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I'll be frank - I had no idea what I was going to post about when I opened up the blog today. I don't feel like I've been getting into many of the articles and chapters we read lately, so I decided I should read the other posts and see if anything you guys had posted seemed like something I could explore as well. So, I think this post isn't really a response to Teresa's post, but maybe a bit inspired by the topics she brought up.

I grew up in a city that had a large population of Asian-Americans, and I think many non-Asian residents there at least had a basic familiarity with the Asian-American community that was thriving in the city. Types of food, acknowledgment that there were different ethnicities of "Asian", familiarity with hearing Asian languages spoken out-and-about, among other things, come to mind. However, after coming to college, apart from the much smaller population of Asian-Americans on campus that I'm used to, my non-Asian friends seem to have a lack of understanding and, at least in my mind, respect for Asian-American culture on campus. (Culture seems like the wrong word, but I can't figure out a good way to put it otherwise.) Conversations in which I mention that I'm studying Japanese at Pomona inevitably lead to someone talking about sushi; International Festival is exciting for my friends because they get to eat lots of tasty food, none of which they've heard of before; it's super cool that I'm in the taiko club here, but it's not super cool that any of my friends are doing it because they're Asian or Asian-American and it's more "normal" for them to be in a club like that. (Gosh this is such a disjointed train of thought, my bad. It's kind of like I'm just spewing words.)

So I guess I'm wondering, in conjunction with Teresa's thoughts about the Asian-American community itself at Scripps... what can I or others to do increase the dialogue and understanding between Asian-American and non-Asian-American students on campus? Is it something that others see as a problem?

"Strange Foods”

In the essay “Critical Visions: The Representations and Resistance of Asian Women” by Lynn Lu in our Dragon Ladies book, food from different ethnicities is related to the cultural and sexual differences of Asian women. Lynn uses bell hook’s essay to state that Asian cultures, or that of other ethnicities, are like spices; they act as “seasoning that can liven up the dull dish that is mainstream white culture”. I thought that Lynn’s comment about how using food for attention can backfire where, instead of challenging stereotypes and providing new perspectives, different cultures and thus people are seen as “objects to be consumed” was simple, yet insightful. Even though this idea seems quite obvious, I found myself beginning to remember and further understand some conversations I have had in high school and with friends today.

I grew up mainly in Henderson, a suburb of Las Vegas, which was an area largely made up of Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. My middle school and high school had roughly the same racial demographics, and as a result, whenever my classmates and I discussed foods we liked, I received many looks of disgust and/or surprise whenever I mentioned foods such as fish. Before my junior and senior year in high school, I knew very few people who ate fish; it was as if it was some sort of foreign food that only the brave or insane ate. Chinese food meant Panda Express, Indian food was invisible, and quite obviously, if no one ate cooked fish, the thought of raw fish in some types of sushi was disbelief. Most people hadn’t even heard of sushi, either with or without the raw fish.

Once junior/senior year in high school rolled around though, almost everyone in my classes could attest to having tried or liking Japanese food, by which I, and they, mean sushi. Going out to eat sushi had become the new, “in” thing to do on those Friday’s after school was out or weekend hang outs. Although I was quite slow on the uptake, I eventually realized that those I had spoken to years prior about foods I liked were finally eating some of said foods, but only because it had become socially acceptable to do so.

As I began to become aware of what was going on around me, I also began to observe a larger quantity of high-end restaurants at the Las Vegas Strip as places serving “Asian” foods. But, because these were supposed to be high-end, pricy restaurants, fusion foods became more and more popular with the simultaneous rise in Asian dishes. Waitresses and waiters increasingly could be assumed to be of an Asian background and the décor began taking on a more “Asian” feel, with pillowed seats, bamboo, waterfalls/wells, and red colored things. Granted, Las Vegas caters to many tourists, especially those from China, so perhaps the casinos and hotels were trying to draw in more customers in that regard, but I believe that these restaurants exemplify the quote above regarding cultures becoming a “seasoning”. Las Vegas is literally a place where people go to consume entertainment and different experiences that they would not otherwise be able to take part in. Yes, because some of the now offered foods are “new” and “exotic”, a larger group of people are drawn to and given the chance to understand that Asian food is indeed delicious. But because of the vacation and food fusion setting, the people, culture, and meals are twisted into objects that merely add excitement, and not thought, to the average mundane daily life.

