Asian males face contradictory stereotypes

By Jon Chang

This is in response to the column, "Stereotypes of Asian
Americans limit dating scene" (Viewpoint, March 2). I’d like to
comment that although Annalisa Burgos begins by mentioning how the
stereotypes of Asian American females and males are analogous, she
ends by stereotyping Asian American males herself.

Burgos implies that the lack of interracial dating by many Asian
American males is due to their lack of intelligence and character.
For example, she writes, "If more Asian American men would approach
women outside of their race in the first place and prove that they
are intelligent and worthwhile boyfriends, maybe there’d be more of
these types of couples."

Burgos also contradicts herself when she writes, "…being
American, I also value my independence and self-reliance. I refuse
to be told what to do and often feel restricted by my family’s
expectations and pressure. And that’s why many Asian American women
are attracted to non-Asian men. There are fewer expectations and
pressures in such relationships."

But what about Asian males? We value independence and self-
reliance as much as the next American. Coincidentally, if the
stereotype of Asian American males is that we are more "submissive,
respectful and obedient" than the typical non-Asian American,
wouldn’t we then be less domineering and more sensitive than the
average American male, and thus, a better catch? I have asked many
white women who have dated Asian men about this, and the majority
have told me that the men that they dated treated them with more
respect and were less domineering than the "typical" American
man.

I’d also like to talk about how these stereotypes affect the
Asian American community as a whole. Both gender stereotypes of
Asians are analogous. They portray Asians as weak, submissive and
powerless. They perpetuate the image of Asians as foreigners
because there is something very distinctly "un-American" about a
poor, submissive, whimpering sap in an abundant land of "manifest
destiny" and the old pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps American
mythology.

The stereotypes about Asian Americans are nothing more than a
construct of mainstream American society that reveals more about
the American psyche than the subject which it purports to
describe.

As evidence, we should examine how Asians in Latin America are
viewed. In general, Latino men are stereotyped as being more
"macho" than American men. Yet, the stereotypes of Asian Latinos
are very different from those in the United States. When I lived in
Latin America, I knew about 10 Asian Argentine families in Buenos
Aires, and in every case, it was an Asian male married to an
Argentine woman. I was also told by a Peruvian woman that, in Peru,
it is mostly men of Japanese descent who marry outside of their
race because, in general, Japanese women want to maintain their
culture, and thus they prefer Japanese Peruvian men.

In South America, Asian men are often looked upon as a good
catch because the stereotypes there assume that Asians are
well-educated, hard working, stable, and property or business
owners of some sort. The above stereotypes are similar to ones
about Asians in the United States. But in Latin America, they are
used to construct an overall positive, powerful image of the Asian
Latino.

Proof of this positive, masculine image was seen during the 1990
presidential campaign of Alberto Fujimori of Peru. While
campaigning, he often carried a samurai sword and performed a
routine of swordsmanship in front of potential voters. He won the
presidency by a landslide in a country where the Asian population
is similar proportionally to the United States. I seriously doubt
that an Asian American, whether male or female, could be elected
president of the United States in 1990, or even in 2020.

As far as I know, there are no stereotypes about the Asian
Latino being submissive or geeky. Once, in Mexico City, I was
talking about the Chinese community in America, and I asked the
family with whom I was staying about how Chinese Mexicans were
perceived. The mother of the family (whose family doctor was
Chinese Mexican) told me, "Well, I’ll tell you what I know about
Chinese men in Mexico. I know that many like to gamble a lot, but
aren’t they womanizers?"

Are we either sexless geeks or womanizers? Clearly, Asian men
are stereotyped across the board. So where does that leave us?

First, most Asian American men would probably be just as likely
to go out with non-Asian women if given the opportunity. But what
happens? Overwhelmingly, it is men who are the initiators of the
dating process. Given that Burgos agrees that mainstream America
has marginalized all Asian Americans, Asian males are more likely
to introvert themselves within their community as a response to
racism and ostracism.

For example, if an Asian American woman receives a date request
from a white or black male, she assumes that this person is not
racist and may be willing to go out with the man. If an Asian
American male was asked out by a black or white female, he would
probably feel the same way. But the difference is that,
overwhelmingly, men initiate dates, not women.

What I see in the column is Burgos transferring her guilt for
her marginalization as an Asian American to Asian men. From my
experience, I have seen a sizeable number of Asian women who do not
date Asian men. But it is erroneous, divisive and selfish when a
person of color blames his/her opposite-sex ethnic counterpart for
the marginalization which is accorded to their community as a
whole.

In conclusion, I am not in any way opposed to interracial
couples. I myself was raised by two white stepmothers, and I have
brothers and sisters who are interracial. My example of how Asians
are perceived in Latin America is meant to show how the same group
can be represented by very different, or even opposing stereotypes,
depending on the society they live in.

These stereotypes are as much constructs of that particular
society as they are based on any sort of reality. The worst way to
combat these stereotypes is to blame one segment of the given
community for the marginalization of the whole. Unless we fight
these stereotypes as a united community, we will continue to be
seen as quiet, subservient, invisible and "foreign," the very ideas
we wish to eradicate.