Stereotypes of East Asians in the United States

This article deals primarily with stereotypes of East Asians and Southeast Asians. For other Asians, see Stereotypes of Asians.

Stereotypes of East and Southeast Asians are ethnic stereotypes of East Asians and Southeast Asians that are found in Western societies. These stereotypes have been collectively internalized by societies, and are manifested in media, literature, theatre and other creative expressions. They may account for real-life repercussions for Asian minority groups in daily interactions, current events, and government legislations. In addition to experiencing discrimination, Asians may experience stereotype threat, and may therefore be less likely to engage in or may be less successful at activities in which Asians are stereotyped to perform poorly.

In many instances, Western media portrayals of Asians reflect the dominant Caucasian ideas of Asians rather than the actual customs and behaviors of the Asian people portrayed. These beliefs overgeneralize, stereotype, and undermine the true diversity of the Asian population.

Many stereotypical and often contradictory characteristics that are imposed on Asians, like almost all stereotypes, have no empirical basis. Traits stereotypically attributed to Asians are very often oversimplified, exaggerated, overgeneralized or prejudiced. Some of these characteristics include, but are not limited to: being diligently studious and having an affinity for tedious workaholic jobs; having poor leadership and management ability, and lacking assertiveness; not being "well-rounded"; being submissive and feminine; having poor creativity skills; having superior academic abilities; being traditional, conservative, and not able to assimilate; speaking "broken" English with a heavy accent.

Also, in addition to the stereotypes ascribed generally to Asians, stereotypes specific to the various Asian nationalities exist as well.

Historical origins

The origins of stereotypes of East and Southeast Asians are influenced by early contact between Western nations and Asian nations. Often this was in the context of colonialism and military occupation, resulting in asymmetrical power relations. This was further exacerbated by specific cultural contexts, such as relatively low status of women and widespread proliferation of prostitution in some countries. In military occupations, such as U.S. military "Rest and Recuperation" in Thailand during the Vietnam war or while stationed in South Vietnam, prostitutes flocked to a lucrative market with higher earnings due to wealth disparities, in the form of U.S. servicemen. This has been said to create a distorted impression of the local populace among customers, who then brought these images back to their home countries. One notable portrayal of this trend was in the movie Full Metal Jacket, where a Vietnamese prostitute's pidgin English is still referenced in Asian-themed American pornography. A similar phenomenon occurred in Shanghai during the 1930s, resulting in very exotic and sensualized imagery brought home to the West. The lack of cultural understanding between the West and Asia during early contact, combined with racy images and stories brought back home, resulted in a distorted image that lingers to this day. In the United States, stereotypes of Asian men being geeky, shy, effeminate, domineering, etc are prevalent. On the other hand, Asian women are portrayed as being submissive, objects of desire, and exotic.

Orientalism, mysticism, and exoticism

According to Edward Said, "orientalism" refers to the way that the West interprets or comes to terms with their experiences and encounters with the Orient, or the East. Said claimed that "the Orient" was a European invention to denote Asia as a place of exoticism, romance, and remarkable experiences, and also as a conception to contrast with Western civilization.

The effects of orientalism in Western cultures include an "Othering" of Asians and Asian Americans; their cultures and ways of life are seen as being "exotic" and novel, in direct contrast to "normal" Western customs. While Western cultures are capable of changing and modernizing, Asian cultures are seen as being ancient, static, and entrenched in the past. Western cultures stereotype Asian cultures as being very superstitious, spiritual and mystical, and full of ancient wisdom. This is manifested by countless fabricated supposed ancient Chinese sayings by Confucius and other ancient wise Asian men found in numerous American novels, movies, and websites, and by the widespread popularity of fortune cookies in North American Chinese restaurants catered to Western customers that supposedly predict the future or dispense sage-sounding advice. Other examples of Asian culture as novelty in Western cultures include the Chinoiserie fad during the 18th century, the trendiness of Asian motifs, and the popular choice of Chinese characters as tattoo designs despite unfamiliarity with the language. Historically, America's Chinatowns have held a place in the American imagination as a mysterious sketchy place of opium dens, gangs, and foreign speech.

In the musical comedy Thoroughly Modern Millie, Mrs. Meers, a White woman pretending to be Asian claims that soy sauce is capable of magically removing stains, one of the "mysteries of the Orient." The lyricist of the musical Miss Saigon deliberately makes the Vietnamese prostitute's lines "mystical and obscure," giving her nonsensical lyrics steeped in mysticism like "paper dragons in the sky" and "You are sunlight and I moon/joined by the gods of fortune."

Model Minority stereotype

Main article: Model Minority

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Cover of Newsweek (April 1984) featuring an article about the supposed success of Asian American students, illustrating the "model minority" stereotype.

Asian Americans have been stereotyped as a "model minority": hardworking, politically quiet, studious, intelligent, productive, and inoffensive people who have elevated their social standing through merit and diligence. This label is given in contrast to other minorities who have often been accused of being criminal, welfare-dependent, demandingly rabble-rousing and problematic to American society. Proponents of the model minority stereotype cite statistics of Asian American success, such as their higher-than-average financial status and overrepresentation in prestigious Ivy League universities.

