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{{Hatnote|This article primarily focuses on stereotypes of East Asians in the US, but certain parts of it are applicable to other groups. For other Continental Asian subgroups, please see [[Stereotypes of South Asians]].}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}
'''Stereotypes of East Asians in the United States''' are [[ethnic stereotype]]s found in American society about [[first-generation immigrant]]s and their American-born descendants and citizenry with East Asian ancestry or whose family members who recently emigrated to the [[United States]] from [[East Asia]], as well as members of the [[Overseas Chinese|Chinese diaspora]] whose family members emigrated from [[Southeast Asia]]n countries. Stereotypes of [[East Asian people|East Asians]], analogous to other ethnic and racial stereotypes, are often erroneously misunderstood and negatively portrayed in [[Mass media in the United States|American]] [[mainstream media]], [[Portrayal of East Asians in American film and theater|cinema]], music, television, literature, [[Race and video games#East Asian representation|video games]], internet, as well as in other forms of creative expression in American culture and society. Many of these commonly generalized stereotypes are largely correlative to those that are also found in other [[Anglosphere]] countries, such as in [[Australia]], [[Canada]], [[New Zealand]], and the [[United Kingdom]], as entertainment and [[mass media]] are often closely interlinked between them.
Largely and collectively, these stereotypes have been internalized by society and in daily interactions, current events, and government legislation, their repercussions for Americans or immigrants of East Asian ancestry are mainly negative.<ref name="vanishing"/><ref name="felicia"/> [[Portrayal of East Asians in American film and theater|Media portrayals of East Asians]] often reflect an [[Americentric]] perception rather than authentic depictions of East Asian cultures, customs, traditions, and behaviors.<ref name="vanishing">{{Citation |last=Kashiwabara |first=Amy |url=http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/Amydoc.html |title=Vanishing Son: The Appearance, Disappearance, and Assimilation of the Asian-US Man in US Mainstream Media |publisher=UC Berkeley Media Resources Center}}</ref> East Asian Americans have experienced [[Racism against Asians|discrimination]] and have been victims of [[bullying]] and [[hate crime]]s related to their ethnic stereotypes, as it has been used to reinforce [[xenophobia|xenophobic sentiments]].<ref name="vanishing"/><ref name="sfgate"/> Notable fictional stereotypes include [[Fu Manchu]] and [[Charlie Chan]], which respectively represents a threatening, mysterious East Asian character as well as an apologetic, submissive, "good" East Asian character.<ref name="wu">William F. Wu, ''The Yellow Peril: Chinese Americans in American Fiction, 1850–1940'', Archon Press, 1982.</ref>
East Asian American men are often stereotyped as physically unattractive and lacking social skills.<ref name="Stereotypes of Asian Male Attractiveness">{{cite web|url=http://depts.washington.edu/silab/Documents/Wilkins.Chan.Kaiser.2011.pdf|title=Racial Stereotypes and Interracial Attraction: Phenotypic Prototypicality and Perceived Attractiveness of Asians|publisher=Washington.edu|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180717153912/http://depts.washington.edu/silab/Documents/Wilkins.Chan.Kaiser.2011.pdf|archive-date=July 17, 2018|access-date=October 13, 2021|quote="Cultural studies literature has suggested that stereotypes of Asians portray both genders as being feminine. According to Fujino (1992) and Williams (1994), Asian women are portrayed in the media as “exotic, subservient, or simply nice” (Mok, 1999, p.107) – all feminine traits. Asian men, in contrast, are presented as lacking in the physical appearance and social skills needed to attract women (Mok, 1999, p. 107)."}}</ref> This contrasts with the common view of East Asian women being perceived as highly desirable relative to their white female counterparts, which often manifests itself in the form of the [[Asian fetish]], which has been influenced by their portrayals as hyper-feminine "[[Lotus Blossom]] Babies", "[[China doll]]s", "[[Geisha]] girls", and [[war bride]]s.<ref name="Tajima, R. 1989 pp 308">{{cite book |last1=Tajima |first1=Renee |title=Lotus Blossoms Don't Bleed: Images of Asian Women in Making Waves: An Anthology of Writing By And About Asian American Women |date=1985 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=9780807059050 |pages=308–309 |edition=1 |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f6a3e9df57fff46d908f79c/t/6050e957e60dd13c3c6d91ae/1615915355128/Lotus+Blossoms+Don%27t+Bleed-compressed.pdf}}</ref> In media, East Asian women may be stereotyped as exceptionally feminine and delicate "Lotus Blossoms", or as [[Dragon Lady (stereotype)|Dragon Ladies]], while East Asian men are often stereotyped as sexless or [[nerd]]y.<ref name= "Ukockis" />
East Asian mothers are also stereotyped as [[Tiger parenting|tiger moms]], who are excessively concerned with their child's academic performance. This is stereotypically associated with high academic achievement and above-average socioeconomic success in American society.<ref name="Routledge">{{cite book |last1=Moro |first1=Marie Rose |last2=Welsh |first2=Geneviève |title=Parenthood and Immigration in Psychoanalysis: Shaping the Therapeutic Setting |date=7 March 2022 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-54479-4 |page=113 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f4FZEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22tiger+mom%22&pg=PT113 |quote= "...Amy Chua's book, ''Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother'' (Chua, 2011), depicts a strict, rigid form of Chinese mothering, in contrast to permissive Western parenting, as essential to the academic and professional success of Chinese Americans (Cheah et al., 2013; Guo, 2013).}}</ref><ref name="Poor Little Tiger Cub">{{cite web |last1=Tullis |first1=Paul |title=Poor Little Tiger Cub |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/05/tiger-mom-study-shows-the-parenting-method-doesnt-work.html |website=Slate |date=8 May 2013}}</ref>
==Exclusion or hostility==
===Yellow Peril===
{{Main|Yellow Peril}}
The term "Yellow Peril" refers to [[White American|white]] apprehension in the core [[Anglosphere]] countries such as [[Australia]], [[Canada]], [[New Zealand]], [[South Africa]], and the [[United States]], first peaking in the late 19th-century. Such perilism stems from a claim that whites would be "displaced" by a "massive influx of East Asians"; who would fill the nation with a "foreign culture" and "speech incomprehensible" to those already there and "steal jobs away from the European inhabitants" and that they would eventually "take over and destroy their civilization, ways of life, culture and values."
