There’s something you may or may not have noticed about Asian characters in most mainstream film and television productions.
That is, they’re not really there. There aren’t that many roles for Asian women.
And when there are roles, Asian women are frequently relegated to supporting character status. The quirky best friend of Katherine Heigl. The overachieving (surgeon) colleague of Reese Witherspoon. The bad-ass martial arts master in… pretty much any action movie with a hunky, white male lead.
We’ve written at Mamamia before about the difficulties that women face in Hollywood (the dearth of quality roles, age barriers, etc.). But for women of colour, the barriers are twice as great.
Unfortunately, the same could be said for, well, life.
Women of colour – whether Indigenous, African-American, Asian, Hispanic, or otherwise – are not represented as vocally in contemporary feminist debate as white women. And the concerns of white women are more likely to get media attention.
This is what Suey Park, a freelance writer, wanted to get people talking about when she started the hashtag #NotYourAsianSidekick on Twitter.
First she tweeted:
Be warned. Tomorrow morning we will be have a convo about Asian American Feminism with hashtag #NotYourAsianSidekick. Spread the word!!!!!!!
— Suey Park (@suey_park) December 15, 2013
And then, within a matter of only hours, Asian women from around the world were sharing their frustrations regarding a feminist movement that is predominantly concerned with the issues of white women – and a world that stereotypes, patronises, belittles and disregards Asian women.
Or even makes them invisible.
Suey Park decided to get people talking about the role of feminism in the lives of Asian women online, because she sees it as a democratic – and powerful – platform to talk about change.
In an interview with Monique Jones on Moniqueblog, Park explained, “It’s important to remember that Twitter isn’t a disconnected world. People and their ideas are represented on Twitter and it’s an extension of their experiences.”
While some media commentators were critical of the ability of a hashtag like #NotYourAsianSidekick to make any real difference, Park said “hashtags are supposed to be a starting place for people.” She continued:
“I saw people as young as school-aged girls tweeting me and emailing me, saying, ‘Hey, I didn’t notice that, as the only Asian in school, that I didn’t want to be seen with other people of color because I’m already marked as different. I’m going to start speaking out in high school because my teacher definitely treats me like a model minority and thing that I have Tiger Mom parents, etc.’…
So, imagine what it means if thousands of young girls and high school girls were participating in this hashtag and… starting to figure out what racial and gender politics are… and entering college with that intention?”
The kinds of ideas Asian women discussed using the hashtag were as varied as patriarchy in Asian-American cultures, the under representation of Asian women in the media, and Asian stereotypes.
Asian feminist writers have been discussing these ideas for years, and Asian women in the spotlight – like Lucy Liu – have also talked about racism in the media before.
Liu spoke about the issue of stereotyping of Asian women in Hollywood in Net-A-Porter, where she said that, “I wish people wouldn’t just see me as the Asian girl who beats everyone up, or the Asian girl with no emotion. People see Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock in a romantic comedy, but not me.
“It [becomes], ‘Well, she’s too Asian’, or, ‘She’s too American’. I kind of got pushed out of both categories. It’s a very strange place to be. You’re not Asian enough and then you’re not American enough, so it gets really frustrating.”
The fantastic thing about the #NotYourAsianSidekick is that it allows everyday Asian women – anyone with a Twitter account – to join the debate. It allows the debate to reach a whole new generation of women.
It can empower women to look at certain situations in their life and think, ‘Yes, I want to change something.’
And that’s the first step.
Do you think a hashtag like ‘not your asian sidekick’ has the potential to inspire real change in people’s attitudes?
Top Comments
Great article and movement. Nothing wrong with more discussions on racial stereotypes and feminism. And I can relate to the hashtag relating to people asking where you are from. Because I have brown skin and an unusual name I get asked that from time to time by strangers. It always makes me feel different although I have grown up here and lived in Aus all my life. I have no shame in my heritage but I like to feel included and like I belong and that is one surefire way to feel separated instantly.
I am in two minds on this, on one hand there should be more diversity in the movies but on the other hand if a population was made up of say (fictitious figures) 80% white people and 20% Asians then I think it would be appropriate if the movies from that country showed a predominance ie 80% of white people, if in the other hand 50% of the population is Asian but those people are rarely given roles than I think that would be wrong. I don't know personally what the stats are for Australia and America but I suspect that even despite immigration that the Asian populations of those countries would still be a minority but correct me if I'm wrong (which I may be not having seen the stats) admittedly I live in Sydney and there seems to me a huge number of different ethnicities here but on the other hand when I've been to country towns I've found the reverse.
I'd think that in America that there would be a lot more black people than Asian and therefore they seem underrepresented to me but once again I don't know the stats, am basing this on my trips there.
So I guess I think that some races appear to be somewhat underrepresented but I think it's still perfectly valid for each country to use mostly actors of that country's predominant race. But yes it would be nice to see someone other than Lucy Liu (who I'm not too fond of her acting I find her very wooden) and Sandra Oh (who on the other hand I believe can act) grace our screens.
They must remember though a lot of white women are reduced to being just sexy sidekicks in movies though I agree the objectification is probably worse for Asian actresses/actors.
As for feminism well I think white feminists often speak of issues that appear to be universal, but as a white woman myself it's also difficult to speak out about issues for other races because firstly I don't always know what other races go through and secondly I could be accused of being racist for speaking out on behalf of another race, for instance I think it's terrible that in some countries such as Saudi Arabia women have to wear burqa a or similar outfits but if I speak out about this some of this women will say that they are quite happy about wearing this and that I'm being racist assuming that they don't want to, so you are dammed if you do, dammed if you don't
Hijab or head scarf is compulsory in Saudi Arabia. I get your point though. It is something the majority of women are happy to follow. It is hard for us to understand. More important things worth fighting would be their inability to open ababa account. The inability to drive etc. the hypocrisy of the royal family. I am a Muslim woman (white) an I often feel as if I am spoken for. As if I need saving which is deeply offensive. I feel myself a feminist (ask my hubby and he will agree) but I feel that I often have my voice stolen by those who wish to speak for me.