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#REDIRECT [[Asian fetish]]
{{NPOV}} <!--- Some people have removed this a couple times. Please DON'T remove it again. It's still in dispute as long as people are fighting about it. - Orborde -->

'''Second attempt''' -- 01:18, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

:''This article is '''not''' about love and/or normal interracial relationships. For the latter, see [[interracial marriage]].

The term '''Asian fetish''' is a [[neologism]] that may appear in three distinct contexts:
#As an academic term in [[postcolonialist]] literary and philosophical theory, referring to the [[racial fetishism]] of Asians, especially Asian women in the western world;
#By Asian-American civil rights activists and authors to describe a form of racism and sexism against Asians and based on stereotypes about Asians; and
#To denote pornography, the subjects of which are Asian women, often in stereotypical costume or situations, and to describe Western men who seek this form of pornography.

Thus the meaning and interpretation of the term vary depending on the context. An [[Internet]] search[http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Asian+fetish%22&btnG=Google+Search] for the term will yield a mix of the term used by activists and references to pornography sites.

In both non-academic senses, Asian fetish denotes an intense or abnormal [[sexual attraction]] of a non-[[Asian]], typically a [[White (people)|white man]], to Asian women, primarily [[East Asia|East Asians]] (such as [[Han Chinese|Chinese]], [[Japanese people|Japanese]], [[Koreans]], [[Taiwanese]]), or to stereotypical images of these women. It may be difficult or impossible for such a man to form relationships with women of his own race, or even non-Asian women in general<ref>
{{cite book | first = Sheridan | last = Prasso | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 2005 | month = |
title = The Asian Mystique | chapter = 'Race-ism,' Fetish, and Fever | chapterurl = | editor = | others = | edition =
| pages = 132-164 | publisher = Perseus Books | location = Cambridge, MA}}</ref>. Activists frequently stress the abnormal and unhealthy aspects of [[sexual attraction]] to distinguish Asian fetish from the healthy attraction to Asian women of those in normal interracial relationships.

There is a great deal of controversy surrounding both the idea of an "Asian fetish" and the use of the phrase by Asian-American interest groups
<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.colorq.org/Articles/article.aspx?d=2005&x=deconstruct
| title=Deconstructing "Asian fetish" - the appeal of physical appearance and/or cultural traits
| publisher= ColorQ World: interracial interacions between people of color
| pages= | date= | accessdate=
}}</ref>. Some regard the notion as a form of [[racism|racist]] love <ref>{{cite book
| first = Frank | last = Chin | authorlink = | coauthors = Jeffery Paul Chan | year = 1972 | month =
| title = Seeing Through Shuck | chapter = Racist Love | chapterurl = http://www.modelminority.com/article1026.html
| editor = Richard Kostelanetz | others = | edition = | pages = 65-79 | publisher = Ballantine Books
| location = New York}}</ref>
and/or an expression of [[white supremacy]]
<ref>{{cite journal |first=E. |last=San Juan, Jr. |authorlink= |coauthors = |year=1983 |month=Spring
|title=The Cult of Ethnicity and the Fetish of Pluralism: A Counterhegemonic Critique
|journal=Cultural Critique |volume=18 |issue= |pages=215 – 229}}
</ref>
(whether by white men attracted to Asian women or implicitly by Asian women themselves in rejecting their native culture).

Men labelled with the term "Asian fetishist" often believe it to be a racist [[stereotype]] of them, claiming that the activists who use the term treat all cases of sexual attraction as objectification or fetishism, dismissing the possibility of normal interracial relationships. In such cases the activists may be accused of being "angry Asian men"<ref>{{cite news | first=Joyce | last=Tizon
| url= http://www.asianweek.com/2000_02_03/feature_asianmale.html
| title= A Threatened Manhood? Exploring the myth of the angry Asian male
| publisher= Asian Week | date= February 3, 2000 | accessdate=}}
</ref>.

There are several possible definitions of a fetish: as a popular fetish, as a sexual or [[Sexual fetishism|Freudian fetish]], and as a Marxist or [[Commodity fetishism|commodity fetish]]<ref>{{cite journal
| first=Matt | last=Wray | authorlink= | coauthors = | year=1998 | month=December
| title= Fetishizing the Fetish | journal=Bad Subjects | volume=41 | issue= | pages=
| url= http://bad.eserver.org/issues/1998/41/wray.html
}}</ref>.

== Popular use ==
Apart from academic discourse and Asian-American social activism, the the term ''Asian fetish'' is primarily found applied to [[pornography]] and, to a lesser degree, online dating services. In this sense it is a colloquial reference to a Freudian fetish.

