BALANCING THE PROS AND CONS OF

CONTROLLING IMAGES OF ASIAN

AMERICAN MEN AND WOMEN

YOLANDA MARTIN

SOCIOLOGY 3212

RACE & ETHNIC RELATIONS

ADIA HARVEY

GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY

Professor Harvey, you asked that I indicate that I discussed with you my decision to change the topic of my essay to the above,

so long as I discuss and/or answer the question of how gender differently shapes either the controlling images of Asian

American men and women or the experiences of Latino/as, which is thus entailed.

You also stated that it was permissible to extend our essays to 6 pages, as I have.

YOLANDA MARTIN

SOCIOLOGY 3212

RACE & ETHNIC RELATIONS

PROFESSOR ADIA HARVEY

MARCH 27, 2007

BALANCING THE PROS AND CONS OF CONTROLLING

IMAGES OF ASIAN AMERICAN MEN AND WOMEN

The stigmatization of the model minority male as effeminate…and the model minority female as

a China Doll…yet pressure to be academic and professional overachievers should not discombobulate

Asian Americans, but further encourage them in excellence. Asian American accomplishments are

certainly commendable; that they have surpassed Whites in educational attainment – in light of racial

harassment and discrimination – is quite impressive. And to a certain extent, they are a model minority.

Although use of “model minority” terminology by Whites, for the most part, is clearly superficial, as with

its surfacing in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, this does not make such an assertion untrue.

THE PROS

The model minority image clearly challenges Asian Americans to strive for excellence, which is

positive to the greater extent; that Asian Americans find it shameful to present themselves as poor and

oppressed on the same level with Blacks and Mexican–Americans and that they view Whites as childish

and uncultivated is somewhat admirable. The fact that Asian Americans are not proponents of

vocational or athletic professions is too conceivably haughty, yet a reflection of their better suited

priorities. The high priority that Asian Americans1 place on education could be beneficial – not merely to

other minorities – but to this nation and others as a whole.

THE CONS

The categorization of some Asian American men and women as model minorities is certainly

more positive than the depiction of others as “yellow peril” or dangerous; yet, he and she who is

considered “yellow peril” is considered hypermasculine, while the model minority male is considered

effeminate (which is likely more of an insult that is rooted in envy than a viable conclusion) and the

model minority female is equated with a China Doll. There are the stresses and even disengagement of

some Asian American students from school in light of the burden to conform to the “whiz kid image,”

when all cannot or simply will not. The model minority image also causes the majority group to not

necessarily overlook the continuing plight of Asian Americans, but to discount this group as a candidate

for such privileges as affirmative action, as is availed to other minority groups; the premise is that since

Asian Americans are no longer viewed as a minority, though in actuality they are, the benefits of

affirmative action are inessential as to exerting Asian Americans’ entitlement to and acquisition of

especially certain employment opportunities. The end-result of such beliefs, in light of the challenges

that Asian Americans have landing certain jobs (despite and because of the “model minority” image),

are the core of Asian Americans’ ill feelings towards affirmative action.

1 Too, readily striking about Asian Americans and Asians, per se, is their overall good health. We can argue that no

group has experienced the level of racial harassment and discrimination on American soil to the extent that African

Americans have, which is true, but adopting healthy lifestyles, as Asian Americans demonstrate, can decrease the

affects that stress stemming from racial harassment and discriminatory treatment can have on minorities. Though

Asian American health is not a “model minority” characteristic that is conventionally referenced by Whites, it is

certainly model worthy.

Notwithstanding, Whites’ theoretical and actual views of this group are distinct issues. That the

majority group hails Asian Americans as a “model minority” clearly does not mean that it equates this or

any other minority group with itself, although Whites do in fact view Asian Americans as having

intellectual advantages over them. The fact that many, if not most, businesses owned by particularly

Asian Americans of Oriental descent are situated in predominantly African American neighborhoods

likely mirrors Whites’ truer – at large – views of this particular group. With the exception of the

technological industry, which certainly finds its graces in the White American and European market, per

se, and the automotive industry, which caters to a more diverse market, Asian American businesses,

such as Korean hair care, nail salon, and convenience stores, Chinese restaurants, etc., seem to

disproportionately cater to Blacks, which is ironic, considering the dim view that Asian Americans tend

to have of Blacks. The concentration of Asian American businesses in Black neighborhoods is a

demonstration of capitalistic inequalities between Asian Americans and Whites, with Asian Americans

on the low of the incline, despite higher percentages of educational attainment.

