We Are Strong
Even though racial topics are ubiquitous in many countries today, I have not been familiar with it until I actually stated to live in the United States.
Japan is an island country, and the population is basically composed of Japanese. I’m not sure exactly why, but this situation naturally keeps us from thinking about racial problems. What I can say is that many of the articles or news about racial problem these days are often about African Americans. But here, I want to talk about Asians, especially Asian women.
Last week, when I was looking my Facebook feed, someone shared a video and I could not help watching it. It was posted by ATTN: video. What the video said was Asian women are often seen as sex object, portrayed as exotic, subservient and controllable. Many men all over the world prefer Asian women. Asian women insist not all of us are like that and liking Asian women just because of their race is offensive.
Japanese women are often seen as very shy and obedient. I met foreigners at bar in Tokyo, and they said “Japanese girls are shy and cute. And they cannot say “no” because you guys always want to avoid direct strong words, right? So we like Japanese women.”
This was the most awful thing I had ever hard about Japanese. Think about movies or TV shows. When I watched the movie Memories of a Geisha, I felt the main character’s attitude was overly captured as weak, silent, and subservient.
Me? Hell, no.
I am not an obedient shy girl. I express directly what I think or what I want to say. I say “no” to things I am not comfortable with. I go to the gym and work out pretty hard, which may be slightly different from the typical image of Japanese girls. I do not see myself as a woman who are stereotypically captured in movies or TV.
Everyone has preferences, if you are attracted to Asian looking, that is totally fine. And I know there are many men who are dating Asian women who sincerely like their girlfriends. However, I think it is true to some degree that how Asian women have been portrayed in movies or TV shows gives men the wrong stereotype that we are all exotic, subservient and controllable. And then, sadly some people like us just because of these racial stereotypes.
Like the girl on the video said, that is cheap. We want you to see our personality. This is not only for Asian women, every woman wants you to know who we truly are.
Image provided by Megumi Hiramoto for 6 + done., 2016. Please do not use it without permission.