According to ''Webster's'' Dictionary, a "fetish" may be:
* Any object believed by superstitious people to have magical power
* Any object or activity to which one is irrationally devoted
* Any non-sexual object, such as a foot or glove, that abnormally excites erotic feelings

In discussions of Asian fetish, the second definition, with some hints of the third definition, is used. The object in question to which the fetishist is devoted is the stereotype of Asian women as innocent, submissive and/or promiscuous. Asian fetish in this sense is an obsession with Asian women or an irrational devotion to stereotypes of them, in contrast to people in normal, healthy interracial relationships. This is also the basis for the term when used in conjunction with pornography, where it holds a comparable place to other forms of [[Paraphilia|paraphilia]] such as [[Foot fetishism]] or [[Breast fetishism]].

Asian fetishists may be sexually attracted to Asians because of stereotypical qualities they believe to be true amongst the Asians, such as innocence, submissiveness, promiscuity, or sexual prowess (although some qualities are contradictory; the fetishist may not believe in all the stereotypes). Many believe that American popular culture has promoted these [[stereotype]]s of Asians and consider the alleged [[Fetishism|fetishization]] of Asians based on those stereotypes and the generalizations about the physical appearance of Asians to be a form of racism and [[objectification]].

Some argue that there is a distinction between individuals who are attracted to Asians for those stereotypes and individuals who are attracted to [[Culture of Asia|Asian culture]], though some Asians do not accept the explanation of a generalized and gender-specific attraction toward Asian women, given the diversity of Asian cultures and different degrees of acculturation among Asians, particularly Asian Americans. Some Asians also argue that the interest among white males in Asian culture is confined to the [http://modelminority.com/article138.html most palatable aspects]of the culture -- cuisine, mysticism, martial arts, and female sexuality -- and is rarely accompanied by an equally enthusiastic interest in the equality or perspectives of Asian Americans in American politics or society.

== Academic terminology ==
In coining and using the term Asian fetish, Asian American activists and authors have drawn heavily from the [[postcolonialist]] concept of [[racial fetishism]]. While [[racial fetishism]] is an academic study in its own right, the popular use of the term Asian fetish is in some way a popularization and simplification of the dense and complex academic topic of [[racial fetishism]].

In [[postcolonialist]] and [[Neomarxist]] discourse, the [[racial fetishism]] of Asians is defined as a form of [[commodity fetishism]], the process in which Asian women are associated with Eurocentric sexual stereotypes of submissiveness, innocence and latent promiscuity, and the subsequent act of identifying such constructs as reality.

This is analogous to a commodity fetish in the sense that [[commodity fetishism]] is the process by which things with no inherent use-value (e.g., money) become imbued with inherent exchange-value (e.g., to exchange for food, which has inherent use-value).

As an example, consider the [[Neomarxist]] interpretation of the process by which the [[commodity fetishism]] of currency is said to arise in a [[capitalist]] system.

# Money has no inherent use-value.
# People create money and assign to it exchange-value (e.g., as a metaphor for exchange).
# People confuse exchange-value with use-value (reality).
# People forget that they created money as exchange-value, so that it is only left with use-value.

Postcolonialists and Neomarxists have argued that the alleged [[commodity fetishism]] of Asians arises in a similar manner.

# Asian women in reality have no inherent stereotypes.
# Orientalists assign stereotypes to Asian women in order to better understand the realities of Asian women.
# Later generations of Europeans confuse the stereotypes as realities.
# Finally, the fact that Orientalists created the stereotypes themselves is forgotten, and so the stereotypes become reality.

It is important to note the similarity between the popular usage of the term "Asian fetishism" and the academic usage of [[racial fetishism]] of Asians. In the popular sense, Asian fetishism is a strong and irrational devotion to the stereotypes of Asian women. In the academic sense, the racial fetishism of Asians denotes the (capitalist) process by which Asian women are exoticized and objectified by racial stereotypes. Thus, the popular sense is considered a simplification of the academic sense.

==Use by Social Activists==

There is a rich body of commentary and social criticism within the Asian-American civil rights community. Many activists, authors, and commentators in this community view the Asian fetish as a pervasive societal problem, reinforced by stereotypes of Asians, and leading to diminished economic prospects for Asian women, patterns of sexual crime against them, and widespread prejudice against Asian men.

===Stereotypes of Asians===
Asian Americans are the subject of numerous stereotypes, many dealing with sexuality. Asian American activists claim these stereotypes are the motive force behind a widespread Asian fetish.