More recently, scholars, activists, and most major American news sources have started to oppose this stereotype calling it a "myth" that exaggerates the success of Asian Americans. According to those trying to deconstruct this myth, the model minority stereotype alienates Asian Americans from other minorities and covers up actual Asian American issues and needs that are still not properly addressed in America today. For example, the widespread notion that Asian Americans earn higher-than-average income obscures issues such as the alleged "glass ceiling" phenomenon, in which high-level managerial or executive positions are only seen but not reached, the high 80% unemployment rate among the Hmong Americans and other Asian Americans groups from refugee backgrounds, and the fact that Asian Americans must acquire more education and work more hours than their white counterparts to earn the same amount of money. According to another 1990 New York Times article, the model minority myth is damaging to Asian American students because their assumed success makes it easy for educators to overlook Asian American students who are struggling academically.

Despite a general academic consensus that the Model Minority stereotype is an inaccurate reflection of the actual social condition of Asian Americans, the presence of this stereotype can still be seen in various aspects of American popular culture. Asian Americans are often portrayed in popular culture as being geeky nerds who excel in technical fields such as mathematics, science, and engineering. For example, in the animated series Hey Arnold!, the Eurasian character, Phoebe Hyerdahl, sports enormous geeky glasses and is one of the smartest girls in her school. In the movie Mean Girls, two out of five of the mathletes, a mathematics team of nerdy social outcasts, are Asians. In the medical drama Grey's Anatomy, Christina Yang (played by Sandra Oh) is the most notoriously cutthroat surgical intern in her group, graduating top of her class from Stanford University and stopping at nothing to be the best.

Asian IQ and intelligence

Statistically, the general East Asian population has a higher mean score on normally distributed IQ tests than that of the general White population. Also, in a study involving individuals in the United States that scored over 164 on an IQ test, 20% were Asians. Some scholars believe that this disparity of average IQ is due to genetic differences, although the topic of race and intelligence is extremely controversial and hotly debated. Even using IQ tests to determine a person's intelligence is controversial. A correlating but exaggerated and overgeneralized attribution of academic intelligence to the Asian race pervades American popular culture.

Furthermore, the Asian population is prejudiced to have little variation in intelligence and performance on IQ tests.

This is related to the stereotype that the Asian population is monolithic and genetically homogeneous, and lacking in diversity. Although the stereotype of Asian intelligence exists in the public consciousness and popular culture, it is also promoted as propaganda on Web forums and websites by White supremacist groups. White supremacists promote the idea that Asians have little variation in intelligence compared to whites in order to "prove" that Whites are better than Asians by rote of having more White geniuses than Asian geniuses.

This stereotype is based in part on the fact that China had no industrial revolution and scientific revolution despite the wealth, prosperity, stability and technological superiority it had in the 1600s. Some believe that Asian countries did not have enough Asians geniuses for innovation (although many "geniuses" have low IQ. For instance, the Nobel Prize Laureates, Richard Feynman and Francis Crick have an IQ of 'only' 125 and 115 respectively). One study has suggested that the reason there was no industrial revolution was because of the high level equilibrium trap. It has also been suggested that the type of governments did not encourage inventions. Social and cultural factors might have prevented the onset of an industrial revolution. Furthermore, some argue that Eurocentrism in textbooks exaggerates European contributions to society, while overlooking contributions from non-Western civilizations.

Nevertheless, some studies have shown that the population of East Asians in the United States actually have a higher standard deviation (sd=15.4, mean=106) in IQ than Whites in the United States (sd=14.7, mean=101.4), in a normally distributed WAIS IQ test (standard deviation=15, mean/median/mode=100). Some scholars believe that this disparity of average IQ is due to genetic differences,

See also: Race and intelligence

Some believe that the reason that Asians have a higher IQ than whites is because of their culture. Whites appear to not "encourage" intelligence, but encourages social life, sports, etc. Therefore, some think that whites can exceed Asians in intelligence, and probably anything, if the culture of whites was changed to "encourage" intelligence as the same as Asians.

Affirmative action

Main article: Affirmative action

Some American universities utilize affirmative action in order to promote racial diversity on campuses by encouraging admission of underrepresented populations. Since Asians are traditionally overrepresented at a number of prestigious universities, some believe that affirmative action works against Asians despite their minority status. Also, the racial categories used by academic institutions often lump together a very diverse population of Asians under a single "Asian and Pacific Islanders" category. This is problematic because there are very large disparities in socioeconomic status and opportunity in the Asian American population. Statistically poor academic performance found in populations such as Pacific Islander and Southeast Asian youth are masked by the more publicized successes of the larger middle-class East Asian population of youth descended from the wave of professionals who emigrated to America during the 1960s. For example, 25.2% of Asian Americans over age 25 hold a bachelor's degree compared to only 15.5% of the general American population, thus giving the impression of Asian American success. However, only 6.9% of Cambodians, and 6.2% of Laotians in this age group in America hold bachelor's degrees. In this way, Asian ethnic groups with smaller populations are marginalized and rendered virtually invisible due to racial categorizations, based on appearances of physical peculiarities, therefore do not address the enormous diversity of the Asian population. This also has an effect that policymakers, educators, and community leaders will discriminate them and not support them.

