How The Fetishization of Asian Women Leads to Violence

As an Asian woman, I find it incredibly frustrating to talk about the fetishization of Asian women. Whenever I try to talk about things like the over-prevalence of Asian women in violent porn categories or the higher rates of sexual violence against Asian women, I get comments like, “Oh, you should be honored that men are attracted to your race!” or “You should just take it as a compliment!”

The reality is that the fetishization of Asian women isn’t complimentary — it’s a sick and twisted rationale for the mistreatment of Asian women. This group is the most trafficked group worldwide, and while, nationally, 21% of women experience rape or attempted rape in their lifetime, up to 61% of Asian women face physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner.

This ongoing sexual violence toward Asian women is undeniably linked to widespread, hypersexualized stereotypes that have stripped Asian women of their personhood and individuality, reducing them to exotic sex objects that are docile, sexually compliant, and submissive. These stereotypes are the residue of white imperialism through U.S. military presence in Asian countries in the twentieth century, alongside which emerged a prevalence of prostitution. These historical events configured Asian women in the national imagery as submissive sex objects conquered by the colonial white men and commodified for Western desire.

These hypersexualized stereotypes have continued through the decades as they were constantly re-ascribed through mass media. For instance, consider the hit Broadway musical Miss Saigon, which was first performed in 1989 and revered as a beautiful love story. The show centers on a 17-year-old Vietnamese girl who is forced into prostitution because of the Vietnam War, and falls in love with an older American GI after one night together. While this portrayal of brothel life was actually a reality for many Vietnamese prostitutes during the war, the play problematically glamorizes the war and romanticizes an imperialist romance. This show erases the plight of sexual violence against Vietnamese women during the Vietnam War and legitimizes harmful sexual stereotypes of Asian women as a whole.

Imagine if the roles were reversed, and the underage Asian girl was replaced with an underage white girl who was trafficked into sex work and fell in love with her abuser. The audience’s assumptions would likely have been different; the story likely wouldn’t have been glamorized or romanticized. That is because while white women are viewed as full human beings, as individuals outside of their race, Asian women still cannot escape the stain of white sexual imperialism, and are still viewed as sex toys to submit to white men’s will.

These stereotypes have continued into modern-day pop culture as well. Take Day Above Ground’s song “Asian Girlz” (2013), which describes a racialized fantasy of Asian women:

“I love your creamy yellow thighs

Ooh your slanted eyes …

Baby, you're my Asian girl

You're here illegally (best kind) ...

Come on sit on my lap (right here baby)

Or we'll send you back

And you age so well

I can barely tell

17 or 23?”

As stereotypes like these continue to pervade our everyday cultural consumption, we must remain cognizant of the fetishization of Asian women. Stereotypes like these cause sexual violence against Asian women to be overlooked, erased, and legitimized.