It could be the case that since Asian Americans have performed so well in particularly the

academic and entrepreneurial genres that Whites further expect that they should create their own

means to their ends for their group as a whole. And/or it is, perhaps, the case that Whites fear that

since Asian Americans have superseded them academically that their benefiting too much from

affirmative action could aid in putting them in positions of true “majority” status – over Whites, seeing

especially that a majority, in this context, would not necessarily warrant a numerical majority. Whites

would have little fear of integrating establishments with minorities who they do not necessarily view as

competitive, but Asian Americans on the other hand are their acclaimed “model minority.” And

although affirmative action is a merited practice, it is likely the case that it is somewhat exploited in

calculation of the response that it would conjure from Asian Americans, who could make the soundest

arguments for its demise. Affirmative action is thus employed in this wise as a scapegoat for denying

Asian Americans (of namely the Orient) admission into certain colleges and/or universities – not as an

expression of greater empathy for Blacks or other non-Asian minorities (the very implication of a “model

minority” as employed by Whites implies that other minorities are not model) – but in response to

Whites’ at large fear of losing their “majority” status to Asian Americans. The fact that there is a higher

percentage of Asian Americans in the applicant pool for college admission in comparison to other

minorities and even Whites does not negate such an assertion because the African American and

Hispanic populations are both distinctively greater than two thirds that of Asian Americans; if thus the

collegiate application of Asian Americans was 100%, they should not be disproportionately affected by

affirmative action.

Whites’ fear of losing their majority status to Asian Americans is further exemplified in the

notion that Whites should be included in affirmative action in light of the Asian American presence.

Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, in his dissent in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson, as Mr.

Frank H. Wu points out in “Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White,” would get around to

stating that “…a Chinaman2 can ride in the same passenger coach [of a train] with white citizens of the

United States, while citizens of the black race cannot.” And in yet another dissent, Harlan blatantly

decrees that, because of their race, even the native-born children of Chinese immigrants cannot be U.S.

citizens.

CONCLUSION (THE BALANCING ACT)

2 Harlan’s statements, “there is a race so different from our own that we do not permit those belonging to it to

become citizens of the United States. Persons belonging to it are, with exceptions, absolutely excluded from our

country. I allude to the Chinese race” is evidentiary of the typical prejudgments of Asian Americans of Oriental

descent.

The fact that not all Asian Americans can or will conform to the “model minority” image does

not mean that they should not continue to have and set high academic expectations for their group and

that theirs’ is not model behavior for us in this wise. The categorization of the model minority Asian

American male as effeminate and female as a China Doll…is more so an attempt to demoralize or

psychologically dominate the subjects to appease Whites’ insecurities rather than as a definition and/or

confirmation of their “superiority.” Notwithstanding, although Asian Americans should not compromise

their educational standards, loosening their ties a bit could prove quite profitable to them. It is notable

that, although America is not as educationally adept as China, it is the wealthiest nation in the world.

And America’s wealth is earned – to a considerable extent – through the professional sports arena, not

our educational systems, per se, as even our schools as are “for profit” will hardly generate3 the

revenues as are earned in the professional sports arena through the numerous avenues of franchise

endorsement; it is notable, likewise, that the bulk of our schools – our public schools, particularly – are

not-for-profit and funded by the government, which, as indebted as it is, could not afford to pay our

teachers too much more than it does if it wanted to. Notwithstanding, considerable shares of the mega-

millions that are earned through America’s professional sports arena have been and could be better

channeled through and surrounding our schools, however, to improve educational proficiency.

At large Asian American views of affirmative action as have been shaped by the model minority

image, though understandable, are unintelligible. For, although Asian Americans have excelled

academically and professionally, they are still not afforded the privileges that are afforded Whites. Mr.

Wu, who himself is Asian American, ironically, makes a very lucid argument for affirmative action. Yet, it

is the overall disassociation of Asian Americans from or their lack of empathy for other minority groups

such as Blacks and Mexican Americans that salts the open wound of their plight. Because affirmative

3 Hiking educational costs would likely only reduce class rolls.

action was designed to benefit all minorities, Asian Americans should not oppose but rather assert their

entitlement to it. Without affirmative action, the “majority” group would be less mindful to call its hand

to discriminatory practices in particularly the employment and academic settings. Affirmative action is

intelligible in that it recognizes, for one, that if something special was done against a group, something

special must be done for it to balance the equation. It is thus not reverse discrimination; reverse

discrimination would mean that such privileges would be granted to another group who had not been

historically subject to discriminatory treatment and social disadvantages as a result of it.

Affirmative action demonstrates consideration that the historic adverse experiences of such

groups as a whole can and have attributed to their academic and professional lag. It is thus a form of

racial reparations, although there is much more to be done to truly balance the equation of social

justice, not merely in terms of race relations, per se, but in the genre of socioeconomics for all people,

including the vast portion of the “majority” group. Asian Americans, as minorities, should not be

prejudiced professionally in terms of affirmative action because they do not lag academically or better

yet because of Whites’ fear of being supplanted by them. There are enough resources to sustain us all

so that the White, Yellow, Black, or Red man shouldn’t fear lack or the potential of it.

Asian Americans’ view of the model minority image as burdensome is certainly not overstated.

But, taken in stride, Asian Americans will continue in their pursuit and achievement of excellence and

setting the precedence for not only other minorities, but for society at large, awhile asserting their

entitlement to social equality.

Amusingly, within a few days of submitting this essay and an amended version highlighting

utilized sources or reference material a South Korean student, Cho Seung-hui, who was a senior

at Virginia Tech, shot and killed 32 people and wounded 17 others before committing suicide,

reportedly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_shooting. My antennas were

immediately raised, not just out of alarm for this incident, but because of the things I’d just

learned in this class about the harassment of Asian American men. I suspected that there was a

lot more to this situation than met the eye.