Because of their high degree of success as a group, Asian Americans do not generally benefit from affirmative action policies the way other minority groups do. In fact, some schools routinely choose lower-scoring applicants from other racial groups, including European Americans, over Asian Americans, in an attempt to promote racial diversity and to maintain some proportion to the society's racial demographics.

A 2005 Princeton University study showed Asians, not Whites, bear nearly 80% of the cost of affirmative action in college admissions. Nearly four out of every five spots given to Blacks and Hispanics in an affirmative action regime would go to Asians in a purely merit-based system.

Stereotypes of exclusion

"Yellow Peril"

1899 editorial cartoon with caption: "The Yellow Terror in all his glory."

Main article: Yellow Peril

Yellow Peril refers to a White American fear, peaking in the late 19th century, that hordes of unassimilable Asians would immigrate into the United States and invade the country with foreign incomprehensible culture and speech and take jobs away from Americans. During this time, numerous anti-Asian sentiments were expressed by politicians and writers, especially on the West Coast, with headlines like "The 'Yellow Peril'" (Los Angeles Times, 1886) and "Conference Endorses Chinese Exclusion" (The New York Times, 1905) and the later Japanese Exclusion Act.

Australia had similar fears and introduced a racist White Australia policy restricting immigration between 1830 to 1973 with some elements of the policies persisting to the 1980s.

Canada had in place a head tax on Asian immigrants to Canada in the early 20th century; a formal government apology was pending (with compensation to the surviving head tax payers as of 2006).

Perpetual Foreigner stereotype

Throughout America's history, Asian Americans have been conceived, treated, and portrayed as perpetual foreigners; unassimilable and inherently foreign regardless of citizenship or duration of residence in America. This is evident through numerous Supreme Court rulings, acts of legislature, and statements made in the nation's literature and periodicals. "Go back to China!" is a familiar racist expression of xenophobia against Asians. A statement made by Justice Harlan in the 1897 court case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark explicitly illustrates this stereotype of Asians in saying that Asians are "strangers in the land" who are "incapable of assimilating". One of the most obvious manifestations and ramifications of this stereotype in recent history occurred during World War II, when all Japanese Americans were relegated to internment camps as per President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, because of their assumed potential loyalty to Japan.

In 2005, when visiting Sydney Australia Prince Charles asked an Asian man: "Are you from China?" The Daily Telegraph reported the man replied in a broad Australian accent: "No, I'm from just up the road, actually." The Sydney Morning Herald further commented that the question was inappropriate to be asked by the country's future monarch in a country which had an important Chinese Australian population for more than a century.

Racial triangulation theory

Diagram explaining Racial Triangulation Theory

According to political science professor/author/scholar Claire Jean Kim, Asian Americans have been racially triangulated in American society in relation to America's preexisting deeply-rooted Black-White bipolar racial dichotomy. This theory is the intersection of the Model Minority stereotype and the Perpetual Foreigner stereotype. In America's preexisting system of racial vaporization, Whites have been considered the dominant "superior" group while Blacks have been considered a subordinate "inferior" group, often stereotyped by Whites as being lazy, cultureless, and primitive throughout American history. Within this spectrum of racial valorization, the dominant group has valued Asian Americans as being "superior" to Blacks, and are stereotyped as being a hard-working intelligent people (Model Minority myth) having an ancient venerable culture, but still "inferior" to Whites. However, in the other dimension of this theory, both Whites and Blacks, regardless of valorization, are considered to be "insiders" to American culture; thoroughly assimilated and native to America. Asian Americans, on the other hand, despite their "superior" valorization by the dominant group in relation to other minorities, are still considered to be unassimilable perpetual "foreigners," inherently fixed in their own exotic Asian cultures and unable to adapt to American ways.

Language barrier as a source of comedy

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Character "Bunny Swan" from Mad TV.

In American movies, television shows, and theatre, Asian characters are often used as a source of comedy, making the audience laugh by speaking thickly accented pidgin English and acting inappropriately. These mediums also find comedy by making fun of Asian languages and the way that they sound. For example, the thick accent of the goofy Chinese exchange student in Sixteen Candles — who is given the name "Long Duk Dong" — is used for cheap laughs. He is given lines like: "Wassa happening hot stuff?" and "No more yankie my wankie. The Donger need food." On Mad TV, a comedy sketch series, Miss Swan, a juvenilely clueless Asian manicurist played by Alex Borstein, is a favorite recurring character. Her trademark phrase is "Okay, I tell you everything: he look-a like a man!" and she draws laughs by annoying all the other characters to madness by communicating ineffectively due to her language barrier, pidgin English, and ridiculously inappropriate actions in public settings. In the revival of musical Thoroughly Modern Millie, the audience laughs at the purposely exaggerated foreign-sounding Cantonese dialogue between the Chinese villains. In the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's, Mickey Rooney in "yellowface" plays the bucktoothed Japanese neighbor who constantly yells at the protagonists in broken English for being too noisy. Even when they are not being made fun of for comedic purposes, many Asian characters (especially early on in American cinema) are made to speak in broken English.