Asian American Women and the Hukou System in China

Close to the end of the semester, I am sad to say goodbye to my Asian American Women's class. As an Economics and Math student, who has not taken any core courses before (I am a transfer student), this class has inspired me a lot.

The Angel Island story made me think about the migration process in relation to the inequality and discrimination that seemed to be normal behavior at that time. I am sure that the authorities of that time could cite many examples to support their policy decisions. I started to ask myself the question: We see our society today as relatively advanced but is it really advanced in view of the fact that discrimination still exists? We are all immigrants, so why therefore are European immigrants, Asian immigrants, and Mexican immigrants treated differently? The debate on immigration in American society appears never to terminate.

Stereotype has been one of the keywords of our class: The idea that an Asian girl is seen as a prostitute came as a big surprise to me. Human beings are the only species in the world who know how to organize, but they also love to categorize themselves. Initially a common ground is found between things but then this categorization starts to promote extension. There may be historical reasons for Asian women being seen in the role of a prostitute, but why should this stereotype continue? In today's American society, Asian women have achieved success in education. But still influential politicians on various occasions seem to compare Asian woman with races that lack of influence.

In the course of the class, I found an interesting phenomenon: the Chinese Hukou System is very similar to the immigration system in America. The Chinese Hukou System refers to a household registration record which officially identifies a person as a resident of an area and includes identifying information such as name, parents, spouse, and date of birth. However, within this system there are a number of inequalities:
1. The role of women is seen to be that of reproduction.
2. Cultural differences, and differing rights attached to those cultural differences, highlight the inequality in the Chinese Hukou System.
3. Social benefits, education and employment opportunities are directly linked to household registration and are designed to keep people in rural areas. Citizens must make numerous applications to obtain urban household registration and also pay a high price for non-agricultural household registration. If someone lives where they are not registered, he will be treated as a foreigner and will not be able to enjoy a variety of benefits, including adequate schooling and employment opportunities.
4. Even the process of marriage registration is controlled, and weddings cannot be conducted if the Ministry of Civil Affairs denies the request for marriage registration.

The status of women in China has always been inferior, but the problem is related to the environment: Here is America we have courses for women, but in China the oppression of women occurs without their realizing it. They continue to function according to the traditional culture, and in many areas interpret the inequality as a manifestation of virtue.
This class is not about human nature, but I want to record some of these insights into humanity, because I know that to overcome the evil in society, we must dare to recognize what is happening and longer be fooled into accepting injustice.

Domestic violence and the burden of proof

Watching the domestic violence presentation raised the question for me of the burden of proof. Shengwei's section on VAWA pointed out that to self-petition for a green card or visa, survivors must provide documentation of the abuse, and that Asian immigrant patients often cannot communicate to their doctors that they need such documentation. But shouldn't doctors record suspicions of abuse anyway? Why wouldn't this be a standard? Social justice circles got significantly exercised over the Wasilla buy-your-own-rape-kit initiative, but this is a similar concern. Emergency rooms, which provide a huge amount of medical care to immigrant and low-income women, receive public funding. They are a public institution, like the police who provide the assault kits; they're held to government standards. If I'm not grossly misunderstanding the situation, this is a case of low standards. The trouble is that we don't think it's the responsibility of service providers to anticipate the needs of the communities they serve, even in such reasonably predictable cases as this.

Similarly, it should not be surprising to any government institution with access to statistical records that a survivor of domestic abuse would not always want to press charges against her abuser. This is exacerbated, not lessened, in situations such as those covered by VAWA. The survivor's abuser may hold their documents; the abuser might have power over the people who could provide the survivor with testimonials. The abuser might even still have custody of their children. It could be very much in the survivor's best interest not to press charges, so why is the burden of proof on them?

