According to Margaret Chung, one of the most controversial issues in the Asian American women studies is known to be the gender queer identity. In addition, cross-dressing or adoption of a masculine name can be viewed as attempts to assimilate. However, it is rather the one-sided stereotype, indeed.
Thus, there are the differences between the ‘breaking’ gender stereotype and ‘crossing’ gender stereotypes. However, both of them were challenged by Margaret Chung. She managed to challenge and cross the above mentioned gender stereotypes, for instance, by means of opting to enter the male profession of surgeons or by choosing for a female to be presented in a masculine dress, in spite of the obvious social pressures and even bans of doing so.
I believe any stereotype can be dissolved. Since all stereotypes reside in the collective consciousness of a particular community and are perpetuated through their repetition, any stereotype breaking must happen on a mass scale even though some of them are set historically. For example, some beliefs in the ability of females to master certain masculine types of occupations have been largely challenged in the popular American consciousness.
Anyway, it is historically occurred and influences even the modern gender perception that the stereotypes cannot be broken and blemish on the collective consciousness. To overcome them, it will take much time. I believe that breaking the stereotypes is more effective on the level of individual’s consciousness rather than on the collective. It is the point of each independent person whether consider Asian American style of wearing clothes to be acceptable or not, masculine name, profession, behavior, lifestyle to be socially wrong or right, etc.
I'm an optimistic person, so I would love to believe that stereotypes can be dissolved. Professor Suh explained in class that stereotypes have a function in society and originate from sites of cultural/ideological power struggle. As we discussed in class, stereotypes always come about for a reason. I feel that our society will always have people to will want to use there stereotypes or even new stereotypes to their advantage. The model minority myth originated during the Civil Rights Movement in an attempt to chastise those fighting for their rights. That same myth was then used by the Claremont Colleges administration go deny Asian Americans a 5C Resource Center. There are so many more stereotypes that exist about Asian Americans today which are built from that model minority myth, which assume that all Asians are smart, get good grades, and work hard. There are also those stereotypes which categorize Asian women as "dragon ladies" or "China dolls" and assume that we're all good at martial arts. In the Wilshire Bus article, we discussed that there is some hope that stereotypes can be broken down. This is illustrated when the man stands up to say that the drunk man's views do not represent the opinions which other people hold. But I don't think they can be completely, forever dissolved simply because there are so many people in this world who think they can benefit from the ideological functions of those stereotypes. There will always be those drunk people on the bus who are racist and mean. And there will also be people who don't have the courage to stand up to others, as illustrated in Wilshire Bus. But I think that if enough people feel the way the man who spoke up did, and enough people fight with their conscience as Esther did, then these stereotypes can be challenged, making people aware that these stereotypes exist. Professor Suh asked us to contemplate why the story ended the way it did. I think the end of the story emphasizes the fact that Esther didn't have the courage to stand up for those other people, despite their shared experience as stereotyped Asian Americans. In the end, when her husband asked what had happened, she didn't even admit that she was crying because of the people on the bus. Therefore, I feel that the author uses this ending to highlight the idea people can challenge stereotypes by taking a stand against them. But if people can't stand up to defend their beliefs then stereotypes will always be perpetuated.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Teresa with her point that stereotypes will continue to exist if people don't stand up to defend themselves. Like the bus scene that was illustrated in Wilshire Bus, no one stood up to the drunk man who was attacking the Chinese lady, but instead gave her a small sympathetic smile, enough for her to notice, but small enough that it does not shift the drunk man's attention to themselves. But could this smile also mean a sign of relief that they weren't targeted? I feel like in the end it is not the stereotypes itself that is the problem, but it is the lack of action we take in order to prevent it from happening. We all know and say that stereotypes are bad, but how much are we actually doing in our real life in order to stop this?
ReplyDeleteAlso we have to keep in mind stereotypes could begin from the type of education we receive. Again, they do not have to be true, but what we learn tends to stick with us for a long time, and also tends to move from one generation to another.
I remember when I first came to the Claremont Colleges, one of the activities that the International Place held for the International Orientation was portraying the stereotypes of each of the 5C's. Seeing that before school even started was like being told that was how everyone viewed each of the colleges as. But now that I think about it, was that really necessary for them to do for the incoming students?
Indeed, stereotypes definitely form a mould for the rest of society to want to conform. I notice however, that the stereotypes that have been mentioned tend to be associated with Asians and Asian characteristics. What about American stereotypes that the Asians who move to the United States attempt to possess and identify with? On the surface, this seems to be an idea that many people would frown upon and may not own up to conforming to new stereotypes, however, because of the way humans function, it is not surprising for immigrant communities to conform to some sort of behaviour in a new community. This is probably because these immigrants face trouble relating to their old communities because of the loss of a physical tie, but still yearn to integrate into their new community.
ReplyDeleteFor example, in Deann Borshay’s film Frist Person Plural, I noticed how one of the first things she did when she was old enough to be aware of her new community was an ear job. This clearly highlights how physical beauty is an American stereotype and something that is really important in the United States. This is because back to Korea, while all her siblings had so much physical similarity, none of them had plastic surgery to look that way.
It has struck me that so many Asian Americans seem to be confused with regard to their identities and social practices they adopt. Because they find it hard to relate to their root community, many try, but are unable to fully integrate themselves into this new American culture and hence are stuck in-between.
The article Lost in Translation: Western feminism and Asian Women by Delia D. Aguilar supported how Asians were picking up American characteristics. It mentioned how “Western behaviour in Filipinos… was described to be a dominating person who talks too much”, again, classifying behaviour shown by an Asian to be an American characteristic (161 Aguilar).