founders of the Black Lives Matter. The movement is now an international social movement. We recognize these women mentioned above and acknowledge there are far too many women doing great things in our society to say within the space of this short article. However, we take this time to remind America that the fight is not over. Until Americans find ways to protect all women from unwanted sexual advances at work, make allowances for equal pay, put an end to human sex-trafficking, and protect women from genital mutilation, the struggle is not over. Women's History Month is an excellent time to shed light on these long-standing, problematic issues and search for solutions. As we wind down Women's History Month celebrations, let us continue conversations about women's rights and accomplishments throughout the year. America came a long way in adopting a designated month where we recognize and celebrate women's achievements. However, we still have a long way to go as a country.l

Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris takes the Oath of Office on the platform of the U.S. Capitol during the 59th Presidential Inauguration Editorial credit: BiksuTong / Shutterstock.com

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Racism is Behind Anti-Asian American Violence, Even When It’s Not a Hate Crime

BY PAWAN DHINGRA THE CONVERSATION

Over the past year, attacks on Asian Americans have increased more than 150% over the previous year, including the March 16 murders of eight people, including six Asian American women, in Atlanta. Some of these attacks may be classified as hate crimes. But whether they meet that legal definition or not, they all fit a long history of viewing Asian Americans in particular ways that make discrimination and violence against them more likely. I have researched and taught on Asian America for 20 years, including on the pernicious effects of stereotypes and attacks on individuals. Race can play a role in violence and prejudice, even if the offender does not clearly express a racist intent. Much remains unknown about the attacks in Atlanta, but the man charged with the murders has said he did not have a racial prejudice against people of Asian descent. Rather, he has claimed he has a sexual addiction. But that statement indiAsian women and sex dates back almost 150 years: In 1875, Congress passed the Page Act, which effectively barred Chinese women from immigrating, because it was impossible to tell if they were traveling “for lewd and immoral purposes,” including “for purposes of prostitution.” The assumption that all Chinese women were of questionable moral character placed the burden on the women themselves to somehow prove they were not prostitutes before being allowed to immigrate. The U.S. military contributed to this conception of Asian women as hypersexualized. During the wars in the Philippines at the start of the 19th century, and during the mid-20th-century wars in Korea and Vietnam, servicemen took advantage of women who had turned to sex work in response to their lives being wrecked by war. In the 1960s, the U.S. government brokered a deal with Thailand to be a “rest and relaxation” center for military personnel fighting in Vietnam. That bolstered what became the foundations of Thailand’s modern-day sex tourism industry, which attracts men from the United States and Europe. This association of Asian women with men’s sexual fantasies has permeated popular culture, such as a scene in the 1987 Stanley Kubrick movie “Full Metal Jacket” in which a Vietnamese woman entices two servicemen by saying, “Me love you long time,” and regular themes in the animated comedy “Family Guy.” This makes Asian women more desirable to sex traffickers, brought over to serve male desires in spas and massage parlors such as the ones attacked in Atlanta. This history of sexualization of Asian women, shaped by the U.S. military and patriarchy, creates the backdrop to the Atlanta shootings. It helped create the conditions for the Asian spas and massage parlors to be there in the first place. It presents Asian American women as submissive, responsive agents of sexual temptation.

Editorial credit: Ringo Chiu / Shutterstock.com

cates that he assumed these women were prostitutes, whether that’s true or not. This assumption, and the resulting violence, is just one of many that Asian Americans have suffered through the years.

A long history of prejudice

The presupposed connection between Race and gender inform what happened, and the public response to it, whether the alleged shooter articulates racist motives or not.

Stereotypes and perceptions matter

Other crimes against Asian Americans may also lack clear evidence of racial bias, but still echo anti-Asian American stereotypes. For instance, many elderly Asian Americans have been shoved to the ground in recent weeks, and Vicha Ratanapakdee, an 84-year-old man, died in one such incident in February in San Francisco. The public defender representing the accused perpetrator in Ratanapakdee’s death denies that race motivated the crime. But that is different from saying race was not a factor at all. Practically all Asian Americans, but elderly men in particular, are often viewed as nonaggressive, meek and unable or unwilling to fight back, in contrast to men of other races. They are easy targets.

It’s not always a crime

Other anti-Asian American racism isn’t criminal at all, but still fits with the nation’s racist history. As COVID-19 spread across the U.S., Asian-owned restaurants and stores were the first to experience declining revenue, even though most of the earliest cases in the U.S. came from Europe. There is a long history of suspecting Asian Americans of carrying disease into the U.S., which made it seem natural for people to avoid Asian American-owned businesses. President Donald Trump’s repeated public declarations that the “Kung Flu” virus came from China reinforced those feelings. This race-based and erroneous assumption has resulted in Asian Americans having among the highest unemployment rates in the nation, though they had among the lowest before the pandemic. It defies logic to claim that race isn’t relevant in attacks on Asian Americans unless the perpetrator actively references it. Research has found that most Americans assume a person of Asian descent is foreign-born, unless there is some aspect of their appearance that clearly marks them as American – such as being overweight. Asian Americans of all types experience this perception of being “forever foreigners” in a wide range of ways. Regardless of whether some or all – or none – of these latest assaults on Asian Americans are proved to be hate crimes or not, race plays a historic role.l