AA youtubers

While we were discussing about Asian Americans on Youtube and whether they should be entitled to certain responsibilities in representing the Asian Americans in general, I felt very conflicted in my views. On one side, I feel that they should be able to create videos however they feel like Caucasian people can without the burden of being a good representative of a certain group. For example, a popular youtuber, sxephil, is a Caucasian man who is widely viewed on Youtube and has a segment on his videos called "WTF White People" where he tells weird stories he comes across that involve white people. This segment has received many views and positive reviews for its humorous and creative aspect. However, whenever I try imagining an Asian American trying to do the same thing, I can only think of the criticism and 'thumbs down' for it. I believe that too much pressure is placed upon Asian Americans to use youtube as an outlet to portray a positive image of Asian Americans. At the same time, I understand how being of a minority group, we should all feel compelled to present an image that goes beyond the stereotypical asian and start a culture where race is just a characteristic of a person rather than a defining factor. Nevertheless, through writing this article I guess I lean more toward not expecting everyone to be a good representative for their respective racial group and hope for people to just simply accept peoples' videos for what it is because I never look at videos of Asian American youtubers and expect it to be a representative of Asian Americans. Overall, youtube has been a great outlet for Asian Americans to enter media culture unlike they've been able to do before, especially with nigahiga (an Asian American) being the number one most subscribed youtube channel, and that in itself should be a commendable feat.

I found Vivian Loyola Dames' article, "Chamorro Women, Self-Determination, and the Politics of Abortion in Guam" to be very interesting, particularly because I had never heard about the abortion debate in Guam until reading this article. In high school, I knew a Guamanian girl who expressed her frustrations that so many students had no idea what Guam was, despite it being a U.S. territory. It seems crazy to me that the U.S. prides itself on being the land of the free, bringing democracy around the world when people haven't even heard of the countries we're supposedly saving. It wasn't until U.S. rule that matrilineage was outlawed in Guam and "patriarchical marriage laws were imposed," which is also interesting in the sense that most Americans think women have the most freedom here in the states. It seems to me that Western feminists look at child-bearing as being a source of female subordination because of this, yet they fail to understand that child-bearing was once a source of power and authority in Chamorro culture. But back to the abortion issue...honestly I've always been confused as to why abortion is such a hot debate when there are so many other pressing issues in the world. Why do people seem to get more wrapped up in saving fetuses, which aren't even real people yet, when no one seems to make much of a fuss when our grown men and women are sent to war? I don't mean to say that I think abortion shouldn't be taken seriously, but I just don't understand why it is one of the most controversial issues of our time. And on that note, without hoping to offend anyone, I don't think men should have a say in the issue at all. How could a man say that abortion should be illegal in all cases when he doesn't have the capability to know what it would be like to be raped by someone and be forced to give birth to and take care of that child for the rest of his life? And since it is a womens' issue, it is even more interesting to me that there is such a variety of opinions amongst those who share the same culture/other beliefs, as exemplified by the debate between mother and daughter on the issue in Guam. I'm starting to doubt that there will ever be consensus on the issue.

The Big Bad Representation Wolf

I have been reflecting more on whether it was important to have Asian-American representation within a variety of media. Specifically, I wanted to explore the issue of whether any visibility is better than no visibility. I think there is a general consensus that positive, rounded, complex depictions of Asian-Americans in the media are, if not desirable, than at least not overly detrimental. However, I would like to explore the ways in which even negative and/or stereotypical depictions of Asian-Americans (while not ideal, and obviously very harmful in a variety of ways) have positive value.

From our discussions in class on representations, there seems to be two criteria that are usually listed when evaluating the various roles Asian-Americans play in the media: whether the depiction was positive or negative in the sense that the role portrayed a "good" or "bad" character and whether the depiction was stereotypical or not. Moreover, these two criteria seem to be operate independently but are not exclusive. For instance, in class we were talking about Sandra Oh's character in Grey's Anatomy and how she was depicted positively but stereotypically. We also talked briefly in another class about KTown and one of the criticisms I repeatedly hear about KTown is that it may not be a stereotypical depiction of Asian-Americans, but it is not a positive depiction either. Finally, there are those roles like those that Anna May Wong often portrayed that were stereotypical as well as negative.

I would like to posit that all of these depictions, while not being "ideal" whatever that word means, have benefits in the long run despite their failings. At the very least, having any Asian-American actors at all means that there are Asian-Americans working in the film industries. Even when those depictions are questionable, such as in the case of Anna May Wong, having access to the film industry means gaining experience in those industries. With this experience, Anna May Wong, later in life, made her own films with what she believed were positive depictions of Chinese-identified individuals. As such, participation in the film industry allowed Anna May Wong to gain the skills and the connections to allow her to self-represent.