The term has also referred to the belief and fear that East Asian societies would "invade and attack" Western societies, "wage war with them" and lead to their "eventual destruction, demise and eradication." During this time, numerous anti-Asian sentiments were expressed by politicians and writers, especially on the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]], with headlines like "The 'Yellow Peril'" (''Los Angeles Times'', 1886) and "Conference Endorses Chinese Exclusion" (''The New York Times'', 1905)<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1905/12/09/archives/conference-indorses-chinese-exclusion-editor-poon-chu-says-china.html |title=Conference Indorses Chinese Exclusion; Editor Poon Chu Says China Will... – Article Preview – The |work=New York Times |date= December 9, 1905|access-date=February 21, 2010}}</ref> and the later Japanese Exclusion Act. The American [[Immigration Act of 1924]] limited the number of Asians because they were considered an "undesirable" race.<ref>{{cite web|title=History World: Asian Americans |url=http://history-world.org/asian_americans.htm |access-date=September 1, 2007 |archive-date=May 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527055848/http://history-world.org/asian_americans.htm |url-status=usurped }}</ref>
====Laws in other Anglosphere countries====
Australia had similar fears and introduced a [[White Australia policy]], restricting immigration between 1901 and 1973, with some elements of the policies persisting up until the 1980s. On February 12, 2002, Helen Clark, then prime minister of New Zealand apologized "to those Chinese people who had paid the poll tax and suffered other discrimination, and to their descendants". She also stated that Cabinet had authorized her and the Minister for Ethnic Affairs to pursue with representatives of the families of the early settlers a form of reconciliation which would be appropriate to and of benefit to the Chinese community.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://epress.anu.edu.au/anzsog/immigration/mobile_devices/ch06s03.html |title=Office of Ethnic Affairs – Formal Apology To Chinese Community |publisher=Archives of Australian National University |date=February 12, 2002 |access-date=December 3, 2013|isbn=9781921536953 |doi=10.22459/DHM.09.2009 |editor1-last=Neumann |editor1-first=Klaus |editor2-last=Tavan |editor2-first=Gwenda |doi-access=free }}</ref>
Similarly, Canada had in place a [[Chinese head tax in Canada|head tax]] on Chinese immigrants to Canada in the early 20th century; a formal government apology was given in 2007 (with compensation to the surviving head tax payers and their descendants).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asian.ca/law/cia1885.htm |title=Chinese Immigration Act 1885, c |publisher=Asian.ca |access-date=February 21, 2010}}</ref>
===Perpetual foreigner===
{{Main|Perpetual foreigner}}
{{See also|Microaggression}}
As of circa 2004-2007, there is a widespread perception that East Asians are not considered genuine Americans but are instead "perpetual foreigners".<ref name="sfgate">{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2001/04/27/MN199998.DTL |author=Matthew Yi|title=Asian Americans seen negatively |access-date=June 14, 2007 | work=The San Francisco Chronicle |date=April 27, 2001|display-authors=etal}}</ref><ref name="wu model minority">{{cite web|url=http://www.modelminority.com/article676.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928140811/http://www.modelminority.com/article676.html |archive-date=September 28, 2007|author=Frank H. Wu|title=Asian Americans and the Perpetual Foreigner Syndrome|access-date=June 14, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The politics of Asian Americans: diversity and community |last=Lien |first=Pei-te |author2=Mary Margaret Conway |author2-link=Mary Margaret Conway |author3=Janelle Wong |year=2004 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=9780415934657 |page=7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o7ucGq1RZ-EC&q=%22asian%20americans%22%20perpetual%20foreigners&pg=PA7 |access-date=February 9, 2012 |quote=In addition, because of their perceived racial difference, rapid and continuous immigration from Asia, and on going detente with communist regimes in Asia, Asian Americans are construed as "perpetual foreigners" who cannot or will not adapt to the language, customs, religions, and politics of the American mainstream.}}</ref> Circa 2003 Asian Americans often report being asked the question, "Where are you really from?" by other Americans, regardless of how long they or their ancestors have lived in United States and been a part of its society.<ref>{{cite book |title=Yellow: race in America beyond black and white |last=Wu |first=Frank H. |author-link=Frank H. Wu |year=2003 |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |isbn=9780465006403 |page=79 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JkPvf5Cs-DgC&q=%22asian%20americans%22%20perpetual%20foreigners&pg=PA79 |access-date=February 9, 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=October 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
As of circa 1997-1999, East Asian Americans have been perceived, treated, and portrayed by many in American society as "perpetual" foreigners who are unable to be assimilated and inherently foreign regardless of [[citizenship]] or duration of residence in the United States.<ref>Neil Gotanda, "Exclusion and Inclusion: Immigration and American orientalism".</ref><ref>Johnson, Kevin (1997), ''Racial Hierarchy, Asian Americans and Latinos as Foreigners, and Social Change: Is Law the Way to Go'', Oregon Law Rev., 76, pages 347–356</ref> A similar view had been advanced circa 2010 by [[Ling-chi Wang]], professor emeritus of [[Asian American studies]] at the [[University of California, Berkeley]]. Wang asserts that mainstream media coverage of Asian communities in the United States has always been "miserable".<ref name="News.ncmonline.com">{{cite web|url=http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=f775e75df8b5562c54d292ff4df1c1ef |title=Loss of AsianWeek Increases Hole in Asian-American Coverage – NAM |publisher=News.ncmonline.com |access-date=February 21, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714161530/http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=f775e75df8b5562c54d292ff4df1c1ef |archive-date=July 14, 2011 }}</ref> He stated, "In [the] mainstream media's and policymakers' eyes, Asian Americans don't exist. They are not on their radar... and it's the same for politics."<ref name="News.ncmonline.com"/>
[[File:Starring Mickey Rooney.jpg|thumb|300px|The introduction of [[Mickey Rooney]]'s performance of [[I. Y. Yunioshi]] in the theatrical trailer for ''[[Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)|Breakfast at Tiffany's]]'']]
