Written by Yash Samyak and edited by Umeshwar Mariappan and Abigail Romero
The term fetish is defined as “an object or bodily part whose real or fantasized presence is psychologically necessary for sexual gratification and that is an object of fixation to the extent that it may interfere with complete sexual expression” by the Merriam-Webster dictionary. When you hear that someone has a fetish you usually think about foot fetish, hand fetish, shoe fetish, etc. but society has managed to “fetishise” an entire ethnicity/race.
When you hear the word “fetish”, you usually think about a foot, hand, or even shoe fetishes, but society has managed to “fetishise” an entire race. And that’s where The Asian Fetish comes in.
The Asian Fetish refers to the strong sexual attraction and fixation towards Asian people, usually those of East Asian descent (ie. Chinese, Japanese, Korean). The term refers specifically to Caucasian (or other non-Asian males) who are attracted to Asian females with a larger intensity and frequency than is shown for other racial groups of women; in some instances, the fixation reaches to the point where it may be difficult or impossible for a person with this fetish to form relationships with women of his own race, or even non-Asian women in general (Prasso, 2005). In her article “ Is it love or Asian fetish?” Jenny Chong talks about the power dynamic between a Caucasian man and his Asian girlfriend:
“He liked the power dynamic between him and his petite Asian girlfriend. He was also an avid fan of Asian porn. Small and cute were the adjectives he used to describe his type, but in hindsight, I think they were synonymous with submissive and docile. To me, he has yellow fever” (Chong, J. , 2020).
As Jenny Chong describes, this fetish stems from pre-conceived notions and stereotypes about Asians. Later in her article, she describes how the man she was talking to was in denial and refused to believe that he had an Asian fetish. Men are not ready to accept that they may be fetishising an entire race of women.
Now, it's not only Asian women who are being objectified. With the new Korean wave, people all over the world are introduced to the beauty of K-pop idols, and more specifically, Korean men. While the fetishization of female idols exists (with popular girl groups like Twice and Blackpink), the fetishization of male idols exists on a much larger scale by young women and teenage girls. It's one thing to be a fan of their music and appreciate their beauty but it's another thing to dream about marrying a Korean male, just because he’s Korean. It's not okay to call the Asian boy in your class “oppa”. It's just plain wrong and disrespectful (and he may not even be Korean!).
Let’s take a deep dive into history, where the first time we see this “phenomenon” is during the Victorian age. Trade with East Asian countries during this time was booming which raised the demand for oriental goods. Englishmen abiding by the social norms, at a time where there was no open conversation about sex, saw a Japanese geisha: a female dressed in rich fabrics, thick makeup, and silky black hair. They immediately had a want for her, as a sexual object as well as a decorative one.
We also see this hidden fetish in books of the 19th century. French writer Pierre Loti’s wildly popular 1887 novel, Madame Chrysanthème, follows the journey of a naval officer who goes to Nagasaki and takes on a temporary wife whom he describes as docile, submissive, petit, and in Loti’s own words, a “Chinese ornament” (seriously? First of all, wrong country. Second of all- ew).
Hollywood further cemented these stereotypes, but also gave a new character to these women, “the dragon lady”. Unlike in Lotti’s novel, these women were powerful and feared. These movies were extensively watched by people in America and now they had a wrong picture of what Asian women are like. Later during World War II, young American and British men were deployed to several Asian countries. With their preconceived notions of Asian women along with their hormone-filled young bodies, they became the primary customers of the sex industry of those places and when they returned back, their tales of a sexual voyage in “the yellow country” spread throughout the country. Thus, we primarily see this fetish (which they oh so deny) in white men, specifically alt. right men.
Asian fetish is a real thing. Asian women and men face this issue daily. From online dating apps to people saying “I have a thing for Asians,” it is disrespectful and downright degrading. You are objectifying these individuals and appropriating their culture. It's one thing having a “type” and another thing to be objectifying them.
Learn the difference.
Sources:
Cover Image by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
ParkView, P. (2014). Tracing the History of the "Asian Woman Fetish". Retrieved November 05, 2020, from https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/the-madame-butterfly-effect-asian-fetish-history-pop-culture
Chang, Maggie, "Made in the USA: Rewriting Images of the Asian Fetish" (2006). Undergraduate Humanities Forum 2005-6: Word & Image. 6.
Wong, B. (2020, August 29). Dear White Guys: Your Asian Fetish Is Showing. Retrieved November 05, 2020, from https://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/asian-fetish-dating-red-flags_n_5ce6ca27e4b05c15dea89437?ri18n=true
Zheng, R. (2016). Why Yellow Fever Isn't Flattering: A Case Against Racial Fetishes. Journal of the American Philosophical Association, 2(3), 400-419. doi:10.1017/apa.2016.25
Chong, J. (2020). Is it love or Asian fetish? Retrieved November 05, 2020, from https://www.michigandaily.com/section/mic/it-love-or-asian-fetish
Lim, A. (2018, January 06). The Alt-Right's Asian Fetish. Retrieved November 05, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/06/opinion/sunday/alt-right-asian-fetish.html
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