Today I want to talk about Asian stereotypes. Female Asian stereotypes in particular. I've noticed that there seems to be this dichotomy within the female Asian stereotype. On the one hand, we are stereotyped as quiet, passive and submissive, ever giggling behind our hands held before our mouths like a good Chinese girl does... The first time I spoke on the phone with an Anglo male whom I had met on the Internet, he commented on my voice not being what he had expected. ?! What was it he expected, I asked. Apparently he was not expecting someone as brash, vocal, and opinionated as me. And he certainly wasn't expecting my atrocious cackling laugh. Not that he was entirely disappointed, either. While it was fun tearing down the stereotypes he had built up around me, it was also rather tiresome work. On the other hand, there's this image of Asian women as the "dragon lady", the aggressive, bitchy, sexually promiscuous vamp. A man actually said this to me once... "You're Chinese, huh?" I replied in the affirmative. "So then, are you a nympho or what?" I was taken back by shock and disgust. I was so upset I almost left the orgy. I let him know it had nothing whatsoever to do with my being Chinese. There seems to be no middle ground. Although I may lean towards the bitchy vamp side of that sliding scale ("neurotic" and "hussy" were the words they used, I think...), I am not that one-dimensional. Sometimes, just sometimes, you may catch me giggling behind my hand. I can be nice. There's so much more to me than virgin or slut, sweet or bitchy, bubbly or calculating. Just don't relegate me to some preconceived notion you have about Asian women. And don't assume that because I don't seem to fit into one stereotype, that must mean I belong to the other. And don't you dare presume to know my sexual habits on the basis of whether I'm a bitch or not, passive or not. If you want to know, just ask. I'll tell you. Copyright 1998 Jennifer Chung All rights reserved, damnit. Go Back