[[I. Y. Yunioshi]] from [[Blake Edwards]]' 1961 American romantic-comedy ''[[Breakfast at Tiffany's (film)|Breakfast at Tiffany's]]'' is one such example which had been broadly criticized by mainstream publications. In 1961, ''[[The New York Times]]'' review said that "[[Mickey Rooney]]'s bucktoothed, myopic Japanese is broadly exotic."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Weiler |first=A.H. |title=The Screen: Breakfast at Tiffany's: Audrey Hepburn Stars in Music Hall Comedy |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |date=October 6, 1961 |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A05EED9173AE13ABC4E53DFB667838A679EDE |access-date=September 24, 2011}}</ref> In 1990, ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' criticized Rooney's portrayal as "an irascible bucktoothed nerd and an offensive ethnic caricature".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Koch |first=John |title=Quick Cuts and Stereotypes |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] |___location=[[Boston]] |date=April 1, 1990 |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/61610125.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+01%2C+1990&author=John+Koch%2C+Globe+Staff&pub=Boston+Globe+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=QUICK+CUTS+AND+STEREOTYPES&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108044217/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/61610125.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Apr+01,+1990&author=John+Koch,+Globe+Staff&pub=Boston+Globe+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=QUICK+CUTS+AND+STEREOTYPES&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 8, 2012 |access-date = September 24, 2011}}</ref> Critics note that the character of Mr. Yunioshi reinforced [[Anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States#World War II|anti-Japanese wartime propaganda]] to further exclude Japanese Americans from being treated as normal citizens, rather than hated caricatures.<ref name="Yang">{{cite news|last=Yang|first=Jeff |title='Breakfast at Tiffany's' protest is misguided: Let's deal openly with the film's Asian stereotypes |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2011/07/17/2011-07-17_try_to_digest_this_breakfast.html|access-date=July 19, 2011|newspaper=NY Daily News|date=July 17, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Kerr|first1=David|title=Stereotypes in the Media|url=http://mrkerronline.weebly.com/class-blog1/archives/02-2015|website=mrkerronline|access-date=May 1, 2017}}</ref>
A 2006 study by [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]] researchers for the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), ''Asian Pacific Americans in Prime Time'', found that Asian-American actors were underrepresented on network TV. While Asian-Americans make up 5 percent of the US population, the report found only 2.6 percent were primetime TV regulars. Shows set in cities with significant Asian populations, like New York and Los Angeles, had few East Asian roles. The lack of East Asian representation in American film and theater supports the argument that they are still perceived as foreigners.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith|last2=Choueiti|last3=Pieper|last4=Gillig|last5=Lee|last6=DeLuca |first1=Stacy|first2=Marc|first3=Katherine|first4=Traci|first5=Carmen|first6= Dylan |title=Inequality in 700 Popular Films: Examining Portrayals of Gender, Race & LGBT Status from 2007 to 2014 |publisher =The Harnish Foundation |date=2015 |pages=1–31}}</ref>
===
{{Main|Asian fetish}}
East Asian women have long been fetishized as highly desirable by white men, and studies have shown that they are the most desired women in the Western world, and are considered the most [[Physical attractiveness|physically attractive]].<ref name="RZ2016">{{Cite journal|last=Zheng|first=Robin|date=2016|title=Why Yellow Fever Isn't Flattering: A Case against Racial Fetishes|doi=10.1017/apa.2016.25|journal=Journal of the American Philosophical Association|volume= 2|issue=3|pages=406|url=https://philpapers.org/archive/ROBWYF-2.pdf|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=King |first=Ritchie |title=The uncomfortable racial preferences revealed by online dating |url= http://qz.com/149342/the-uncomfortable-racial-preferences-revealed-by-online-dating/ |work=Quartz |date=November 20, 2013 |access-date=March 30, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Stephen | first1=Ian D. | last2=Salter | first2=Darby L. H. | last3=Tan | first3=Kok Wei | last4=Tan | first4=Chrystalle B. Y. | last5=Stevenson | first5=Richard J. | title=Sexual dimorphism and attractiveness in Asian and White faces | journal=Visual Cognition | date=2018 | volume=26 | issue=6 | pages=442–449 | doi=10.1080/13506285.2018.1475437 | url=https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-27165-001 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Ren |first=Yuan |title='Yellow fever' fetish: Why do so many white men want to date a Chinese woman? |date=July 2014 |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10935508/Yellow-fever-fetish-Why-do-so-many-white-men-want-to-date-a-Chinese-woman.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Rosalind S. |last=Chou |title=Asian American Sexual Politics: The Construction of Race, Gender, and Sexuality |date=January 5, 2015 |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |page=65 |isbn=9781442209251 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=U7nHoQEACAAJ}}</ref>
Some scholars believe that modern stereotypes of Asian women's sexuality may trace their roots to European colonialism and overseas military intervention. Overseas soldiers saw East and Southeast Asian women as physically and sexually superior to white women.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Woan |first=Sunny |date=March 2008 |title=White Sexual Imperialism: A Theory of Asian Feminist Jurisprudence |journal=Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=2, 19 |issn=1535-0843 |url= http://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/crsj/vol14/iss2/5/}}</ref> East Asian women were stereotyped as extremely seductive and sinister, and this stereotype was so alarming that nationalist politicians sought to ban Asian women from entering the United States.<ref name="UofNPress">{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Sabrina |title=Scars of War: The Politics of Paternity and Responsibility for the Amerasians of Vietnam |date=December 2021 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-1-4962-2935-9 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9HxEEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA41 |language=en}}</ref> The [[Page Act of 1875|1875 Page Act]] was passed, banning Chinese women from entering the United States, to prevent married white men from falling to the temptation to cheat on their wives with Asian women.<ref name="UofNPress" /><ref name="EncyclopediaofRace">{{cite book |last1=Moore |first1=John H. |title=Encyclopedia of Race and Racism |date=2008 |publisher=Macmillan Reference USA/Thomson Gale |isbn=978-0-02-866021-9 |page=213 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uU8UAQAAIAAJ|language=en}}</ref>
During the [[occupation of Japan]] by the U.S. military, American soldiers came to view Japanese women as superior to American women. Among U.S. soldiers, it was said that the heart of a Japanese woman was "twice as big" as an American woman's; reflecting the stereotype that Asian women are more feminine than Western women.<ref name="occupation">{{cite book |last1=Nagatomo |first1=Diane Hawley |title=Identity, Gender and Teaching English in Japan |date=7 April 2016 |publisher=Multilingual Matters |isbn=978-1-78309-522-3 |page=69 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QaTQCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 |language=en}}</ref>
== Food ==