Archetypal Asians in American fiction

Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan are arguably two of the most important and well-known fictional Asian characters in American history. Both were created by White authors, Sax Rohmer and Earl Derr Biggers respectively, in the early part of the 20th century. Fu Manchu is a sardonically evil but intelligent Chinese murderer with plots of world domination, the embodiment of America's imagination of a threatening mysterious Asian people. Charlie Chan is an apologetic submissive Chinese-Hawaiian detective who solves cases and never fights back against the many racist insults hurled at him by White American characters, and represents America's archetypal "good" Asian. Both characters found widespread popularity in numerous novels and films, and therefore have pervaded the American consciousness with stereotypes of Asians.

Fu Manchu: "Evil" Asian

Main article: Fu Manchu

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Promotional poster for 1965 film The Face of Fu Manchu.

Thirteen novels, three short stories, and one novelette have been written about Fu Manchu and Sir Denis Nayland Smith, the British agent determined to stop him. Millions of copies have been sold in the United States with publication in British and American periodicals and adaptations to film, comics, radio, and television. Due to his enormous popularity, the "image of Fu Manchu has been absorbed into American consciousness as the archetypal Asian villain." In The Insidious Doctor Fu-Manchu, Sax Rohmer introduces Fu Manchu as a cruel and cunning man, with a face like Satan, who is essentially the "yellow peril incarnate".

Sax Rohmer inextricably tied the evil character of Fu Manchu to the entire Asian race as a manifestation of the yellow peril, attributing the villain's behavior to his race. Rohmer also adds an element of mysticism and exoticism to his portrayal of Fu Manchu. As Fu Manchu contrives elaborately creative and cruel methods of murdering his victims, he often uses supposedly Asian methods or elements in his murders such as silk rope. It is also important to note here that despite Fu Manchu's specifically Chinese ethnicity, these elements are pan-Asian, again reinforcing his portrayal as a representation of all Asian people. Blatantly racist statements made by White protagonists such as: "the swamping of the White world by Yellow hordes might well be the price of our failure" again add to Asian stereotypes of exclusion. Fu Manchu's inventively sardonic methods of murder and White protagonist Denis Nayland Smith's grudging respect for his intellect reinforce stereotypes of Asian intelligence, exoticism/mysticism, and extreme cruelty.

Charlie Chan: "Good" Asian

Screenshot of television program starring fictional Chinese-Hawaiian detective Charlie Chan.

Main article: Charlie Chan

Charlie Chan, a fictional character created by author Earl Derr Biggers, has been the subject of 10 novels (spanning from 1925 to as late as 1981), over 40 American films, a comic strip, a board game, a card game, and a 1970s animated television series. In the films, the role of Charlie Chan has almost always been played by White actors (namely Warner Oland, Sidney Toler, and Roland Winters) in "yellowface."

In stark contrast to the Chinese villain Fu Manchu, Asian American protagonist Charlie Chan represents the American archetype of the "good" Asian. In The House Without a Key, Earl Derr Biggers describes Charlie Chan in the following manner: "He was very fat indeed, yet he walked with the light dainty step of a woman. His cheeks were chubby as a baby's, his skin ivory tinted, his black hair close-cropped, his amber eyes slanting." Charlie Chan speaks English with a heavy accent and flawed grammar, and is meticulously polite and apologetic. After one particular racist affront by a Bostonian woman, Chan responds with exaggerated submission, "Humbly asking pardon to mention it, I detect in your eyes slight flame of hostility. Quench it, if you will be so kind. Friendly co-operation are essential between us." Bowing deeply, he added, "Wishing you good morning."

Because of his emasculated, unassertive, and apologetic physical appearance and demeanor, Charlie Chan comes off as nonthreatening to mainstream audiences despite his considerable intellect and ability as an Asian American man. He holds none of the daring, assertive, or romantic traits typically attributed of White fictional detectives of the time. Instead, Charlie Chan's successes as a detective are in the context of proving himself to his White superiors or White racists who underestimate him early on in the various plots. His character also perpetuates stereotypes of orientalism as well, as he quotes supposed ancient Chinese wisdom at the end of each novel, saying things like: "The Emperor Shi Hwang-ti, who built the Great Wall of China, once said: 'He who squanders to-day talking of yesterday's triumph, will have nothing to boast of tomorrow.'"

Stereotypes of Asian men

Emasculation

Historically, Americans have thought of Asian men as feminine and emasculated since the mass immigration of Chinese men to the United States to build the transcontinental railroad during the mid-1800's. The primary reasons for their emasculated image included the physical appearances of these laborers, and the fact that they did what was considered to be "women's work." These workers were as a group shorter than the average Chinese man, sported long queues, and sometimes wore long silk gowns. Because Chinese men were seen as an economic threat to the White workforce and laws were passed that barred the Chinese from many industries, the only jobs available to the Chinese of the time were jobs that Whites deemed "women's work" (i.e., laundry, cooking, and childcare). In the press, Asian men were constantly compared to White women.