Nonetheless, my argument hinges on the belief that self-representation is ultimately good or at least better. Instinctively, I believe that the presence of self-representation, while not the ultimate good, benefits the overall collection of representations of Asian-Americans. As with any other group comprised of such a large variety of individuals and experiences, I think that adding more voices, covering a wider range of the representation possibilities will ultimately make the overall picture created by the media truer and do actual experiences more justice.

Psychological consequences resulting from acculturation on Asian American Women

Throughout the course of the semester, we had discussions on the problems Asian American Immigrants face when they immigrate to the United States from Asia, but never really about how these problems affect them psychologically or emotionally. This is something I have found rather interesting as we work on our group projects. My group decided to bring up the issue of Asians and Asian American Women and eating disorders. This somehow led to me reading about mental diseases Asian American Immigrants experience from acculturation issues after a discussion with a psychology professor.

On a larger level, it is easy to identify that one problem these immigrants may face are language barriers which we talked about with regard to the videos and readings on Cambodian/ Vietnamese Immigrants trying to retain their welfare. We also had quite a few readings with regard to the desire that many immigrants have to remain within their communities to preserve cultures from their homelands.

What we did not really talk about are mental disorders among Asian American Women. A collaborative research report on the Age of First Onset Major Depression in Chinese Americans mentioned that one of their most consistent findings in depression research is that women are more likely to become depressed, and this happens to do with acculturation issues. This is because as immigrants acculturate, culturally protective factors may be lost which leads to increased risk for depression.

In some discussion somewhere, we must have talked about how Asian/ Asian American parents try to keep their children in rather sheltered environments and seem to be over protective. But after reading this paper, it seemed to be that the reason for the actions of the older generation could be associated to the relationship between acculturation and depression which may be salient for those who migrate when they were older. This could have resulted from the stress of relocation, the loss of one’s support network and the need to adapt to a new environment. To deal with this, the older generations capitalize on family support and hence find it hard to give up their traditional ideals. It seems to be that this would have been an interesting topic to look further into as, at least for me, it really brought together some of the things we talked about in class and I guess made me sympathize with the fact that not only did these Asian American women that we have been talking about all semester have to deal with the stresses of moving to a new country, they were likely to suffer from depression and other psychological problems.

Asian American Community at Scripps College

I wasn't sure if I should post about this here, but I decided to just because I think its a really relevant issue at Scripps, and not just for Asian American women but all minority groups on campus.

Last semester, Scripps students started a blog called whosespaceisthisanyway.blogspot.com, which was a student effort to start a conversation about the lack of diversity and community at Scripps College. In my freshman year, I don't think I would have agreed with the posts and comments that have been made, but at a junior now, I definitely feel that there are many issues that need to be addressed at Scripps.

I came to Scripps expecting to learn more about myself. I joined various organizations and clubs, and met new people. As a first year, I also expected to find a really welcoming Asian American community to enhance and nurture my Scripps experience, and although I feel that I have grown, those communities have really disappointed me. I won't name them specifically, but I feel that some organizations, which developed to facilitate and support the development of Asian American identities and communities instead alienate and exclude the people they were supposed to help. I understand that there a rules and limits on resources which put a lot of pressure on the leaders to pick and choose people to be members of the group, but I think a lot of the time their biases and personal issues get in the way of their judgement, despite their insistence that it doesn't happen. I've been part of these groups for a long time and they talk a lot about acceptance and safe space - but when it comes down to it, they don't really live up to their claims. In fact, I think their exclusivity serves to breakdown the Asian American communities they want to build. I attribute this to the fact that the organization doesn't have a staff member responsible for supervising and advising the group. Although I respect the students who work hard to run these organizations, I think that the way they run and organize the group is exclusive and sketchy sometimes, for lack of a better word.

I'm not really sure where I'm going with this....I guess I just wanted to express my disappointment in the Asian American community at Scripps and in Scripps for not better supporting these organizations so that people aren't excluded and prevented from participating. Because I feel that the point of these communities is for Asian American women to find support - despite the resources available, and I think ANYONE who wants to participate should be able to. But sadly, this isn't the case.

Asian American Women and Sex Education

One of the side effects of having a Facebook account in college is that I am routinely sent invitations to take surveys for various classes. Today I received one for an Asian American Psychology class focusing on how much education I've received from my parents regarding sex. Upon taking the survey and thinking about the topic some more, I've come to a conclusion: "not much."

The survey focused on whether people agreed or disagreed with statements such as these:
- "I don’t know if this goes for anyone else, but I don’t think Asian parents talk about sex at all."
- "After I got to a certain age, my mom liked to talk about it very briefly, just to give us “the talk” in short bursts I think. I don’t know. When I went home this past break, she asked me if I were a virgin and things, and I was just like, 'Mom, don’t worry about it'".
- "All my friends’ parents that are White—they’re so cool and relaxed and like, talking about sex and condoms and stuff"

I started thinking about it and I can't speak for anyone else because I'm sure different parents have different parenting styles, but from what I have heard and experienced, fairly conservative Asian immigrant parents don't like to have "the talk" with their children. They instead rely on public education and biology classes, choosing to skip the awkwardness of sex education. Thinking about the project topic my group is covering for our presentation, eating disorders in Asians and Asian American women, and how I have learned that many Asian American women do not feel comfortable speaking with their parents about their problems, I am wondering if Asian immigrant parents culturally do not feel comfortable discussing personal issues with their children at all and vice versa. I also wonder if things will change when more generations of Asians raised in America grow up and have their own children. Sex education is certainly a touchy topic in many different cultures, but perhaps the generation gap between Asian immigrant parents and their children makes it more of an issue.

Asians in the Library Song

I also reflected further on the YouTube videos shown in class, specifically the response video to the UCLA student’s racist rant. I approve of his use of humor and music, but the content of the song was sexist and did not address the root of her racist comments, it simply made fun of her racism and her gender. This does not provide the viewer with an effective way to combat racism, other than to demean and laugh at the person making racist comments, which is usually ineffective. I believe his methods would have been more beneficial to UCLA students, and other viewers, if he had given a historical context of the racist beliefs heard in her video and demonstrated ways in which UCLA’s Asian American students are effected today, as well as how to fight them. This type of video could inform and empower many people, instead of demeaning the single person responsible for this specific act of racism through hyper-sexualization. While I do commend him for his creative action, this could have been much more effective in combating racism if he had presented more information instead of relying solely on humor that relied heavily on another form of oppression. This could have also demonstrated a positive way in which activists can use YouTube’s easily accessibility and popularity among university students.

Sticky Subject.

As an initial disclaimer, I know nothing about politics. I KNOW i dont understand everything involved and that is why I usually avoid talking about it in the hopes of avoiding making a fool out of myself or pointless confrontation. AS another disclaimer if I say anything to offend anyone i'm sorry, but I'm just going to write what comes to mind. Reading Vivan Dames "Chamorro Women, Self-Determination, and the Politics of Abortion in Guam" left me very confused regarding my opinion. I've always been a bit uncomfortable with the fact that the government has control over so much of our lives, even down to our very bodies. For a woman, I think the body means so much more than just the physical definition. A woman's body is a source of life, and I suppose what the Chamorro women were trying to do was protect the life that comes from a woman, but I still feel that a woman should be able to choose when and what life comes from their body. The ramifications of a ban on abortion are terrifying. Imagin a world in which abortion is completely illegal... If a woman is abducted and raped, and becomes pregnant with her rapist's child, she must, BY LAW, bear that child. Child birth is a physically and emotionally demanding event, but adding the psychological hardship of bearing a child that belongs to someone who has abused a woman and violated her body would be like punishment. I'm sure i'm not the only person in this class who knows someone who has been raped, and if you do know a victim, you know the effect that event had on them... and if you try to imagine what would have happened if they had been FORCED to bear the child of their attacker... Well I cringe at the thought. Now this is all very dark and gloomy, but what left my confused from the reading is that I could kind of understand the Chamorro women's perspective. Which left me with an internal dilemma on my opinion.

