"The Dragon Lady" and Enlightened Sexism

In the chapter, “You Go, Girl,” Douglas elaborates on how enlightened sexism can even be seen in media portraying women of color. Not only is gender at play, but also race. Though Douglas mainly focuses on African American women in the media, she briefly mentioned Asian Americans and her brief mentioning had me thinking about Asian stereotypes in the media throughout the two chapters.

Growing up, I felt the pressure to play down my “Asian-ness”. My parents pushed me to do all things they deemed “American”. From taking swimming lessons, to sticking me in front of the television learning English, I grew up thinking that there was something wrong with me because I had Chinese and Vietnamese blood in me. I also began to idolize T.V. characters and looking back, there were not many Asian characters I could idolize. I rarely saw Asians on T.V. or movies for more than a few minutes or episodes. They were never the leads. If anything, they were only casted to be the geek, the socially awkward one, or the one that does all the martial art moves.

Now, I’m starting to see some Asian women on T.V. and films. This should be something to celebrate about, but I can’t help but notice that most of these characters are highly stereotyped. Just hearing the names being introduced in the beginning of shows or movies makes me want to switch the channel. Following Douglas’ example of Ally McBeal, the Asian character in the show was named Ling Woo. J.K. Rowling’s named her Asian character Cho Chang. Aside from the name, Asian women are very popular for portraying the “Dragon Lady” stereotype that Douglas briefly touched on. Sure, the stereotype represents strong, forceful women that are usually adept at martial arts and flashing harsh glares, but it is no different from the warrior women that Douglas talked about in previous chapters. Underneath the mask of dominance in this “Dragon Lady” stereotype is a hypersexualized image of geishas, heartless and loveless spies, Vietnamese prostitutes in Vietnam war movies – the list goes on. This suggests that Asian-Americans would have to learn some killer martial art moves quick to look cool and sexy and even then, they will never find love because they’re heartless creatures.

I don’t even consider these stereotypes. I consider these images fantasies. In reality, most of my Asian-American friends grew up in a strict, conservative household where dominance, strength, and leadership were not to be said in the same sentence as words that even have a hint of femininity to it. Family roles are intertwined with gender roles. While the American media is busy portraying Asian women as strong, i-won’t-take-your-crap kind of women, reality is still going and I still don’t see a group of strong Asian females on the streets protesting, writing books and creating talk shows about pressing issues of our time. What the media is selling to us is a fantasy image of what a strong, successful Asian woman should look like, equipped with martial art skills and a sharp tongue. Is this really what young Asian girls in America should be striving for?

Douglas brings to point that no race is protected from enlightened sexism. The White teens have their “Clueless” while African-American teens have their “Living Single” and Asian-Americans have this: