Читать книгу Asian America - Pawan Dhingra - Страница 51

The “model minority” stereotype is also popular because it promotes gendered and sexual assumptions. If the “yellow peril” man threatens to rape women, the “model minority” man is so asexual as to be considered effeminate. Such depictions stem partly from the occupations to which Asian-American men were relegated due to race in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as workers in laundries and houseboys, and living in bachelor societies. This depiction continues today, despite Asian Americans’ broader occupational representation (Espiritu 2007). Gay Asian-American men similarly play the role of the passive femme relative to the dominant white male (Manalansan 2003). Lesbian Asian Americans are presumed not to exist, for that would be too disruptive to the “proper” family (Gopinath 2005). If not characterized as a dragon lady within the “yellow peril” framework, Asian-American women are lotus blossoms ready to cater to men’s needs. This subservient, exotic framing, fueled by gendered and sexual assumptions, limits Asian Americans’ advancements in the workplace while supporting white men. It also shapes romantic relations with other groups and with other Asian Americans.