Food from Chinese restaurants in the United States is often claimed to be unsafe due to contamination of Chinese-imported food or the use of [[monosodium glutamate]], the latter of which putatively causes a condition known as [[Chinese restaurant syndrome]], and [[food safety incidents in China|food scares in China]] often receive heightened attention in Western media.<ref>{{cite news |title=Eddie Huang on racial insensitivities behind MSG, Chinese food criticisms |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/eddie-huang-racial-insensitivities-behind-msg-chinese-food-criticisms-n1115386 |access-date=12 January 2023 |work=NBC News |date=14 January 2020 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=China Food Scare: A Dash of Racism |url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/story?id=3413105&page=1 |access-date=12 January 2023 |work=ABC News |date=11 February 2009 }}</ref> Asians are also stereotyped as eating animals unusual for consumption in the US such as [[Cat meat|cats]] and [[Dog meat|dogs]], or even [[pet theft|stealing pets]] for consumption, despite the declining consumption in China.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dai |first1=Serena |title=Please Stop Writing Racist Restaurant Reviews |url=https://ny.eater.com/2016/3/23/11290082/stop-writing-racist-restaurant-reviews |work=Eater NY |date=23 March 2016 }}</ref><ref name="h294">{{cite web |title=The History of the Dog-Eating Stereotype| first=Jean Rachel |last=Bahk | website=Inlandia | date=2021-04-30 | url=https://inlandiajournal.net/spring-2021-volume-xii/jean-rachel-bahk/ | access-date=2024-09-14}}</ref> This notion was [[Xenophobia and racism related to the COVID-19 pandemic|amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic]], with US Senator [[John Cornyn]] characterizing the country in March 2020 as "a culture where people eat bats and snakes and dogs and things like that".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wu |first1=Nicholas |title=GOP senator says China 'to blame' for coronavirus spread because of 'culture where people eat bats and snakes and dogs' |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/03/18/coronavirus-sen-john-cornyn-says-chinese-eating-bats-spread-virus/2869342001/ |work=USA TODAY}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gee |first1=Gilbert C. |last2=Ro |first2=Marguerite J. |last3=Rimoin |first3=Anne W. |title=Seven Reasons to Care About Racism and COVID-19 and Seven Things to Do to Stop It |journal=American Journal of Public Health |date=1 July 2020 |volume=110 |issue=7 |pages=954–955 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2020.305712|pmc=7287554 }}</ref>
==Model minority==
{{Main|Model minority}}
East Asians in the United States have been stereotyped as a "model minority"; where as a collective group have achieved an above average socioeconomic performance and standing compared to other ethno-racial groups in United States while possessing positive traits such as being seen as being conscientious, industrious, disciplined, persistent, driven, studious, and intelligent people who have elevated their socioeconomic status through merit, persistence, tenacity, self-discipline, drive, and diligence. The model minority construct is typically measured by their above average levels of educational attainment, representation in [[White-collar worker|white-collar]] [[professional]] and managerial occupations, and household incomes relative to other ethno-racial groups in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cmhc.utexas.edu/modelminority.html#what|title=Model Minority Stereotype|website=cmhc.utexas.edu|access-date=February 5, 2017}}</ref>
Generalized statistics and positive socioeconomic indicators of East Asian Americans are often cited to back up the model minority image include the high likelihoods and probabilities of East Asian Americans of getting into an elite American university in addition to possessing above average educational qualifications and attainment rates (30% of National Merit Scholarships are awarded to Asian Americans<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lu|last2=Nisbett |last3= Morris |first1=Jackson|first2= Richard |first3=Michael |title=Why East Asians but not South Asians are underrepresented in leadership positions in the United States |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |date=March 3, 2020 |volume=117 |issue=9 |pages=4590–4600 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1918896117 |pmid=32071227 |pmc=7060666 |bibcode=2020PNAS..117.4590L |doi-access=free }}</ref>), high representation in professional occupations such as academia, financial services, high technology, law,<ref name="Harvard Law School">{{cite web |last1=Chung|last2= Dong|last3=Hu|last4=Kwon|last5= Liu |first1=Eric|first2 =Samuel|first3=Xiaonan|first4=Christine |first5=Goodwin |title=A Portrait of Asian Americans in the Law |url=https://thepractice.law.harvard.edu/article/a-portrait-of-asian-americans-in-the-law/ |website=Center of the legal profession Harvard law School |publisher=Harvard Law School |access-date=May 9, 2021}}</ref> management consulting, and medicine,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Acosta|last2=Poll-Hunter|last3= Eliason |first1=David|first2=Norma Iris|first3= Jennifer |title=Trends in Racial and Ethnic Minority Applicants and Matriculants to U.S. Medical Schools, 1980–2016 |journal=Analysis in Brief |publisher=Association of American Medical Colleges |date=November 2017 |volume=17 |url=https://www.aamc.org/media/8816/download |access-date=May 9, 2021}}</ref> coupled with a higher household income than other racial groups in the United States. East Asians are most often perceived to achieve a higher degree of socioeconomic success than the U.S. population average. As well, other socioeconomic indicators are used to support this argument, such as low poverty rates, low crime rates, low illegitimacy rates, low rates of welfare dependency, and lower divorce rates coupled with higher family stability. However, though East Asian Americans have a higher median income than most other ethno-racial in the United States, they also have a larger income gap than any other ethno-racial group.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Model Minority Myth |url=https://thepractice.law.harvard.edu/article/the-model-minority-myth/|website=Center of the legal profession Harvard law School |publisher=Harvard Law School }}</ref> However, the indicators fail to reflect the diversity of the East Asian community as a whole. According to a report for the Ascend Foundation, whilst the probability of East Asians getting hired for high-tech employment opportunities is high, East Asian Americans as a collective racial group also have the lowest probability of earning a management promotion while climbing the ladders of corporate America.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gee|last2= Peck |first1=Buck|first2=Denise|title=The Illusion of Asian Success |journal=Ascend |date=2015}}</ref> This is also reflected in the under representation of Asian American lawyers in leadership and management roles.<ref name="Harvard Law School"/>
===Issues with the label===
However, some East Asian Americans believe the model minority image to be damaging and inaccurate and are acting to dispel this stereotype.<ref>[http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/290/5494/1072 Asian-American Scientists: Silent No Longer: 'Model Minority' Mobilizes – Lawler 290 (5494): 1072 – Science].</ref> Some have said that the model minority myth may perpetuate and trigger a denial of Asian Americans' racial reality, which happens to also be one of eight themes that emerged in a study of commonly experienced Asian American microaggressions.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.apa.org/pi/oema/resources/ethnicity-health/asian-american/microaggressions-asians.pdf|title=Racial Microaggressions and the Asian American Experience}}</ref> Many scholars, activists, and most major American news sources have started to oppose this stereotype, calling it a misconception that exaggerates the socioeconomic success of East Asian Americans.<ref name="ReferenceA">Stacey J. Lee, ''Unraveling the "Model Minority" Stereotypes: Listening to Asian American Youth'', Teachers College Press, New York: 1996 {{ISBN|978-0-8077-3509-1}}.</ref><ref>Bill Sing, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-02-13-ss-1614-story.html "'Model Minority' Resentments Spawn Anti-Asian-American Insults and Violence]," ''Los Angeles Times'' February 13, 1989, p. 12.</ref><ref>Greg Toppo, "'Model' Asian student called a myth ; Middle-class status may be a better gauge of classroom success," ''USA Today,'' December 10, 2002, p. 11.</ref><ref>Benjamin Pimentel, "Model minority image is a hurdle, Asian Americans feel left out of mainstream," ''San Francisco Chronicle,'' August 5, 2001, p. 25.</ref><ref>"What 'Model Minority' Doesn't Tell," ''Chicago Tribune'', January 3, 1998, p. 18.</ref> According to Kevin Nguyen Do, the portrayal of the model minority image in American media has created negative psychological impacts such as stress, depression and anxiety and can lead to increased levels of [[depersonalization]]. This is because the model minority image in film is usually coupled with negative characteristics of a personality such as being obedient, nerdy and unable to express a sexual or romantic longing.<ref name="escholarship.org">{{cite journal |last1=Nguyen Do |first1=Kevin |title=Positive Portrayal versus Positive Stereotype: The Effect of Media Exposure to the Model Minority Stereotype on Asian Americans' Self-Concept and Emotions |journal=Thesis for University of California |date=December 2020 |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7kj364hw |access-date=May 8, 2021}}</ref>
