THE HYPERSEXUALIZATION OF ASIA
HISTORICAL BIAS & FETISHIZATION
THE WEST’S OBSESSION WITH THE EAST
BY CHLOE TONDA
THE PAGE ACT
The United States’s historical act against Asian women
One of the first instances of America’s systemic discrimination, specifically against Asian women, stemmed from the sexualization of Asian women.
This was the Page Act of 1875. The first U.S. Exclusion Act against immigration from any “Orient” countries.
This act prevented U.S. citizens from bringing migrants for forced labor, migrants who were convicted criminals but had not completed their sentence, and migrants who were used "for lewd and immoral purposes ” or prostitution (“Chinese).
Though it seemed like the act wanted to prevent crime rates and human trafficking, during that time violent anti-Asian rhetoric was at an all-time high.
THE PAGE ACT
The United States’s historical act against Asian women
It is difficult to know if a migrant is enslaved or if they are a convict, but it is easy to know if a migrant is a woman. Using the power of bias, this act allowed and encouraged U.S. immigration officials to racially profile Asian women, specifically Chinese women, as prostitutes whether they actually were or not.
This helped to reinforce the sexualized stereotypes that all Asian women are temptresses and impure. That Asian women were inferior and destined for sex work. This also inhibited Asian women from living the American dream and seeking opportunity in America. The Page Act was finally repealed in 1974, but the effects were long-lasting.
“Orientalism”
The West’s perception of the East.
The Western man ’ s idea of an “oriental” woman is stemmed from the concept of Orientalism. First coined in 1978 by Edward Said, Orientalism is the study and art depictions of Eastern culture from the perspective of the West (“Orientalism”).
It was used to explain and digest the cultural differences between the two continents. The East is a complex, culturally shocking place but also a mystical one. One of the ideas is that whatever the East has is in direct contrast to the West.
If the West is balanced, the East is unbalanced. If the West has order, the East is unruly. This applies to the people of Asia too. Western men are masculine so Eastern men are feminine. Western women are feminine so Eastern women are hyperfeminine. It is a skewed biased way of thinking that fits Western men's ideals, whether that was to sexualize, to discriminate, or even to understand
The term oriental is an outdated term for anything related to Asia and is an offensive derogatory term.
MODERN DAY EQUIVALENT
Contemporary events and issues.
In the 21st century, there are a myriad of things that help reinforce and perpetuate this harmful sexualization. One of the biggest contributors is of course Asian fetishes. It is okay to find Asians attractive, but it is not okay to have a strong, almost obsessive, and manic, sexual or romantic attraction to someone solely because of their race. At that point, you are attracted to the idea of that person, not that person.
Proof of this sensation is on the ever-so-popular website Pornhub. There is an entire category dedicated to Asians, as there is to other races like the category Ebony. There are other millions of videos and websites solely dedicated to Asian men or Asian women pornography. This feeds the fetish.
Other big contributors are koreaboos, weaboos, and asianboos. These groups of people love the culture of an Asian country so much that they begin to reject their own culture and heritage. It can start out as benevolent as a person wanting to understand and learn another culture, but then it can get to a point where they pretend to be or want to become a different race.
One of the reasons why this is toxic is that they typically have an incorrect, romanticized version of Asia in their head that is based on Asian media, like anime, and music, like K-pop.
MODERN DAY EQUIVALENT
Contemporary events and issues.
This leads us to Asian fishing and RCTA (race change to another), extreme forms of this sexualization and sensationalization. People online and offline adore Asia to the extent that they will try to make themselves look Asian. By using language, makeup, clothing, and even plastic surgery, they can achieve this level of obsession. Popular influencers like Oli London and Lisa Yo are some famous examples of this.
This sexualization intertwines with cultural appropriation. For example, non-traditional kimonos and cheongsams. These clothing items have been worn for as long as the country they belong to has been around. Kimonos are supposed to be modest, long, and worn with dignity (“The Kimono). Cheongsams are a fashionable and personable dress typically worn on special occasions.
Both garments are culturally significant to their country and both have been overly sexualized. Instead of long kimonos, Western kimonos have been cut shorter to be more revealing. Cheongsams are being worn as sex items rather than for outings. It is offensive to think that because something is Asian it’s exotic and sexy.
COMMON STEREOPTYPES
Sexual bias that’s been perpetuated.
Asian women are fantasized to be...
Temptresses
Saved by Western men thus subservient
Hyperfeminine
Innocent or naive
Mysterious Youthful
Submissive or docile
Essentially, they are molded to fit into traditional Western gender norms, like a housewife, but are even better because of these generalizations. Notice how some of these fantasies contradict each other. An Eastern woman is thought to be innocent but also lustful.
Having these assumptions about an Asian woman is not only demeaning and offensive but is also incorrect. Not all Asian women are like this.