In today's media, although Asian women are frequently portrayed as positive romantic partners for White men, Asian men are rarely positively paired with women of any race (aside from few examples such as The Lover, The One (film), Romeo Must Die and Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle). In the past 30 years, in sharp contrast to the hypersexual state of Asian American women in the media and the comparatively frequent portrayal of White man/Asian woman relationships, there have been almost no Western or Hollywood films with romances involving an Asian man and a White woman. As a matter of fact love-shyness is commonly stereotypically associated among Asian men. Unfortunately, the stereotype has real life effects, half the people who were labeled as 'love-shy' men by Gilmartin were Asian-American.

Joan Kee observes that "Asian American male sexuality has long entailed a discourse of nothingness." Instead, according to Sheridan Prasso, Asian men in film have with little exception been portrayed as "small, sneaky, and threatening... spineless, emasculated wimps" with small penises, or "incompetents" who always lose when "faced with White man's superior strength or firepower." For example, in American films Kill Bill, Payback, and the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), entire inept Asian male fighting forces are immobilized by a White man (or White woman in the case of Kill Bill).

The recurring image of the Asian male as a "sexually impotent voyeur or pervert" has pervaded television and film throughout American history. Examples include Mickey Rooney in "yellowface" as the bucktoothed Japanese landlord who sneaks peeps at Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, or the pathetically asexual nerd Long Duk Dong from John Hughes's 1984 adolescent classic Sixteen Candles whose every entrance is accompanied by the clash of a gong. The stereotypes of emasculated sissy Asian men in the media have also translated to real life in the light way that Asian male leaders such as Ho Chi Minh, Kim Jong Il, and Mao Zedong are described and portrayed.

In American film, Asian men usually don't get the girl because they are either portrayed as being "Zen-like" and not having romantic feelings, or they are love-shy, or because they are easily defeated by superior white or black protagonists and are too emasculated to provide serious competition for the girl. For example, in Rush Hour 2 (2001) starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, the following dialogue about a White woman takes place:

Tucker: She picked me because I'm tall, dark and handsome, and you're Third World ugly.

Chan: Women like me. They think I'm cute, like Snoopy.

Tucker: Snoopy is six inches taller than you.

Even action movies like Kiss of the Dragon (2001), or The Replacement Killers (1998) that contain Asian male protagonists deny the Asian male characters romances with the White women whose lives that they save. Instead of the kiss usually granted to the White male protagonist, in these movies, the rescued White woman only gives the Asian action hero a hug or a grateful obligatory "thank you" kiss on the hand; there is almost never a relationship between the characters even if there is romantic tension.

Explanations

See also: Race and height

The stereotype of Asian are emasculine is related to the appearance of Asians. Asians are typically perceived to having less body hair than Caucasians. Therefore, they are prejudiced as having less testosterone than whites. However, some studies suggest that Asians have less hair is due to less sensitive hair follicles, not the amount of testosterone. This is also true between humans and apes. Studies shown while humans have more testosterone than gorillas, humans have less hair.

Asian gangster stereotype

A common Asian stereotype is that of the rowdy, uncontrollable young male. In Asian cultures (particularly Japanese), parents take special care in upbringing their children to be well mannered and respectful to others. While this of course depends on the conditions of the child's upbringing (such as economic stability), Asian people are renowned for being honorable and respectful. Despite this, many view Asians (particularly those who have immigrated from their homeland to a Western country) as being disrespectful, violent and untrustworthy criminals. As a result of these two contradicting views, Asians are categorized by Westerners into two groups. The studious, polite and intelligent group and the violent, destructive "gangsters". This image has been further fueled in the Western world by Asian drug hoarding circles. It is those such as Bali Nine drug ringleader Andrew Chan who contribute to the creation of such image.

Many believe that the Eastern Asians (such as the Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, and Koreans) are more of the "studious, hard-working, and polite" type and Southeast Asians (such as Vietnamese, Laotian, and Filipino people) carry the "uneducated gangster thug" stereotype, although this is not always true.

White supremacist websites are trying to scapegoat Asians by exaggerating violence committed by a few Asians.

Predators to White women

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American anti-Japanese propaganda poster from World War II depicting a Japanese soldier threatening a White woman.

Asian men have been portrayed as threats to White women in many aspects of American media. Racist depictions of Asian men as "lascivious and predatory" were common at the turn of the 20th century. Between 1850 and 1940, both U.S. popular media and pre-war and WWII propaganda portrayed Asian men as a military and security threat to the country, and therefore a sexual danger to White women since a woman's body traditionally symbolizes her "tribe's" house or country in Western cultures. In the 1916 film Petria, a group of fanatical Japanese individuals who invade the United States, attempt to rape a White woman. In the action movie Showdown in Little Tokyo, the Asian villain forces himself upon a White woman and murders her before threatening the Asian female love interest. The White hero ultimately kills the Asian villain and "wins" the Asian woman — while the hero's Amerasian sidekick is given no love life at all.