Another interesting thing that occurred to me was that I had never heard of this before. I have heard of Roe v Wade, I've heard about other movements/fights/attempted appeals/and whatnot against and for abortion laws but never have the groups or races of the groups involved been specified... let alone the gender. I think its interesting that its truly an assumption that all women who identify as feminists would be against abortion, when clearly there are diverse opinions and the Chamorros are a great example of that.

Youtube

After watching the several Youtube videos and having a discussion on them, I left class still unsure of how I felt. I agree with the multiple students who found Youtube to be a good source for Asian Americans to showcase their work. It is definitely a place for them to jumpstart their careers, as most would probably not have the opportunity to present their work to film and music producers. To those who choose to do so, I absolutely commend them for being brave enough to put everything out there for the public to see--there are some rude people out there who are not shy about sharing their opinions. However, I have finally come to my own conclusion that it is the subject material that still makes me question whether these Youtube videos are a good thing. Though I am not an expert when it comes to Youtube, I've watched my fair share of videos. Some have caused me to fall on the floor laughing, while others just weren't so good. I have developed a lot of respect for the artists who post things that everyone can relate to. On the other hand, when watching videos like the ones we saw in class, I don't know whether laughing is always appropriate. Many of these videos portray Asian American women using everyday stereotypes. Being an Asian American women myself, I actually get slightly offended and feel uncomfortable when watching videos that put us in a negative light. True it will get many views and laughs, but while doing that, it is making it okay for non Asian American viewers to do so. As Prof. Suh said, perhaps there intentions are just to make people laugh, but I think there are better ways to do so, rather than just reinforcing stereotypes.

South Asian Women and Domestic Violence Shelters

In Monisha Das Gupta’s Unruly Immigrants, she spends quite a bit of time in Chapter 4 separating the goals of Manavi, Sakhi, and SAWA from those of traditional domestic violence groups, women’s groups, LGBT groups, and Asian American groups. Women’s groups and LGBT groups tend to exclude people of color, while Asian American groups tend not to deal with South Asian issues. While all of these South Asian women’s organizations had more or less the same stated goals as all of the other types of groups, none of the other groups has the ability to serve the needs of working-class South Asian immigrant women experiencing domestic violence. Manavi, Sakhi, and SAWA were each founded to deal with specific shortcomings of other organizations in working with domestic violence survivors.

Traditional domestic violence organizations tend to provide services temporarily to affected women, but cannot or will not serve those whose immigration status is uncertain or dependant on that of the abusive partner. Likewise some will not serve the needs of women who are experiencing violence at the hands of a female partner. Many organizations are not equipped to deal with the issues specific to South Asians, even in simple matters such as clothing and food, as the story of the young woman who did not eat or change her clothes for three days due to a misunderstanding on the part of the shelter made very clear. Manavi, Sakhi, and SAWA each try to help South Asian women who have experienced domestic violence, in different ways. All have redefined domestic violence to include other forms of family- or work-related violence. Manavi tried to create an alternative to the solutions proposed by traditional domestic violence shelters, which do not work for undocumented immigrants or those who are not fluent in English. Sakhi tries to change the individual empowerment focus of those groups. SAWA tries to educate those groups about South Asian women’s issues so that they can better help these women.

I found it interesting that domestic violence shelters, which one would think to be largely beyond criticism since they simply provide a service and help people get past traumatizing situations, have so many criticisms against them. In fact, there are enough critiques that Manavi, Sakhi, and SAWA each used different tactics to attempt to change how that service is provided with regard to specific shortcomings.

Silence in Asian American Communities

What always interests me is reading personal experiences of someone's in literatures. In the reading Maiden Voyage: Excursion into Sexuality and Identity Politics in Asian America by Dana Takagi under The Coming Out Incident, she depicts the moment of when one of her students came out in class. "In the silence that followed I quickly surveyed the room. A dozen or so Asian American students whom I had forced into a semicircular seating arrangement started glumly at their shoes" (29). Reading this I remembered the Japanese community I was brought up in, because it is part of our custom to choose silence over speaking up, especially in situations where it is out of the "norm". In Japan, LGBQT in the society is very rare and rather there seems to be a notion that it's against the society rule if an individual is LGBQT. I'm sure there are some who identify as gay, lesbian, or bi, but many do not come out because there are strictly structured gender roles that Japanese people are expected to follow. There's a well-known saying in the Asian culture: "The nail that sticks up will be hammered down," which states that people dislike attracting attention to themselves so they'd choose to be similar with other.

