Fetishization of Asian Women

Introduction

Since the western colonization of Asia, asian women have been exotified and stereotyped by western males. The "Asian Fetish" or the colloquial alternative "yellow fever", typically refers to caucasian males who are known to serial date asian women or have interest in asian women based on racial preference. Today, the term "yellow fever" can refer to any non-asian males who preferentially date asian women. Conversation surrounding the combined aspects of racism and sexism have been highlighted in more recent media with the hopes of changing the western perspective on asian women. The fetishization of women of Asian descent can range from mild preference to outright vulgarity and studies have been conducted examining why this preference exists. According to a study by psychiatrist Ravi Chandra, most men who admit to having "yellow fever" have claimed that while looks play a factor in their preference, "fascinations with Asian culture" and the stereotypes they have associated with Asian women have played a major role.  Dr. Goal Auzeen Saedi suggests that women of Asian ancestry have been exotified and stereotyped as 'submissive', 'docile', 'obedient' and 'man-pleasing'. These stereotypes are perpetuated by what she describes as "racial micro-agressions" or "brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to people of color because they belong to a racial minority group. These exchanges are so pervasive and automatic in daily interactions that they are often dismissed and glossed over as being innocuous," Exoticization, often described as a type of stereotype often directed at women of colour, objectifies and glamorizes these women based on their sex and race. For these women it is often a racial and gendered experience that has been found to often cause psychological distress. 

History of the Sexualized Asian Female

In the mid 1800s at the end of the first Opium war, the desire for western powers to profit off of the newly open trade-routes to China, Japan, and Korea led to a rise of western bourgeois interest in Oriental goods. Professor of Japanese history Kim Brandt stated that "The East Asian female in native dress...was viewed as a decorative object but also a sexual object." The mystery and allure of someone like a Japanese geisha became fetishized because it was viewed by the western man as an exclusive object of sexual desire. One of the first accounts of the exoticization of an Asian women came in the 1887 novel Madame Chrysantheme that depicts a naval officer taking a "temporary" Japanese wife. In the novel, he describes her to be "doll-like" and "dainty" similarly comparing her to an oriental ornament. Inspired by this work, Puccini created the opera Madama Butterfly in 1904 which chronicled a similar story of an American officer and his local Japanese wife. In this piece, the Japanese wife is depicted as diminutive, submissive, and self-sacrificing for her American husband. The popularity of this image is reflected in iterations of the narrative such as the musical Miss Saigon in 1989 and pop media references. Another archetype that grew from the sexualization of the Asian female was the powerful 'dragon lady'. The depiction of this woman was one of sexual prowess, seductive, exotic, and dangerous. Once again a hypersexualized image of the Asian woman. In more recent representation, a rise of "yellowface" (the practice of white actors changing their appearance to play East Asian characters) has been noted with everything from halloween costumes to Hollywood stars by creating the appearance of a "sexier" Oriental woman in completely misrepresented traditional garb. The objectification of the Asian female has been created through their fetishization in which New York Times writer stated "When you fetishize - as opposed to value - something, you wind up celebrating the idea of the thing rather than the thing itself." 

Asian Women in Media

The portrayal of Asian women in the media has changed significantly over the past 50 years. Racial and ethnic minorities are often rendered invisible, placed in marginal and background roles, and stereotyped in mainstream media. The depictions of Asian American women in particular have been featured in narratives of Asian-Caucasian sexual liaisons with the conventional trope of a "White Knight" where the white male protagonist is seen 'rescuing' Asian women. In examining films between 1915 - 1986, Gina Marchetti focuses on demonstrating how Hollywood has upheld and subverted the "culturally accepted notions of nation, class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation" she goes on to substantiate how the East has been subjugated by the West through themes of stereotype and western classification.  Portrayals of asian women in western films such as The Last Samurai (2003), Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), and The Great Wall (2016) have perpetuated the theme of exocticizing inter-racial relationships between asian women and caucasian males. 

Changing Perspectives

Over the past decade, progress towards changing the perspective on Asian women has slowly broken down the barriers of stereotype. While problems such as "yellowfever" and "Asian fetish" are still very much prevalent, progress has been made in the media towards changing the western perception of Asian women. While research has documented that an increase in depictions of Asian women as "intelligent, professional, and well-educated model minorities" has arisen, the image of exotic beauty is still common in sources such as beauty advertisements.  Change has happened however, particularly in pop culture where films such as To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018) and Crazy Rich Asians (2018) have centered on intelligent, strong Asian female protagonists.

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