COMMON STEREOTYPES
Caricatures and movie tropes.
Popular move tropes and type casting:
China Doll or Lotus Blossom
A sensitive, delicate, and obedient. Sometimes as a model minority.
ex. Cho-Cho-San from Madame Butterfly, Kim from Miss Saigon
Dragon Lady
A belligerent and domineering seductress.
ex. Ling Woo from Ally McBeal
Tiger Mom
A strict, overcontrolling model minority mom.
ex. Mrs. Kim (Mrs. Chae) from Gilmore Girls
PORTRAYAL IN MEDIA
Inaccurate and offensive.
Inaccurate portrayals of Asian women in media like TV shows or movies help to perpetuate stereotypes.
A minority that already doesn’t have a large representation in mass media, is going to have a harder time fighting against misrepresentation But it seems that the only way they are able to have a role in a movie, is through ethnic tropes and racial archetypes.
From the book The Hypersexuality of Race, the author states that in the past decades, Asian actresses will take up these roles even if they are stereotypical in order for screentime in Hollywood. Many have spoken out about this like Lucy Liu. They are limited to what they are being casted for, and that can help solidify the idea that those types of roles are the only ones Asian women can fulfill “One step forward in redefining representation can feel like two steps backward in terms of reinscribing stereotypes (Shimizu, p.62).” These characters can be empowering because it’s an Asian actress in a white dominated field, Hollywood, but is also discouraging because of the blatent stereotyping
These three famous Asian actresses Anna May Wong, Nancy Kwan, and Lucy Liu are from three separate generations of film, yet what all of them have in common is that the characters they play are usually Asian femme fatales
PORTRAYAL IN MEDIA
Inaccurate and offensive.
According to NBC News, 35% of the characters studied fall into tropes or stereotypes like the model minority, 17% of female API characters are verbally objectified, and 13% are dressed in hypersexual clothing, more than white or non-Asian counterparts (Venkatraman).
An example of Asian actresses being the sex object but also the punchline is from the popular comedy film Austin Powers In Goldmember. There is a scene in which two “harajuku” girls are fans of Austin Powers and their names are Fook Mi and Fook Yu. That’s the double-entendre joke. They are portrayed in revealing school girl clothing with heavy Japanese accents and are sexually interested in the main character It’s funny but also preserves the harmful lustful Asian girl stereotype.
Another notable example, is from the film Madame Butterfly and it’s many renditions and adaptations In these films, the character Cho-Cho-San is a young geisha-in-training who marries and sleeps with the main white male savior character, who had no intention of bringing her back to America. She and their son wait years for him to return before she kills herself from heartbreak. This character is infantalized, sexualized, and in the first few movies wears yellowface.
VISUAL EXAMPLES
Fook Mi and Fook Yu from Austin Powers In Goldmember (2002)
Alex Munday from Charlie’s Angels (2000) played by Lucy Liu
Lan Ying Lin from Daughter of Shanghai (1937) played by Anna May Wong
Cho-Cho-San from Madame Butterfly (1932)
Kim from Miss Saigon (2016)
Lady Deathstrike from X-Men 2 (2002)
GOOD REPRESENTATION
Accurate and empowering.
Even though there are very few Asian characters and actors in popular American media, there exist good representations of Asian women in mass media. In recent years, Asian characters have been on the rise. Popular movies such as my favorites, Crazy Rich Asians or Everything Everywhere All At Once are good examples of Asian representation in media because there is no sexualization and no appropriation of race. To better include Asian representation in media is to cast Asian actors and actresses, but don’t let their ethnicity be their defining trait.
These movies are written and directed by Asian people which makes sense as to why there is little to no racial stereotypes. It’s holistic. But a movie or TV show can have good Asian representation without being written or directed by and Asian. For example, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Invincible. I’ve watched both of them and I can confirm that they did a great job of portraying Asian female characters with character depth and without stereotypes or hypersexualization.
Most people get their perspectives and opinions of people that are disimilar to them from media, which is why accurate inoffensive representation is dire
DEADLY CONSEQUENCES
The 2021 Atlanta Spa Shootings.
On March 16, 2021, in Atlanta, a White man entered an Asian-owned massage parlor and killed 8 people. Once he was put into custody, police said his motive was because of a sex addiction and that he had to "take out that temptation" (Honderich). Six out of eight of his victims were Asian women.
This caused a shock throughout the country, mainly throughout Asian communities, and proved the extent to which this sexualization can go, as well as the sheer size of anti-Asian rhetoric in the country. This hypersexualization and objectification can dehumanize Asian women and can make Asian women more vulnerable to violence and hate crimes.
DEADLY CONSEQUENCES
Sexualization leads to violence.