According to those critical of this belief, the model minority stereotype also alienates other Asian American subgroups, such as Southeast Asian Americans, where many of whom hail from far less affluent Asian countries than their East Asian American counterparts and covers up existing Asian American issues and needs that are not properly addressed in American society at large.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.modelminority.com|title=Model Minority|access-date=May 9, 2015|archive-date=October 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022112232/http://www.modelminority.com/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Stereotypes of Asian American Students">{{cite web|last1=Kim |first1=Angela |last2=Yeh |first2=Christine J |title=Stereotypes of Asian American Students |publisher=ERIC Educational Reports | url=https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED462510 |work=ERIC Digest|year=2002|issn=0889-8049}}</ref><ref name="Southeast Asian American Children: Not the Model Minority">{{cite journal|last=Yang |first=KaYing |title=Southeast Asian American Children: Not the Model Minority |journal=The Future of Children |volume=14 |issue=2 |year=2004 |pages=127–133|doi=10.2307/1602799 |jstor=1602799 |s2cid=70895306 }}</ref><ref name="Takaki"/> Additionally, the stereotypical view that East Asians are generally socioeconomically successful obscures other disadvantages that East Asians generally face, especially in a comparative sense with regards to their fellow East Asian American counterparts who do not fit the standard model minority mold and are less socioeconomically successful.<ref name=":0" /> For example, the widespread notion that East Asian Americans are overrepresented at elite Ivy League and other prestigious American universities, have higher educational attainment rates, constitute a large presence in professional and managerial occupations and earn above average per capita incomes obscures workplace issues such as the "[[bamboo ceiling]]" phenomenon, where the advancement in corporate America where attaining the highest-level managerial and top-tiered executive positions at major American corporations reaches a limit,<ref>{{cite news|last=Woo|first=Deborah|title=The Glass Ceiling and Asian Americans|publisher=Cornell University ILR School|date=July 1, 1994|url=https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1130&context=key_workplace}}</ref><ref>"The Glass Ceiling for African, Hispanic (Latino), and Asian Americans," ''Ethnic Majority'', [http://www.ethnicmajority.com/glass_ceiling.htm The Glass Ceiling for African, Hispanic, and Asian Americans] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070912084731/http://www.ethnicmajority.com/glass_ceiling.htm |date=September 12, 2007 }}.</ref><ref>Constable, Pamela, "A 'Glass Ceiling' of Misperceptions," ''WashingtonPost'', October 10, 1995, Page A01 [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/affirm/stories/aa101095.htm Washingtonpost.com: A GLASS CEILING' OF MISPERCEPTIONS].</ref> and the fact that East Asians must acquire more education, possess work experience, and have to work longer hours than their white American counterparts to earn the same amount of money.<ref name="Takaki">{{cite news|author=Ronald Takaki|title=The Harmful Myth of Asian Superiority|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 16, 1990|page= 21|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/16/opinion/the-harmful-myth-of-asian-superiority.html}}</ref>
The "model minority" image is also seen as being damaging to East Asian American students because their generalized socioeconomic success makes it easy for American educators to overlook other East Asian American students who are less socioeconomically successful, less achieving, struggle academically, and assimilate more slowly in the American school system.<ref name="felicia">Felicia R. Lee, "'Model Minority' Label Taxes Asian Youths," ''New York Times'', March 20, 1990, pages B1 & B4.</ref> Some American educators hold East Asian American students to a higher academic standard and ignore other students of East Asian ancestry with [[learning disabilities]] from being given attention that they need. This may deprive those students being encumbered with negative connotations of being a model minority and labeled with the unpopular Hollywood "[[nerd]]" or "geek" image.<ref name="asianamericanissues1">{{Cite book|last=Chen|first=Edith Wen-Chu|author2=Grace J. Yoo|title=Encyclopedia of Asian American Issues Today, Volume 1|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=December 23, 2009|pages=223|isbn=978-0-313-34749-8}}</ref>{{rp|223}}
Due to this image, East Asian Americans have been the target of harassment, bullying, and racism from other racial groups due to the racially divisive model minority stereotype.<ref name="asianstudies3">{{Cite book|last=Ancheta|first=Angelo N.|title=Race, Rights, and the Asian American Experience|publisher=Rutgers University Press|year=2006|isbn= 0-8135-3902-1
}}</ref>{{rp|165}} In that way, the model minority does not protect Asian Americans from racism.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chou|first1=Rosalind|last2=Feagin |first2= Joe |title=Myth of the Model Minority |date=November 5, 2008 |publisher=Routledge |edition=1st }}</ref> The myth also undermines the achievements of East Asian American students who are erroneously perceived largely on part of their inherent racial attributes, rather than other factoring extraneous characteristics such as a strong work ethic, tenacity and discipline.<ref>Bhattacharyya, Srilata: ''From "Yellow Peril" to "Model Minority": The Transition of Asian Americans'': Additional information about the document that does not fit in any of the other fields; not used after 2004. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association (30th, Little Rock, AR, November 14–16, 2001): Full text available.</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED462462 |title=ERIC PDF Download |publisher=Eric.ed.gov |access-date=February 21, 2010|date=October 31, 2001 |last1=Bhattacharyya |first1=Srilata }}</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">Aronson J.; Lustina M. J.; Good C.; Keough K.; Steele C. M.; Brown J.; ''When white men can't do math: Necessary and sufficient factors in stereotype threat'', Journal of experimental social psychology vol. 35, no1, pp. 29–46 (1 p.3/4): Elsevier, San Diego 1999.</ref> The pressures to achieve and live up to the model minority image have taken a mental and psychological toll on some East Asian Americans as studies have noted a spike in prescription drug abuse by East Asian Americans, particularly students.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/Mental_Health_and_Depression_in_Asian_Americans.pdf|title=Mental Health and Depression in Asian Americans|publisher=National Asian Women's Health Organization|via=University of Hawaii|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060910191541/http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/Mental_Health_and_Depression_in_Asian_Americans.pdf|archive-date=September 10, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref> The pressures to achieve and live up to the model minority image have taken a mental and psychological toll on East Asian Americans.<ref name="auto">{{Cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/05/16/asian.suicides/|title=Push to achieve tied to suicide in Asian-American women|publisher=CNN|author=Elizabeth Cohen|date=May 16, 2007}}</ref> Many have speculated that the use of illegal prescription drugs have been in response to East Asian Americans' pressure to succeed academically.<ref name="auto"/>