I'm sure the idea of silence is not just common within Japan but in fact in many of the Asian countries. Immigrants who live in a close-knit community will probably be less likely to come out from the fear that they could get isolated from their already-small community (and family). Their community/family is the only constant factor in their lives post-immigration, for language, culture, and friends may change.

Silence has now become part of the stereotypes of the Asian community and put a positive imagery of the "good" minorities (26). It's a concept that must be proven wrong, but it has become a well-known stereotype so will it even be possible to break it?

Asian American Women in TV

I also started thinking about Asian Americans in television after reading Lynn Lu’s “Critical Visions: The Representation and Resistance of Asian Women.” Lu states that the representation of Asian women in contemporary television plays a major role in the way in which they are seen in society. Thus, Lu claims that as Asian women “struggle for visibility and recognition of [their] diversity, [they] not only face blatantly offensive depictions of [themselves] but continually come up against the power of racist, heterosexist, classist, and imperialist ideologies… [and create] new versions of old stereotypes” (18). If Lu is right, it seems that Asian women cannot escape the stereotypes given to Asians because of how they are represented on television.

As I read this article, I tried to think of prominent Asian American women figures in the shows that I watch, but I couldn’t think of many. When I realized this, I was surprised because I could think of shows that have prominent African American characters, Hispanic characters, or white characters. Although this could be because of the shows that I watch, it seems that Asian American women really are marginalized. One character I could think of is Cristina Yang in Grey’s Anatomy, played by Sandra Oh. Her role as a surgeon in the show depicts stereotypes of Asians being an over-achiever, intelligent, self-disciplined, and independent. In my opinion, Yang is a “new version of [an] old stereotype” of Asians being smart, nerdy, and good at math. Thus, if these Asian American women are the only ones being represented, I feel that it would be hard for any Asian American woman that doesn’t explicitly fit this stereotype to fit into American culture.

I agree with Lu in that “the realm of cultural production holds the potential to provide mass education, political analysis, and popular entertainment as alternatives to the same old stereotypes” (25). I think it would be extremely beneficial if media producers and directors didn’t use classic stereotypes and casted minority ethnicities in roles that they usually wouldn’t. If so, I believe the minority groups in America would also be able to assimilate into the culture more and the stereotypes may start to fade away.

Asian Americans in Television: Julie from Friends

After reading “Critical Visions: The Representation and Resistance of Asian Women” by Lynn Lu, I began thinking about Asian Americans in television shows. Lu briefly talks about the TV show starring Margaret Cho that portrays Asian Americans as an all-American family. Lu argues that this show merely “validate[s] a vision of assimilated, integrated, Asians happy to have their unequal share of the pie” (20). I am now wondering if this is a fair analysis. If portrayals of happily assimilated Asian Americans are negative visions, then are Asian Americans only supposed to play roles where they are angry that they have an “unequal share of the pie”?

In the television show Friends, they introduce a character in season two named Julie, played by Lauren Tom. Julie is a well-assimilated Asian American woman who lives in New York. Perhaps Julie’s character is different from the characters on Margaret Cho’s show because Friends addresses the issue of being mistaken as a foreigner in the United States. When Julie first appears on Friends in “The One with Ross’ New Girlfriend,” Rachel believes she is an immigrant from China. Rachel says in a very slow and loud voice, “Welcome to our country.” Julie replies with “Thank you. I’m from New York.” Although this scene can be seen as insulting to many Asian Americans who would call the United States their “home,” it can also be seen as empowering because Julie stands up for herself. She makes the situation comical and as a result Rachel feels embarrassed. However, from our discussion on Monday, it seems as if comedy may not be the proper way to address these situations. Does comedy perpetuate stereotypes and make it acceptable to laugh at someone’s racial differences? I’m still not decided on this question because I believe every audience member will view the situation differently. Some members will realize the absurdity of the assumption that every Asian seen in the United States is an immigrant which may deter stereotypes. On the other hand, others will laugh at this scenario and continue to make racist assumptions.