The recurring narrative involving the abduction or sexual contact of a White woman with a non-White (in this case Asian) man is called a "captivity narrative." Most Hollywood captivity narratives involving White women and Asian men either feature the threat of "White slavery," in which a White woman is forced into prostitution; or the capture of a White nurse or missionary, in which there is threatened sexual contact with an Asian warlord or military-related character (e.g. 1933 film The Bitter Tea of General Yen). The "White slavery" portrayal of the threatening Asian man stereotype was mostly predominant during the era of silent films. However, more recent examples of "White slavery" narratives include television movie The Girls of the White Orchid (1983), in which a White woman answers an advertisement for American singers in Japan and gets trapped in a prostitution slavery group; and Thoroughly Modern Millie, a 1967 American film and 2002 Broadway musical, in which young White orphan women are drugged, kidnapped, and shipped to Hong Kong as slaves.

In the latter narrative involving the capture and partial assimilation of a White woman into an Asian world and the potential relationship with an Asian man, the narrative usually ends with the rescue of the woman by a White man and their return to American home turf. Through this type of plot, cultural boundaries are reaffirmed as the mystifying Asian culture and Asian sexual threat are rejected with the rescue of the White woman, and the American home and way of life are upheld as safe and ideal. These portrayals of Asian men as desiring and threatening White women yet never achieving relationships with them also reinforce stereotypes of emasculation and images of Asian men as unsuitable partners for White women.

Stereotypes of Asian women

Hypersexuality

Asian women have been portrayed as aggressive sexual beings. Western film and literature has promoted stereotypes of Asian women, such as depicting Asian women as cunning "Dragon Ladies", as servile "Lotus Blossom Babies", "China dolls", "Geisha girls", war brides, or prostitutes. Japanese media have also at times sensationalistically promoted the stereotype of Japanese women overseas as "yellow cabs". UC Berkeley Professor of Asian American Studies Elaine Kim has argued that the stereotype of Asian women as submissive sex objects has impeded women's economic mobility and has fostered increased demand in mail-order brides and ethnic pornography. Other contributors to these stereotypes come from the widespread proliferation of pornography, especially on the internet and the globalization of the industry. Japan, especially, has one of the largest adult video markets in the world and many of these are exported overseas, contributing to a highly sexualized image of Asian women in general.

More nuanced treatments of stereotypes come from movies like The World of Suzie Wong (1960) (also a book) where the Asian woman's appeal comes partially from her "orientalness" expressed through their clothing, language and attitudes, and from the fact they serve as cultural and gender guides for foreign men. In these movies, White men are fairy-tale knights and their love functions as a redemptive force for fallen Asian women. Staci Ford of University of Hong Kong concludes that stereotypical depictions of women in general created by sexist Asian men, specifically Chinese, and White men continue to haunt movies even though they now have a disguised form.

The "China Doll" stereotype

The "China Doll" stereotype insinuates that Asian women are hypersexual, submissive, "exotic", feminine, and eager to please White males. According to author Sheridan Prasso, the China doll stereotype and other variations of this submissive stereotype exist in American movies: "Geisha Girl/Lotus Flower/Servant/China Doll: Submissive, docile, obedient, reverential (including Asian men as effeminate, servile); Vixen/Sex Nymph: Sexy, coquettish, manipulative; tendency toward disloyalty or opportunism; Prostitute/Victim of Sex Trade/War/Oppression: Helpless, in need of assistance or rescue; good-natured at heart."

The stereotype appears in countless media presentations:

• In Return to Paradise, Malaysian women take pride in sexually serving White American men because they are White and rich.
• In The Year of the Dragon, the main character, a White police chief, befriends an Asian American female TV news anchor. The woman immensely dislikes the arrogant, selfish police officer for his derogatory remarks about her race. However, when he visits her house, he coerces her into having sex with him, and despite initially slapping his face, she submits to him.
• In Daughter of the Dragon, Fu Manchu's daughter falls in love with a White detective at first sight.
• In The Bounty, an Asian woman falls in love with a White man at first sight.
• In Come See the Paradise, an Asian woman falls in love with a White man at first sight.
• In LAX, a Filipina woman immigrates to America to marry a White man, who refers to her as "China Doll." Her character epitomizes the subservient, exotic, hypersexual Asian female who is the focus of a White man's desire.
• In Miss Saigon, there were protests that the lead Asian female role was seen as a stereotypically submissive one.
• In the TV show Lost, a Korean woman is portrayed as submissive (at first).
• In Graham Greene's "The Quiet American", Phuong, a Vietnamese woman is portrayed as a submissive partner to English war journalist Thomas Fowler.

It is common to see a White man paired with an Asian woman (or non-White woman) in western movies, but seldom is an Asian man paired with a White woman. Asian women are often depicted as easily falling in love with White men. This depiction has been termed the "unmotivated White-Asian romance", as the Asian woman usually falls in love with a man only because he is White (MANAA). In Daughter of the Dragon, the daughter of Fu Manchu lays her eyes on a British detective and instantly falls in love with him. Miss Saigon and Come See the Paradise also contain scenes where Asian women fall in love with White men at first sight.