East Asian Americans also commit crimes at disproportionately lower rates than other racial and ethnic groups in the United States despite having a younger average age and higher family stability.<ref name="Minorities and criminality">{{cite book|last=Flowers |first=Ronald B. |title=Minorities and criminality |year=1990|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA| page=190}}</ref><ref>{{Cite report|url=http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_03/pdf/03sec4.pdf|title=Crime in the United States|year=2003|section=Section IV: Persons Arrested|pages=267–336|publisher=FBI|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041027002547/http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_03/pdf/03sec4.pdf|archive-date=October 27, 2004|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/articles/03/bakesale.html|title=Affirmative Action Bake Sale|author=Walter E. Williams|date=March 9, 2003|website=George Mason University}}</ref> Research findings have shown that Asian American offenders are sometimes given more lenient punishments.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Brian D.|last2=Betsinger|first2=Sara |title=Punishing the "Model Minority": Asian-American Criminal Sentencing Outcomes in Federal District Courts |journal=Criminology |date=November 9, 2009 |volume=47 |issue=4 |page=1045 |doi=10.1111/j.1745-9125.2009.00169.x }}</ref> Occasionally however, such extraordinarily rare exceptions involving individual East Asian American criminals do receive widespread media coverage. Such vanishingly rare exceptional occurrences include the infamous [[Han Twins Murder Conspiracy]] in 1996, and the [[1996 United States campaign finance controversy]] where several prominent Chinese American businessmen were convicted of violating various campaign finance laws. Other incidents include the shooting rampage by physics student [[Gang Lu]] at the University of Iowa in 1991 and [[Norman Hsu]], a [[Wharton School]] graduate, businessman and former campaign donor to [[Hillary Clinton]] who was captured after being a fugitive for sixteen years for failing to appear at a sentencing for a felony fraud conviction. Other examples of criminal and unethical behavior are in contrast to the artificially standardized model minority construct.<ref>[http://www.asianreporter.com/stories/polo/2007/p-18-07.htm "Our big cultural heritage, our awful little secrets"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070820082906/http://www.asianreporter.com/stories/polo/2007/p-18-07.htm |date=August 20, 2007 }}.</ref><ref>[http://www.nola.com/education/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1176879681205230.xml&coll=1&thispage=1 "Some Korean Americans fearful of racial backlash"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109054823/http://www.nola.com/education/t-p/index.ssf?%2Fbase%2Fnews-3%2F1176879681205230.xml&coll=1&thispage=1 |date=January 9, 2009 }}.</ref>
One notable case was the 2007 [[Virginia Tech massacre]] committed by the Korean-American mass murderer, [[Seung-Hui Cho]], which led to the deaths of 33 individuals, including the eventual suicide of Cho himself. The shooting spree, along with Cho's Korean ancestry, stunned American society.<ref>"[http://asianweek.com/2008/01/01/sadly-cho-is-most-newsworthy-apa-in-2007/ Sadly, Cho is Most Newsworthy APA of 2007] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103224604/http://www.asianweek.com/2008/01/01/sadly-cho-is-most-newsworthy-apa-in-2007/ |date=January 3, 2008 }}." ''[[Asianweek]]''. Another incident [[Binghamton, NY]] a shooting spree was committed by a naturalized citizen, when Jiverly Wang gunned down 14 people, and injured 3 at the local [[American Civic Association]].January 1, 2008. Retrieved on December 21, 2009.</ref> Other notable cases include the downfall of politician [[Leland Yee]] from serving in the California State Senate to serving time in federal prison, and NYPD Officer [[Shooting of Akai Gurley|Peter Liang]], who was convicted of shooting an unarmed black man. Some viewed Officer Liang as being privileged by "adjacent whiteness",<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kim |first1=Nami |last2=Joh |first2=Wonhee Anne |title=Feminist Praxis against U.S. Militarism |date=15 December 2019 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4985-7922-3 |page=74 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=107ADwAAQBAJ&dq=peter+liang+adjacency&pg=PA74 |quote="When New York Police Department officer Peter Liang was convicted and found guilty in 2016 of the shooting death of Akai Kareem Gurley in 2014. questions arose as to whether Officer Liang was a racialized scapegoat punished for simply "doing what he had to do," or a model minority privileged by "adjacent whiteness" whose actions betrayed a fundamental disregard for human life."}}</ref> while Jenn Fang argues that his fate "proves that the benefits of 'model minority' status are in fact transient—and easily revoked."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Fang |first1=Jenn |title=A system that doesn't value black lives can never truly value Asian American lives |url=https://qz.com/622993/a-system-that-doesnt-value-black-lives-can-never-truly-value-asian-american-lives |website=Quartz |date=23 February 2016}}</ref>
Another effect of the stereotype is that American society at large may tend to ignore the underlying racism and discrimination that many East Asian Americans still face despite possessing above-average socioeconomic indicators and exhibiting positive statistical profiles. Complaints are dismissed by American politicians and other government legislators with the claim that the racism that many East Asian Americans still face is less important than or not as bad as the racism faced by other minority racial groups, thus establishing a systematically deceptive [[racial hierarchy]]. Believing that due to their archetypal socioeconomic success by fitting East Asian Americans in artificial model minority mold and that they possess so-called "positive" stereotypical attributes and traits, leading many ordinary Americans to assume that East Asian Americans face no absolute forms of racial discrimination or social issues in American society at large, and that their community is thriving, having "gained" their socioeconomic success through their own merits.<ref>{{citation|title=Yellow Face: The documentary part 4 – Asian Americans do face racism|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TOYT4JTea4 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/0TOYT4JTea4 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|access-date=February 24, 2013|date=July 5, 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Asians, Blacks, Stereotypes and the Media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqShFjk6BoE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/sqShFjk6BoE |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|access-date=February 24, 2013|date=July 5, 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
=== Racial triangulation theory ===
[[File:Racial triangulation.JPG|thumb|320x320px|Visualization of racial triangulation]]