Asians in the U.S. have the highest household income of any other racial group[http://factfinder.census.gov/jsp/saff/SAFFInfo.jsp?_pageId=tp6_income_employment], and suffer from lower overall rates of crime (see below). Some Asians self-identify as a "model minority", though Asian-American activists such as [http://modelminority.com Model Minority] believe the label and accompanying stereotypes have a negative impact[http://modelminority.com/article568.html], [http://modelminority.com/article1047.html], [http://modelminority.com/article978.html].

====Sterotypes of Asian sexuality====
Asian stereotypes can be divided into three categories:
# Those regarding the sexual ''desirability'' of Asian women;
# Those regarding the the sexual ''undesirability'' of Asian men
# Those regarding Caucasian men in relationships with Asian women, the so-called ''counterculture'' stereotypes that are created as a response to stereotypes of the first two categories, i.e., the stereotypes of ''Asian fetishists''.

=====Stereotypes of Asian womanhood=====
[[Western film]] and [[western literature|literature]] has promoted many stereotypes of Asian women, including depictions of Asian women as "Dragon Ladies"<ref>''[[The Thief of Bagdad (1924)|The Thief of Bagdad]]'' (1924)</ref><ref>''[[Daughter of Fu Manchu]]'' (1931)</ref><ref>Tong, B. (1994). ''Unsubmissive women: Chinese prostitutes in nineteeth-century San Francisco'', [[University of Oklahoma]] Press.</ref> or as servile "Lotus Blossom Babies", "China dolls", "[[Geisha|Geisha girls]]", war brides, or prostitutes. Despite the differences between the ''submissive'' stereotype and the sexually-active ones, some commentators believe they are interrelated and apply characteristics of exotic sensuality and [[promiscuity]] with mystery and untrustworthiness<ref>Tajima, R. (1989). Lotus blossoms don't bleed: Images of Asian women., Asian Women United of California's ''Making waves: An anthology of writings by and about Asian American women'', (pp 308-317), [[Beacon Press]].</ref>.

Some also feel that Hollywood has perpetuated a concept of the "unmotivated White-Asian romance". 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, which activists argue sterotypes Asian women as romantically attracted to white men simply because they are white.

One Asian writer has argued that these stereotypes have impeded Asian women's economic mobility and increased demand for [[mail-order bride]]s and [[ethnic stereotypes in pornography|ethnic-fetish pornography]] <ref>Kim, E. (1984). Asian American writers: A bibliographical review, ''American Studies International'', 22, 2.</ref>.

====Stereotypes of Asian manhood====
Some race and gender theorists and Asian American activists allege a racism-based disparity in how men of different races are portrayed in the [[mass media]]: while white men are depicted both as [[virile]] and as protectors of women, Asian men have been presented as both [[asexual]] and as threats to white women <ref>Espiritu, Y. E. (1997). Ideological Racism and Cultural Resistance: Constructing Our Own Images, ''Asian American Women and Men'', Rowman & Littlefield Publishing.</ref>. Racist depictions of Asian men as "lascivious and predatory" were especially pronounced during the nativist movement against Asians at the turn of the 20th century <ref>Frankenberg, R. (1993). ''White women, race matters: The social construction of whiteness.'', [[University of Minnesota]] Press.</ref>.

Historically, between 1850 and 1940, U.S. [[popular culture|popular media]] as well as pre-war and [[World War II|WWII]] [[propaganda]] portrayed Asian men as a military and security threat to the country, and a sexual danger to white women <ref>Wu, W.F. (1982). ''The Yellow Peril: Chinese Americans in American fiction 1850-1940'', Archon Press.</ref>. In the 1916 film ''Petria'', a group of fanatical Japanese who invaded the United States and attempted to rape a white woman <ref> Quinsaat, J. (1976). Asians in the media, The shadows in the spotlight. ''Counterpoint: Perspectives on Asian America'' (pp 264-269). [[University of California at Los Angeles]], Asian American Studies Center.</ref>. Furthermore, after the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] the "Yellow Peril" gained further momentum when [[Japan|Japanese]] became a key target of America's war [[propaganda]].

On the physical level, Asian men are stereotyped as being shorter and less well-built than Caucasian men. Traditionally, this disparity in [[human height]] had much to do with endemic malnutrition in Asia. For example, the average height of males in [[South Korea]] is 5'8.2" and in impoverished [[North Korea]] is 5'4.9", which can largely be attributed to chronic famine. The average male height in the United States is 5'9.6". This height disparity has narrowed for several Asian countries since World War II, though there persists a common sterotype that height differences make Asian men less physically desirable when compared to their white counterparts.