Gwen Stefani's fashion-accessory-like entourage of four Japanese Harajuku Girls also perpetuates stereotypes of exoticism and the submissive Asian woman. Stefani's adoption of this component of Japanese culture drew criticism from Mihi Ahn at Salon.com, and others who feel that Stefani has stripped Japanese street fashion of its authenticity and created yet another example of the 'submissive Asian female' stereotype. According to the Jan/Feb 2006 edition of Blender magazine, stand-up comic Margaret Cho has labeled the Harajuku Girls as a "minstrel show" that reinforces ethnic stereotypes of Asian women.

The "Dragon Lady" stereotype

File:Asian mistress and doctor Saw movie.JPG

Asian mistress threatened to break apart White surgeon's marriage from Saw

The "Dragon Lady" stereotype refers to a seductive, untrustworthy Asian woman. Essentially, it is a variant of femme fatale stereotype/archetype, though it also derives some attributes from more general negative Asian stereotypes. In case of Dragon Ladies, the tragic and morally ambitious aspects of femme fatales tends to be deemphasized in favor of sexuality and malice. The name derives from Dragon Lady, a character from a 1940s comic strip Terry and the Pirates, though the stereotype itself has existed since the beginning of the 20th century, quickly spreading to all media. One of the most notable early examples was Fah Lo Suee, Fu Manchu's daughter. Over the years, it proved to be one of the more enduring stereotypes, as examples of it continue to appear to this day.

Some recent examples of the Dragon Lady stereotype in American film include: Miho (played by Devon Aoki) in Sin City, and Gogo Yubari (played by Chiaki Kuriyama) and O-Ren Ishii (played by Lucy Liu) in Kill Bill. It should be noted though, that those characters were intended as homages to older characters in other media - pulp fiction and East Asian cinema, respectively.

Stereotype associated with sexual slavery

In Australia in 2001, Vivian Solon, an Australian citizen, was unlawfully removed to the Philippines by the Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA). In May 2005, it became public knowledge that she had been deported, although DIMIA knew of their mistake in 2003. Solon's family had listed her as a missing person since July 2003, and until May 2005, did not know that she had been deported. Solon had been admitted to a hospital with head injuries. DIMIA officers presumed that Solon was an illegal immigrant, and did not do proper background checks to identify her or her nationality. Her file contained a handwritten note, which was not dated or signed by anyone, which stated:

"Smuggled into Australia as a sex slave. Wants to return to the Philippines. Has been physically abused."

The Government inquiry into the matter concluded that DIMIA officials had simply acted on unfounded assumptions about Solon, rather than discovering real evidence. These assumptions were based on stereotypes about Asian women and their occupation in Australia.

Stereotypes of physical appearance

Further information: [[:Race and height, Race and health, Health and intelligence Height and intelligence, Brain to body mass ratio, and Data about race and intelligence]]

The stereotypical image of East Asian and Southeast Asian people's physical appearance generally includes having straight black hair, small or slanted eyelids with an epicanthal fold, brown eyes, yellow-tinged skin, and small stature, amongst other traits.

Also, there exists a stereotype that Asians have relatively little genetic variation compared to Whites, and all Asians look alike. For example, during a fight scene involving Chinese men in Rush Hour 2, Chris Tucker accidentally punches Jackie Chan and apologizes by saying, "All y'all look alike!" This stereotype is partially due to outgroup homogeneity bias, in which individuals perceive their own group to be more varied and diverse than other groups which seem homogeneous from the outside.

It is sometimes considered to be a faux pas to mistake a person of one Asian ethnicity for another, and ethnicity-specific stereotypes of physical appearance exist as well. For example, during World War II in America, efforts were made to distinguish "enemy" Japanese from "friendly" Chinese solely by physical appearance (as seen in a Life Magazine article published at this time [60]), thus leading to further stereotyping and the attribution of physical traits to each group.

Some hold the belief that the short stature attributed to Asians is due to genetics, but Asians suffer from environmental influences that are very significant in the determination of height. Cultural influences, such as differences in diet, or conditions of malnutrition prevalent in Vietnam and North Korea are responsible for a prevalence of stunted growth in those populations. The short stature of East Asians may be contributed by micronutrient deficiency such as low calcium intake partially due to lactose intolerance in 90% of their adult population, limited consumption of protein, iron, vitamin A, reduced vitamin D, partially from their nutrition; and also from their darker skin that synthesize vitamin D at a slower rate than Whites, iodine, zinc, amongst many other nutritional deficiencies. Other factors, such as the consumption of large quantities of soy products which contains isoflavone may reduce growth rate.

Related to the Asian stereotypes of short stature, preference of brain power over brawn, and emasculation is the stereotype that Asians are physically incompetent and inferior in many sports. On one occasion in the media, Chinese women who won a swimming contest were accused of using steroids to aid their win. Others note however that similar questions were raised about East German swimmers, indicating that the concern may have had more to do with the competitors being from an authoritarian, secretive, and repressive regime than with their being Asian.

Stereotypes of homogeneity

The stereotype of homogeneity of Asians is partially affected by the outgroup homogeneity bias.