From watching the commentary of this episode that aired in 1995, I learned that Julie was one of the first likable and assimilated characters portrayed on a popular sitcom. Although Lu may argue that this is not desirable because it does not show the struggles Asian Americans face, I think it is important to also show Asian Americans as just Americans. It is not always necessary to focus on differences because sometimes similarities are just as important. Julie was relatively similar to the other women Ross has dated. Through the episodes with Julie, Friends was able to portray an interracial relationship that was completely normal. Perhaps it is just as effective to have an interracial relationship be successful as it is to note the obstacles of this kind of relationship. Also, Julie is not a stereotypical Asian. She is not hypersexualized, she does not speak with an accent, and she is a successful paleontologist. The writers of Friends could have easily cast Julie with a woman of another race, but instead they chose Lauren Tom because she was qualified.

Asian American Feminism

Without a doubt, we live in a society that is Euro-centric. The struggle, is constantly based around pushed back against the hegemonic power of those who wield control. Ironically, within the American context, this control is often an invisible lining, insulating those who carry it. Thus, the white-dominated society is less than privy to the struggle of minorities, women and other disenfranchised groups.

If we focus particularly on the experience of the Asian American female, we witness a certain duality and conflict of identity that is rarely seen in such prominence. The Asian American female is often raised in a familial context encompassing "eastern" values; that is collectivism, emphasis on family, obligation and mutual respect. At the same time westernization, focused on individuality, importance of self-esteem and the belief in unlimited potential, championed by the American media pulls identity in a different direction.

So where does Asian American Feminism lie on this continuum between assimilated and rejection? As Karin Aguilar-San Juan notes in the foreword to Dragon Ladies, the Asian American Women's movement has often been criticized for being "two movements in one," with race coming first and gender always coming second. I will argue that, just as Asian Americans cannot be placed on a continuum between hegemonic, white values and traditional East Asian values, the intersectionality of race and gender cannot be extricated and must be viewed in context. Gender does not exist without the social structures of race and class, and the Asian American female should be with this lens. Asian American feminist activist should transcend these constructs. As Aguilar-San Juan puts it, "...as these women show, activism involves an opening up of possibilities, an acknowledgment of fragile bonds, and most important, an articulation of a commitment to justice."

The Survivors

To start, I was really moved by the article "Scared, yet Undefeated: Hmong and Cambodian Women and Girls in the United States" by Sucheng Chan. I can't even begin to imagine the horrible atrocities these women witnessed, endured, and then finally survived. And the fact that many of these women end up living in the most impoverished communities in America, struggling for welfare in a society that deems them "lazy" and "unworthy" of such public assistance seems vastly unfair seeing as the majority of these women would not have come to the U.S. had the Vietnam War never occurred. I really liked how this article included all of this history, as it is not something they typically teach us about it school. It also seems unfair that because they are labeled as refugees they must go through "layers of bureaucracy, each there simultaneously to aid and control them" (263), as opposed to immigrants. It must be even harder to have to deal with this on top of being separated from your country and many loved ones. Probably the hardest part of this article for me to read concerned the "blindness" that many women had after such traumatic events. I can't think of anything sadder than going blind because the world had been so grotesque that you just couldn't bare to look at it anymore. Lastly, I highly recommend the book "Stay Alive, My Son" by Pin Yathay to anyone interested in learning more about the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. It's a very moving personal story by a man whose family was affected by this horrible regime.

For me, the material regarding the Hmong women and their struggles to integrate Hmong culture into American society, as well as other Asian American women’s experiences discussed in this class, have been very encouraging in that they represent minority women using their own agency to find and create solutions to the specific problems they encounter. I think it a very important aspect of the material, because it demonstrates the capabilities of Asian American women. I agree that it would be more efficient if individuals from less oppressed groups of society took charge of these endeavors, but I think it defeats the purpose and only addresses the specific problem and not the entire system of oppression. By providing opportunities for themselves, Asian American women are demonstrating their capacity to lead, accomplish their goals and make a difference. To me that is a direct challenge to the global power structure since it demonstrates the power of these women who fight through a system that labels them as powerless. I don’t propose that this approach will provide immediate success, but I think by increasing the amount of similar efforts and the level of recognition for such efforts will amplify their efficiency.