In a 2021 interview with film scholar Celine Parreñas Shimizu, who also wrote the book The Hypersexuality of Race, Shimizu was asked to comment on the 2021 Atlanta Spa Shooting and how that was connected to the colonization and power dynamic that America had over Asian countries, specifically Vietnam, the Philippines, Korea, and Japan.
She responded that another trope of Asian women is that they are poor labor workers or slaves and they are sexually and domestically subservient to Western men. The Asian victims of the shootings were service workers at the spa. She also said, “There’s this construction of a being for others and a being for the white man…that really extends to the way that we are capable of giving voice to this gunman who says that he was “sexually addicted to the temptations” that they offered, and how the Asian women who were killed were essentially silenced (Ramirez).” The shooter had motive for power, sexual or not, over another race.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Ways to prevent this sexualization.
1 Understand and be informed
a.The best way to begin to combat any problem is to first understand it So if you fully read this magazine, you ’ ve already have taken the first step to helping to prevent asian sexualization Futhur action can involve reading other articles of this subject as well as informing others.
2 Calling out stereotypes and prevent from using harmful language
a If we can’t confront a problem, we cannot solve it So if you see any Asian stereotyping and bias in the real world, online, or even in media, calling it out can be a powerful tool in order to bring attention and awareness to this harmful sexualization
b.Avoid using fetishing language like “oriental”, “yellow fever”, “Asian persuasion”, etcetera It may seem like just words but the meaning they carry is much more. What you can do is to prevent yourself and others from saying these things that inadvertantly perpetuate stereotypes.
3 Support the AAPI community
a.Giving your support for protests against things like Asian-hate looks like nothing, but means a lot more than you’d think. You can advocate for more diverse roles for Asian actors and actresses or you can emotionally support those who’ve been affected by events like the Atlanta Spa Shootings There are a multitude of ways to help, and just reading this magazine is enough
“A People’s History | Where Did The ‘Asian Fetish’ Come From? | Season 1 | Episode 2 | PBS.” PBS: Public Broadcasting Service, 13 May 2021, https://www pbs org/video/where-did-the-asian-fetish-come-fromnx33nr/
Boublil, Alain, and Claude-Michel Schönberg. Miss Saigon: 25th Anniversary. Directed by Brett Sullivan, N/A, 2016, N/A.
Chavez, Nicole, and Natasha Chen “Atlanta Spa Shootings: Tragedy Brought National Attention to Violence against Asian Americans | CNN ” CNN, CNN, 16 Mar 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/16/us/atlanta-spa-shootings-anniversary.
“Chinese Women, Immigration, and the First U.S. Exclusion Law: The Page Act of 1875 - San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park (U S National Park Service) ” NPS Gov Homepage (U S National Park Service), https://www nps gov/safr/blogs/chinese-women-immigrationand-the-first-u-s-exclusion-law-the-page-act-of-1875 htm Accessed 18 May 2025.
Guardian “Trolls Are Citing an ‘Oxford Study’ to Demean Asian Women in Interracial Relationships But It Doesn’t Actually Exist | Race | The Guardian ” The Guardian, The Guardian, 12 June 2024, https://www theguardian com/world/article/2024/jun/12/asian-womendating-white-men-fake-oxford-study?scrlybrkr=0b30e7fd.
Honderich, Holly Atlanta Spa Shootings: How We Talk about Violence
BBC News, 19 Mar 2021, https://www bbc com/news/world-us-canada56446820
Myers, Mike, and Michael McCullers Austin Powers in Goldmember Directed by Jay Roach, N/A, 2002, N/A
“Orientalism.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/science/Orientalism-cultural-field-of-study.
Accessed 18 May 2025
Penn, Zak, et al X2: X-Men United Directed by Bryan Singer, N/A, 2003, N/A
Ramirez, Rachel. “The History of Fetishizing Asian Women in Orientalist Tropes | Vox ” Vox, Vox, 19 Mar 2021, https://www vox com/22338807/asian-fetish-racism-atlanta-shooting
Rowe, Ryan, et al Charlie’s Angels Directed by McG, N/A, 2000, N/A
Shimizu, Celine Parreñas. The Hypersexuality of Race. Duke University Press, 2007.
“The Kimono: What It Means to Be a Japanese Woman | Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection ” CU Blog Service – Cornell University Blog Service, https://blogs.cornell.edu/cornellcostume/2022/05/10/the-kimono-what-itmeans-to-be-a-japanese-woman/. Accessed 18 May 2025.
Unger, Gladys, et al Daughter of Shanghai Directed by Robert Florey, N/A, 1937, N/A
Venkatraman, Sakshi. “Almost Half of All Asian Roles Serve as a Punchline, Study Finds.” NBC News, NBC News, 5 Aug. 2021, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/almost-half-all-asianroles-serve-punchline-study-finds-n1276103