Both the "[[model minority]]" stereotype and the "[[perpetual foreigner]]" stereotype contribute to the theory of "racial triangulation" proposed by political scientist Claire Jean Kim. With many previous discussions of race focusing solely on a "Black vs. white" dichotomy, Kim proposes that Asian Americans "have been [[Racialization|racialized]] relative to and through interaction with Whites and Blacks."<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Kim |first=Claire Jean |date=1999 |title=The Racial Triangulation of Asian Americans |journal=Politics & Society |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=105–138|doi=10.1177/0032329299027001005 }}</ref> The theory states that racial triangulation occurs through two processes, both of which ultimately reinforce existing racial power structures. First, Asians are "valorized" relative to Blacks. This is aided by the "model minority" stereotype, "citing Asians' hard work ethic and material successes and implying deficiencies in the latter."<ref>{{Cite web |last=RHEE |first=kate-hers |date=24 September 2018 |title=The Black, Asian and White Racial Triangulation |url=https://contemporaryand.com/magazines/the-black-asian-and-white-racial-triangulation/}}</ref> Second, Asians are ostracized and deemed "immutably foreign and unassimilable with Whites."<ref name=":1" /> This second process is aided by the "perpetual foreigner" stereotype, which reinforces a belief that Asians are inherently alien and apolitical. However Kim also notes that many Westerners do see Asians as easily integrated, with the caveat that their ability to be normalized is markedly [[gender]]ed, with Asian women being seen as ideal immigrants.{{sfn|Kim|1999|p=122}}
==Stereotypes in American fiction==
[[Fu Manchu|Dr. Fu Manchu]] and [[Charlie Chan]] are two well-known fictional East Asian characters in America's cultural history. Created by [[Sax Rohmer]] and [[Earl Derr Biggers]], respectively, in the early part of the 20th century, Dr. Fu Manchu is the embodiment of America's imagination of a threatening, mysterious East Asian while Charlie Chan is an apologetic, submissive Chinese-[[Native Hawaiians|Hawaiian]]-American detective who represents America's archetypal "good" East Asian. Both characters found widespread popularity in numerous [[novels]] and [[films]].<ref name="wu"/>
===Dr. Fu Manchu===
[[File:The Face of Fu Manchu.jpg|thumb|upright|A modern twist on Dr. Fu Manchu]]
Thirteen novels, three short stories, and one novella have been written about Dr. Fu Manchu, the villainous Chinese mastermind. Millions of copies have been sold in the United States with publication in American periodicals and adaptations to film, comics, radio, and television. Due to his enormous popularity, the "image of Fu Manchu has been absorbed into American consciousness as the archetypal East Asian villain."<ref name="wu"/> In ''The Insidious Doctor Fu-Manchu'', Sax Rohmer introduces Dr. Fu Manchu as a cruel and cunning man, with a face like [[Satan]], who is essentially the "[[Yellow Peril]] incarnate".<ref name="insidious">Sax Rohmer, ''The Insidious Doctor Fu-Manchu'' (1913; reprint ed., New York: Pyramid, 1961), p. 17.</ref>
Sax Rohmer inextricably tied the evil character of Dr. Fu Manchu to all East Asians as a physical representation of the Yellow Peril, attributing the villain's evil behavior to his race. Rohmer also adds an element of mysticism and exoticism to his portrayal of Dr. Fu Manchu. Despite Dr. Fu Manchu's specifically [[Manchu]] ethnicity, his evil and cunning are [[Pan-Asianism|pan-Asian]] attributes, again reinforcing Dr. Fu Manchu as representational of ''all'' East Asian people.<ref name="wu"/>
Blatantly racist statements made by white protagonists such as: "the swamping of the white world by yellow hordes might well be the price of our failure" again add to East Asian stereotypes of exclusion.<ref name="Rohmer">Rohmer, Sax, ''The Hand of Fu-Manchu'' (1917; reprint ed., New York: Pyramid, 1962), p. 111.</ref> Dr. Fu Manchu's inventively sardonic methods of murder and white protagonist Denis Nayland Smith's grudging respect for his intellect reinforce stereotypes of East Asian intelligence, exoticism/mysticism, and extreme cruelty.<ref name="wu"/><ref>Yen Le Espiritu ''Asian American Panethnicity: Bridging Institutions and Identity'' Temple University Press, 1992, {{ISBN|978-0-87722-955-1}}, 222 pages.</ref>
===Charlie Chan===
[[File:Charlie Chan's Secret (1936) - Warner Oland 2.jpg|thumb|Warner Oland, a Swedish-American actor, portraying Charlie Chan, a Chinese-Hawaiian-American detective]]
Charlie Chan, a fictional character created by author [[Earl Derr Biggers]] loosely based on [[Chang Apana]] (1871–1933), a real-life Chinese-Hawaiian police officer, has been the subject of 11 novels (spanning from 1925 to as late as 2023), over 40 American films, a [[comic strip]], a [[board game]], a [[card game]], and a 1970s animated television series. In the films, the role of Charlie Chan has usually been played by white actors (namely [[Warner Oland]], [[Sidney Toler]], and [[Roland Winters]]).<ref name="imdb">{{cite web|title=Internet Movie Database — list of Charlie Chan movies|url=https://www.imdb.com/character/ch0013184/|website=IMDB|access-date=June 30, 2018|archive-date=September 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170919170022/http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0013184/|url-status=dead}}</ref> This is an example of "[[Whitewashing in film|whitewashing]]", where white actors play the characters of non-white roles.<ref name="Umeda">{{cite thesis |last1=Umeda |first1=Mihori |title=Asian Stereotypes in American Films |publisher=Chukyo University |pages=145 }}</ref> White actors who have played the role of Charlie Chan were covered in "yellowface" makeup and spoke in [[Engrish|broken English]].<ref name="Umeda"/>
In stark contrast to the Chinese villain Dr. Fu Manchu, East Asian-American protagonist Charlie Chan represents the American archetype of the "good" East Asian.<ref name="wu"/> In ''The House Without a Key'', Earl Derr Biggers describes Charlie Chan in the following manner: "He was very fat indeed, yet he walked with the light dainty step of a woman. His cheeks were chubby as a baby's, his skin ivory tinted, his black hair close-cropped, his amber eyes slanting."<ref name="key">Earl Derr Biggers, ''The House Without a Key'' (New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1925), p. 76.</ref> Charlie Chan speaks English with a heavy accent and flawed grammar, and is exaggeratedly polite and apologetic. After one particular racist affront by a Bostonian woman, Chan responds with exaggerated submission, "Humbly asking pardon to mention it, I detect in your eyes slight flame of hostility. Quench it, if you will be so kind. Friendly co-operation are essential between us." Bowing deeply, he added, "Wishing you good morning."<ref name="key"/><!--{I recommend this section be deleted for not being up-to-date. The film, "The House Without a Key" was made in 1926 (that's 84 years ago). The film does not represent any current state of stereotypes directed against Asians. An example from films made with the past decade should be cited. Deleted or move different section citing historical examples}.-->
Because of Charlie Chan's emasculated, unassertive, and apologetic physical appearance and demeanor he is considered a non-threatening East Asian man to mainstream audiences despite his considerable intellect and ability. Many modern critics, particularly Asian-American critics, claim that Charlie Chan has none of the daring, assertive, or romantic traits generally attributed to white fictional detectives of the time,<ref>Kim (1982), 179.</ref> allowing "white America ... [to be] securely indifferent about us as men."<ref>Frank Chin and Jeffery Chan, quoted in Kim (1982), 179.</ref> Charlie Chan's good qualities are the product of what Frank Chin and Jeffery Chan call "racist love", arguing that Chan is a model minority and "kissass".<ref>Chin and Chan, quoted in Kim (1982), 179.</ref> Instead, Charlie Chan's successes as a detective are in the context of proving himself to his white superiors or white racists who underestimate him early on in the various plots.<ref name="wu"/>
