The Harms of Asian Stereotypes

By: Rayya Hadisurya

Edited by: Fiorina Siamir

Asians are good at math. Asian people eat their dogs. Asians have small eyes. Are these stereotypes genuinely harmful? Are these stereotypes truly wrong? Both people of color and Caucasians have to go through certain stereotypes that society has created for us, so why are we prioritizing specifically Asian stereotypes? That's easy - Fat people are ugly. Men are better at engineering. Women are bad drivers. On top of all the sexist, ageist, socioeconomic, and body discriminatory stereotypes, people of color have to deal with another layer of stereotypes, racism. Although it might sound like a joke or a compliment to you, Asian people have heard that same ‘joke’ repeatedly until we started to internalize the negative characteristics associated with the stereotype and allow them to become self-fulfilling prophecies. This is what psychologists call the stereotype threat. It is formally defined as ”a socially premised psychological threat that arises when one is in a situation or doing something for which a negative stereotype about one's group applies” (Steele & Aronson, 1995). When this happens, members of the disadvantaged group, in this case, people of color, recognize that a negative stereotype exists about their group and display anxiety about confirming the negative stereotype by participating in specified behaviors.

Stereotypes overlook both the richness and diversity seen experimentally when examining actual individuals and their actions; stereotypes, by definition, distort the groups they aim to characterize. Stereotypes frequently persist even after the statistical reality on which they were established varies. For example, even in nations where the majority of women work full-time, the stereotype of the housewife persists.

Stereotypes can have a negative impact on performance. The perceived fear of being reduced to the stereotype of the group with which one is affiliated, known as "stereotype threat," might induce capable individuals within a group to "conform" to their group's unfavourable stereotype. When young women are informed of their gender before taking a math test, for example, by being asked to check a "female" or "male" box, they tend to score worse than when there is no F/M option to check (Steele, 1997). Similarly, when white men engineering students are notified that Asian engineering students are taking the same math test, their performance on the test drops.

After having little to no Asian representation in the western media, western production has had the joy of emasculating Asian men to be deemed as unpleasurable and unwanted in comparison to their Caucasian counterparts. An example of this would be in the iconic movie, ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s,’ where these preconceptions were reinforced, where white performers such as Mickey Rooney (Mr. Yunioshi in "Breakfast at Tiffany's") utilized thick, stunted accents and exaggerated mannerisms to support existing stereotypes, mocking or villainizing Asian males as a form of amusement.

These early popular portrayals are the source of today's mockery and bigotry. Another example would be Gedde Watanabe as Long Duk Dong in ‘Sixteen Candles.’ Dong's Asian ethnicity is caricatured and played for laughs from the start, with everything from his name and geeky middle section to his sexual inadequacy adding to the humor. Not to mention the infamous stereotype that Asian men have small genitalia. This is not only a racist stereotype but also a body discriminatory one. A person’s private area on their personal body should not be the bud of a joke for whatever reason. It is insensitive for the media to take advantage of this.

Ironically, there is a problem with the hyper-sexualization of Asian women. Previously in western media, Asian women have been portrayed as sexually exotic objects that White males should desire. Throughout the 70s and 80s, we continue to see these dehumanizing fetishes that have become highly misogynistic and racist. Its effect has persisted even until now. Asian women have become a common fetish and target amongst white males. This usually leads to violence against Asian women just because of the stereotype. “Fetishization is just a dangerous extension of racism. Asian women are often viewed only as hypersexualized bodies, and they’re the punchline of every sex joke.” India Roby states in her Teen Vogue Article.

Stereotypes are one-dimensional. Many Asian Americans try so hard not to fit into the stereotype, proving to people that they are different and that they are not what you expect them to be. They want to be unassuming, they want to be equally as interesting as a normal human being without the stereotypes. Asian Americans have been trying to control how people expect them to be for decades. The Asian stereotype is very destructive and restrictive of Asian people’s personalities. “I wonder how much of my interests are shaped by what other people expect of Me versus what I expect of myself” This is how we Asian people get through stereotypes. We contemplate and internalize, which is so unhealthy.

Even though Asian Americans are now acclaimed as a "model minority" and Asian pupils are celebrated as "whiz kids," racial prejudice towards Asians persists. Perceptual homogeneity and attitude-behavior discrepancies define American preconceptions of Asians. Even without deliberation, these stereotypes create a pretense that Asians must be smart or overachievers.