Physical features, such as eye color, hair color and skin color generally appear the same in Asians. Thus, other traits of Asians are also prejudiced as homogeneous as well. However, these physical homogeneous traits might not signify that other traits are homologous. Skin, hair and eye color are largely contributed by the disparity of melanin levels in Whites. Thus, the reason that Whites have more variance in these physical features is due to their their greater variance in melanin levels. Scientists believed that the greater variance of melanin levels in Whites was resulted from an adaptation when humans moved at higher latitudes with lower sunlight levels. Therefore, some say that these homogeneous physical features of a race might not correlate how homologous other traits are, and argue that it is racist to detect genetic variance from these physical features.

Also, Asians are portrayed in a limited role in media, while Whites have a variety of roles. They are usually only portrayed as intelligent and hard-working.

The homogeneity is also contributed by people. While there are many white geniuses such as Albert Einstein, Issac Newton and Galileo, etc., there are not many Asian geniuses. However, some ignore how cultural factors prevent many Asian innovators.

The homogeneity is also related to the fact that the Han ethnic group embraces 92% of the Chinese population. However, high genetic variation is found within the Han population.

Stereotypes of multiracial Asians

Eurasians, who have part white and Asian ancestry, are often stereotypically portrayed as beautiful. Another myth of Eurasians is that they are physically tall and strong. They are also portrayed genetically good at languages such as English, but untrue (see Race and intelligence). They are also prejudiced as not lactose intolerant so they can grow tall, but it is untrue because the ability to digest lactose is a recessive trait, not a dominant one; and also many Asians are not lactose intolerant. This is based on the stereotype that Asians are physically weak, short; and not out-going because they are genetically bad at languages such as English.

Stereotypes of Asian workforce

Asian Americans are often depicted in the media in a limited and predictable range of jobs: restaurant workers, Japanese businessmen, TV anchorwomen, martial artists, criminal psychologists, gangsters, faith healers, laundry workers, domestic maids, nannies and prostitutes. This misrepresents the diversity of the Asian American workforce. However Asian Americans are also stereotypically perceived as lower-class despite getting professional jobs or having a good education.

The common "Asian man with a calculator" stereotype describes the assumption that the majority of Asians are too physically incompetent for blue collar labor with regards to strength and dexterity, and must instead excel academically in fields like science and mathematics to obtain a desirable future.

Stereotype of lack of creativity

There is a stereotype that Asians are perceived as not creative and technologically innovative. This stereotype is based in part on the fact that China had no industrial revolution and scientific revolution despite the wealth, prosperity, stability and technological superiority it had in the 1600s. One study has suggested that the reason there was no industrial revolution was because of the high level equilibrium trap. It has also been suggested that the type of governments did not encourage inventions. Social and cultural factors might have prevented the onset of an industrial revolution. Furthermore, some argue that Eurocentrism in textbooks exaggerates European contributions to society, while overlooking contributions from non-Western civilizations.

Some educational systems in East Asia, such as education in the People's Republic of China, do not promote creativity. The educational method mainly focuses on rote learning instead of creative problem solving.

Even though many electronics are from Japan, some still believe that Asians cannot innovate new electronics, but they copy the electrical machinery from whites. For example, some televisions are made from Asians, but Asians did not invent it.

Another stereotype of Asians is that Asians cannot think outside_the_box. \

Many argue against the stereotype that Asians are not creative by citing the fact that the Chinese invented paper, the compass, gunpowder, printing, and others.

Further information: [[:Linguistic determinism and language of thought]]

Some argue that Asian languages curb creativity, because the "hieroglyphic" characters in East Asian languages represent ideas more concrete than words. Therefore, some assume that Asians do not have abstract thinking capabilities.

Some critics argue that the logographic characters in Asian languages improve spatial reasoning, and this is an explanation of the higher scores on mathematics tests. However, a few studies mentioned that native born Asian Americans and adopted Asian Americans perform above-average on IQ tests, even though they did not learn to read and write Chinese characters.

Relegation to supporting roles

Asians are often relegated to supporting roles in American entertainment and media. Even in projects centering on Asian or Asian American subject matters, the primary protagonist is still usually a White character. For example, the internment camp movie Come See the Paradise features a White man as the protagonist, pushing its Japanese American characters into the background, while the American actor Tom Cruise portrays the main character of The Last Samurai. However, The Last Emperor and The Joy Luck Club are examples of popular films with Asian and Asian American actors in lead roles.

See also

• Race
• Orientalism
• Angry Asian Man
• Ching Chong
• Racist love
• Sex crimes against Asian women in the United States
• Vincent Chin
• Asian fetish
• Model Minority
• Asian Pride
• Asian power
• Pan-Asianism
• Asian invasion
• Yellow Peril
• Ethnic stereotype
• Ethnic stereotypes in American media
• Ethnic stereotypes in popular culture
• Ethnic stereotypes in pornography
• Stereotype threat
• Racial profiling

External links

• Asian-Nation: Anti-Asian Prejudice & Racism
• Asians/Asian Americans in Film and Television Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)
• Asians/Asian Americans in Film and Television Videography (via UC Berkeley)
• GoldSea
• Model Minority.com
• Asian American Media Stereotypes Database
• [61] An online quiz which tests the taker's ability to differentiate persons of Chinese, Japanese, or Korean origin.