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Asian American Experience: The Illusion of Inclusion and the Model Minority Stereotype

2023; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 33; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10481885.2023.2160171

1940-9222

Kris Yi,

Psychosocial Factors Impacting Youth

ABSTRACTThe stereotype of Model Minority is often applied to Asian Americans, whose educational and economic achievements are held up as a sign of successful inclusion into American society. Yet the deadly anti-Asian attacks following the Coronavirus pandemic have shattered this illusion of inclusion. Using trauma theories, I explore Asian Americans' belief in the American Dream, alignment with whiteness, and the illusion of inclusion afforded by the Model Minority stereotype. In particular, I examine how the illusion of inclusion has obscured recognition of an Asian fetish, the sexualized objectification of Asian women and feminization of Asian men. Clinical examples illustrate the workings of racialized stereotypes and mutual dissociation of racial traumas in Asian therapist and Asian patient dyads. Finally, I add a plea for Asian American psychoanalysts and therapists to write and speak about their experiences from their own frame of reference for fuller recognition of Asian American subjectivity. AcknowledgmentsI thank Donna Orange, Robert Stolorow, Anne Simpson, and Usha Tummala-Narra for their helpful comments and support. I thank Lauren Levine for her editorial guidance.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.Notes1 Since the first arrival of the Chinese in California in the 1850's, Asian Americans have been seen as the yellow peril or perpetual strangers, unfit for inclusion in American society. The historian Ellen Wu traces how a number of political, social, and cultural imperatives from ethnic, mainstream, and global sources came together to frame Asian Americans (mainly Japanese and Chinese) in a positive light during the mid-20th century. The Immigration Act of 1965 allowed for a large influx of highly educated professionals from Asia, which added to the perception of Asians as successful. The stereotype was subsequently used with a racist aim by some to blame African Americans for their difficulties. The 2020 census data indicate that the 20 million Asian Americans living in America are very diverse, made up of 20-plus nationalities with vastly varying levels of education, religion, economic success, and cultural value systems. For a detailed historical account of the origin of the term Model Minority, please see Color of Success: Asian Americans and the origins of Model Minority by Ellen Wu (Citation2015).2 For an overview of a history of discrimination and racial traumas of Asian Americans, see Erika Lee's The Making of Asian America: A history (Citation2015) and the five part PBS series on Asian Americans which aired in Tajima-Pena (Citation2020).3 For a fuller description of the history of Yellow Peril, see Tchen and Yates' Yellow Peril! (Citation2014).4 Of course my patients' reactions were not monolithic. For example, a patient who saw herself to be different from the victims, was unaffected by the shooting. She appeared to be blaming the victims for putting themselves in a vulnerable position. This defensive move provided her with an illusion of personal control, safety and protection. The truth is her skin color and gender, traits she has no control over, make her a target of racism. Furthermore, by putting the blame on the victim, she can't see society's systemic racism for what it is.A Vietnamese American patient, a strong social justice warrior, showed a dissociative response. When asked about her reactions to the shootings, she was overwhelmed by a rush of intense, confusing and contradictory emotions. While she was sympathetic toward the victims, she was disgusted by the sexual aspects of their work; it triggered her own childhood subjugation to her parents who denied her bodily autonomy by controlling her body movements, her clothing, and hair style. In her mind, her parents' authoritarian and abusive parenting style was unequivocally tied to their Asian culture. She hated reading stories about young Asian people coming home to their culture and seeing images of AAPI pride and love, shown in the media following the Atlanta shooting. It felt like an assault to her perception of the inherently abusive nature of Asian culture. She wanted to smash Asian culture to smithereens, in a manner that conjured up in my mind Franz Fanon's description of blowing the colonial world to smithereens. For a more detailed discussion on the impact of trauma within the ethnic culture on racial identity development, see Yi (Citation2014a).Several others, preoccupied by struggles in their own personal lives, did not have strong reactions.5 For Jamie and Vicki (a patient I discuss next), their experiences are much more complex than the race and gender related traumas that I highlight in my discussions. By highlighting them, I do not mean to be reducing their experiences only to these dimensions. Familial, individual, and biological factors all play a role in shaping all of us, including these two patients. For example, Jamie's father's treatment of her is not just a function of racism, but is also a function of his overall personality organization. Similarly Vicki's traumas within her own family are extensive and have hampered her sense of agency and autonomy. I chose to focus on the sexualized racism, out of concern that this important issue not be diluted, and because these particular clinical vignettes are good examples of racialized sexism under discussion. David, the last patient I discuss in this paper, encompasses fuller complexities of his racial, gender, and familial dynamics.6 In his autobiographical novel On Earth We Were Briefly Gorgeous (Citation2019), Ocean Vuong, a Vietnamese American gay writer, chronicles his and his family's harrowing traumas: from war, family violence, sexual identity, to poverty. His grandmother was a sex worker serving the American GI's during the Vietnam War. He turns to the beauty inherent in life and art to counteract human finitude.7 For descriptions of Asian American men addressing these stereotypes head on with humor and deep resilience, see Alex Tizon's autobiography Big Little Man (Citation2014), Adrian Tomine's graphic novel, Shortcomings (Citation2009), Eddie Huang's article, Hey, Steve Harvey, Who Says I might Not Steal Your Girl? (January 14, Citation2017, NYT), and Thessaly La Force's The Comedians Challenging Stereotypes About Asian-American Masculinity (August 26, Citation2019, NYT). For a description of a troubling movement of an anonymous group of Asian men notorious for directing their racial rage at Asian women for dating non-Asians, see Aaron Mak's "Men's Rights Asians" think this is their moment (September 15, Citation2021, Slate).8 While I agree with this view, it is not the only explanation for why Asian women might not want to date Asian men. For some Asian women, turning away from Asian men may represent a flight from traumas associated with patriarchy and sexism within their own ethnic culture.9 This case description is based on a single session consultation I did with David's therapist. No further detail is known about David's developmental history, especially his early relationship with his mother.10 It would appear that the Model Minority stereotype enhances Asian women's desirability, as it combines hard work and achievement orientation with femininity.Additional informationNotes on contributorsKris YiKris Yi is a psychologist and psychoanalyst in private practice in Pasadena, California.