An Asian-American media watchdog group[http://www.asianmediawatchdog.com/detail/detail.html] has sensed a shift from the early 20th-century "[[hypersexual]]" stereotype of Asian masculinity to "asexual" and even "homosexual," as suggested in a controversial 2004 article ''Gay or Asian'' in [[Details (magazine)|Details magazine]].

===Influence on sexual crimes===
The discussion of sexual crimes in association with an Asian fetish is controversial. There is no statistical evidence linking crimes against Asian women to an "Asian fetish", nor is there any evidence that relationships between non-Asian men and Asian women are measurably different from any others. In general, Asians are less likely to be victims of violent crime than every other major racial group. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, "In 1998, 110 American Indians, 43 blacks, 38 whites and 22 Asians were victims of violence per 1,000 persons age 12 or older in each racial group." <ref>{{cite news | first= Callie | last= Rennison | url= http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/vvr98.htm
| title= Violent Victimization and Race, 1993-98. Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report
| publisher= U.S. Department of Justice | date= March 2001}}</ref>

However, recently, both Asian Pacific American and feminist organizations have given increased attention to sexual crimes committed against Asian women, centered on fetishism, sexual harassment and violent crimes
<ref>{{cite news | first=Phil Tajitsu | last=Nash
| url= http://www.napawf.org/page.php?view=depravity | title=Depravity Against Women On- and Off-campus
| publisher=National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum | pages= | page= | date=Apr 29, 2005 | accessdate=}}</ref>.
Asian American women complain that Asian fetish is considered an annoying but benign phenomenon that does not need to be taken seriously <ref>{{cite news
| author= Kim, Sallie and Stockdale, Shannon | url=http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=29233
| title= For Asian Women, 'Fetish' is Less Than Benign | publisher=[[The Yale Daily News]]
| date=April 14, 2005 | accessdate=}}</ref>. [[List of sex crimes against Asian women]] provides a short list of sexual crimes against Asian women. Since repeated sexual offenses which center around a specific object or person are sometimes considered as fetishistic behavior by some psychologists<ref>{{cite journal
| first=L.F. | last=Lowenstein | year=2002 | month=Summer | title= Fetishes and Their Associated Behavior
| journal=Sexuality and Disability | volume=20 | issue=2 | pages=135 – 147
}}</ref> , Asian and Pacific American activists believe that the perpetrators in these crimes had an Asian fetish.

=== Criticisms ===

Some contend that the [[stereotype]] of an Asian fetish is a means of discouraging [[interracial couple|interracial relationship]]s or [[miscegenation|race mixing]]. In the past, racial supremacists opposed such relationships, though today in the United States, critics of interracial dating are sometimes Asian males and African American women, who have themselves felt stereotyped. This in turn may be considered hypocrisy or "reverse" racism. Some point to changing demographics and increasing inter-mixture of all races as producing insecurity[http://www.modelminority.com/article113.html#examiner], thus spawning the controversy. Others claim that these interracial relationships would not be a problem if there were no gender gap{{citeneeded}}.

Others contend that the "Asian fetish" sterotype is a form of [[social control]] within Asian or Asian-American communities, intended to discourage Asian women from straying from Asian men{{citeneeded}}. Asian women may date non-Asian men because of unhappiness with certain perceived aspects of Asian culture, whether real or imagined, a scenario presented in the novel ''[[Joy Luck Club|The Joy Luck Club]]'', which presents Asian men as sexist and domineering.

Yet others contend that the dating disparity that is an element of the controversy is based not on eagerness of Asian women to date other races, but on the lack of Asian male/white female couples. From this point of view, it is racial exclusionism of either Asian men or non-Asian women which leads to the disparity{{citeneeded}}.

The gendered application of this term is also criticized as sexist{{citeneeded}}. "Asian fetish" is applied almost exclusively to white male/Asian female couples as opposed to Asian male/white female couples. The latter may be tolerated or promoted within certain segments of the Asian American community. Thus, there are accusations supporting one racial fetish while repudiating the other: Asian men are not accused of a fetish for white women, although notably there does not exist much evidence that such fetishes even exist on a societal level. The stereotype being a [[double standard]] targeted primarily towards women.

Another criticism is that the concept of race itself is outdated, and that combining heterogeneous ethnicities under labels such as "Asian" or "white", is increasingly outdated. These critics view the opponents of interracial dating as engaging in "[[identity politics]]" and promoting racial separation. The key point of dispute is the legitimacy of categorizing people by so-called "race". Thus, in this view, defining a relationship in terms of race itself is the problem; that is, the participants themselves may see each other as individual people, not categories. This view is sometimes called the "[[social construct]]" point of view.

There has been a sub-population of non-Asian, typically Caucasian, women with a fetish for Asian men. However, this is more pronounced in Central and Eastern Europe, and less so in North America. This is evident in how European films are much more likely to glamourize a relationship between an Asian male and a white female, as mentioned above. In Canada, Australia, and the UK, there has been a shift over the last decade for Caucasian men to fetishize South Asian women, as opposed to East Asian women. This has been common social knowledge in these countries, and so recognition of this phenomena is not original research. Over the last decade in Canada, non-white female television news anchors are virtually all of South Asian descent, replacing the ones of East Asian descent. In the UK, South Asian female new anchors have been the norm for decades.
While this appears to many to be a refutation of the main argument behind the stereotypical Asian fetish, others argue that it may in fact be due to the desirability of stereotypical Asian male traits among this sub-population.

==Slang terms==

There are a number of slang terms for the Asian fetish, all considered derogatory and/or racial slurs. Asian fetish has also been called "yellow fever". In [[Gay Slang]], a [[Heterosexuality|heterosexual]] man who has an Asian fetish may be referred to as a "[[Gay_slang#R|rice king]]", "rice lover", or "rice chaser" (a [[Homosexuality|homosexual]] man, a "[[Gay_slang#R|rice queen]]"). More recently, the term "Asiaphilia" (although it could have positive connotations as well) has come to be used as a synonym for "Asian fetish"; and "Asiaphile" for an Asian fetishist.

The term "white-worshipping" is a slang term used for the reverse situation, the preference for white males by Asian females, who are called "sellouts", while an Asian American community website coined the slur "CCB" ("Cracker Chasing Bitch") [http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ccb] to describe this.

==References==
<references/>

== See also ==
* [[Asiaphilia]]
* [[Orientalism]]

==External links==
===On Asian fetish===
*[http://www.campusprogress.org/features/311/facing-up-to-facebook-racism "Facing Up to Facebook Racism"], Campusprogress.org, May 24, 2005. -- News survey of campus racial bias cases. ''Accessed February 17, 2006.''

===Opinion/Editorial===
*[http://www.harbus.org/media/paper343/news/2004/01/26/Viewpoints/Sex-And.The.Campus-589189.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.harbus.org "Sex and the Campus Case 6: Attack of Yellow Fever"], [[The Harbus Online]], January 26, 2004. -- Op-ed piece from Harvard student newspaper. ''Accessed February 17, 2006.''
*[http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/opinion/200505/kt2005052718411054060.htm "The Asian Female Mystique"], [[The Korea Times]], May 27, 2005. ''Accessed February 17, 2006.''
*[http://www.punchandus.com/article/1005-fetish.html "Racial Fetishes"], Punchandus.com, October/November 2005 issue. -- Humor. ''Accessed February 17, 2006.''
*[http://www.bitterasianmen.com/ Bitter Asian Men] -- Semi-humorous social commentary.
*[http://www.zukazuka.com/cv/YFelectronic.html "The Yellow Fever Pages"], Zukazuka.com, 2002. ''Accessed February 17, 2006.''
*[http://www.modelminority.com/article113.html "Why Do Asian Women Date White Men?"], Modelminority.com. (Originally published on [[Usenet]], April 22, 1992) ''Accessed February 17, 2006.''
*[http://www.modelminority.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=269 "The Asian America That Can Say 'No'"], Modelminority.com. (Originally published in [[The Daily Californian]], September 9, 1991) ''Accessed February 17, 2006.''
*[http://www.asianguy.com/msgs1/83.shtml Asianguy.com discussion thread] ''Accessed February 17, 2006.''

===On interracial romance===
*[http://www.salon.com/sex/col/quan/2003/12/04/asktracy_thur/index_np.html "Asian Fetish?"], [[Salon.com]], December 4, 2003. -- Sex-advice column. ''Accessed February 17, 2006.''
*[http://www.multiracial.com/links/links-interracial.html Multiracial activist]
*[http://www.aznlover.com AznLover.com] (dedicated to Asian-males, by non-Asian females)
*[http://www.asianwhite.org AsianWhite.org]


[[Category:Asian American-related topics]]
[[Category:Race]]

Latest revision as of 04:27, 13 February 2020

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