The Chan character also perpetuates stereotypes as well, oft quoting supposed ancient Chinese wisdom at the end of each novel, saying things like: "The Emperor [[Qin Shi Huang|Shi Hwang-ti]], who built the [[Great Wall of China]], once said: 'He who squanders to-day talking of yesterday's triumph, will have nothing to boast of tomorrow.'"<ref name="biggers">Biggers, Earl Derr, ''Charlie Chan Carries On'' (1930; reprint ed., New York: Bantam, 1975), p. 233.</ref> Fletcher Chan, however, argues that the Chan of Biggers's novels is not subservient to whites, citing ''The Chinese Parrot'' as an example; in this novel, Chan's eyes blaze with anger at racist remarks and in the end, after exposing the murderer, Chan remarks "Perhaps listening to a '[[Chinaman (term)|Chinaman]]' is no disgrace."<ref>''The Chinese Parrot'', quoted in Chan (2007).</ref>
Chinese-born academic and author Yunte Huang acknowledges that "Asian American criticism of the Charlie Chan character . . . carries the weight of the Asian experience in contemporary America," but sees Chan as an "American folk hero" and an example of "a peculiar brand of trickster prevalent in ethnic literature," one of several such characters "indeed rooted in the toxic soil of racism, but racism has made their tongues only sharper, their art more lethally potent . . . As much as well meaning Asian Americans try to banish the character," he writes, Charlie Chan "is here to stay."<ref>''Huang, Yunte; Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History, pp. 282-287; W. W. Norton & Company, 15 August 2011 ISBN 978-0-87722-955-1.</ref>
===Stereotypes in American film and TV shows===
{{Main|Portrayal of East Asians in American film and theater}}
In 2019, 7% of all female characters and 6% of all male characters in the top 100 grossing movies in the United States were Asian.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stoll |first1=Julia |title=Distribution of male and female characters in top grossing films in the United States in 2019, by ethnicity |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/641132/ethnicity-film-characters/ |website=www.statista.com |publisher=Statista |access-date=May 2, 2021}}</ref> Additionally, a study conducted by AAPIsOnTV (Asian American and Pacific Islanders) indicated that 64% of shows lack a presence of main Asian actors.<ref name="Chin et al. 2017">{{cite report |last1=Chin|last2=Deo|last3=DuCros|last4=Jong-Hwa Lee|last5=Milman|last6=Yuen |first1=Christina|first2=Meera|first3=Faustina|first4=Jenny|first5= Noriko|first6=Nancy |title=Tokens on the Small Screen: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Prime Time and Streaming Television|date=September 2017 |pages=2–13 |url=https://www.aapisontv.com/uploads/3/8/1/3/38136681/aapisontv.2017.pdf}}</ref> On the other hand, 96% of shows have a presence of White main actors.<ref name="Chin et al. 2017"/>
While there has been progress in the representation of Asian actors in TV shows and films through ''[[Crazy Rich Asians (film)|Crazy Rich Asians]]'' and ''[[Fresh Off the Boat|Fresh Off The Boat]]'', the portrayal of stereotypes is still a present issue.<ref name="Deadline Hollywood">{{cite web |last1=Ramos |first1=Dino-Ray |title=Asian Americans on TV: Study finds continued Underrepresentation despite new wave of AAPI-led shows |url=https://deadline.com/2017/09/asian-americans-in-television-study-diversity-representation-inclusion-master-of-none-fresh-off-the-boat-1202165584/ |website=Deadline |date=September 12, 2017 |access-date=May 8, 2021}}</ref> Asian actors are cast for movies usually represent stereotypes of East Asians. In most instances, they also play the roles of sex workers, nerds, foreigners, and doctors.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Levin |first1=Sam |title='We're the geeks, the prostitutes': Asian American actors on Hollywood's barriers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/11/asian-american-actors-whitewashing-hollywood |website=The guardian |date=April 11, 2017 |access-date=May 2, 2021}}</ref> In the episode "A Benihana Christmas" of ''[[The Office (American TV series)|The Office]]'', Michael Scott (as [[Steve Carell]]) has to mark Nikki (played by [[Kulap Vilaysack]]) with a Sharpie, because he is unable to differentiate her from Amy (played by [[Kathrien Ahn]]).<ref name="vanityfair.com">{{cite magazine|last1=Murphy|first1=Chris|title=The Office Actor Kat Ahn calls out show for portrayal of Asian women|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/03/the-office-portrayal-of-asian-women|magazine=Vanity Fair|date=March 26, 2021}}</ref> The portrayal of Asian Americans is based on the stereotype that they look identical.<ref name="vanityfair.com"/> In ''[[Mean Girls]]'', Trag Pak (played by [[Ky Pham]]) and Sun Jin Dinh (played by [[Danielle Nguyen]]), are depicted as overly sexual students who have an affair with the PE teacher and possess limited English skills.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Jokic|first1=Natasha|title=What Are Some Problematic And Racist Depictions Of East Asian People In TV And Movies That You've Seen?|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/natashajokic1/problematic-asian-tv-movies-add-yours|access-date=May 9, 2021|website=Buzzfeed|date=March 19, 2021 }}</ref> The ''[[The Big Bang Theory|Big Bang Theory]]'' portrays Rajesh Koothrapalli (played by [[Kunal Nayyar]]) as someone who is unable to form romantic relationships and communicate with women.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sreedhar|first1=Anjana|title=5 Most Offensive Asian Characters in TV History|date=September 20, 2013 |url=https://www.mic.com/articles/64335/5-most-offensive-asian-characters-in-tv-history|access-date=May 9, 2021|publisher=Mic}}</ref>
A study of top grossing films in the 2010s found that films encouraged audiences to laugh at 43.4% of Asian and Pacific Islander characters, meaning that they may be serving as a "punchline".<ref name="Geena2021">{{Cite report |url=https://seejane.org/wp-content/uploads/api-study-2021-8.pdf |title=I Am Not a Fetish or Model Minority: Redefining What it Means to Be API in the Entertainment Industry |last1=Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media |last2=Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment |date=2023 |last3=Gold House |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231105041424/https://seejane.org/wp-content/uploads/api-study-2021-8.pdf |archive-date=5 November 2023 |url-status=dead}}</ref>{{rp|33}}
According to Christina Chong, if Asian actors in American movies are needed, it is usually for "international regional accuracy".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chong |first1=Christina Shu Jien |title=Where Are the Asians in Hollywood? Can §1981, Title VII, Colorblind Pitches, and Understanding Biases Break the Bamboo Ceiling? |journal=Asian Pacific American Law Journal |pages=29 |url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt2cm1r6db/qt2cm1r6db.pdf?t=ox19mw |access-date=May 2, 2021}}</ref> These inaccurate representations shape public perceptions due to the large influence TV shows and films have on the understanding of people from different backgrounds.<ref name="Deadline Hollywood"/>
==Men==
===Emasculation===
In the 2006 documentary ''[[The Slanted Screen]]'', [[Filipino American]] director [[Gene Cajayon]] talks about the revised ending for the 2000 action movie ''[[Romeo Must Die]]'', a retelling of ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'' in which [[Aaliyah]] plays Juliet to [[Jet Li]]'s Romeo. The original ending had Aaliyah kissing Chinese actor Li, which would have explained the title of Romeo, a scenario that did not test well with an urban audience.<ref name="Jose Antonio Vargas">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/24/AR2007052402573.html|author=Jose Antonio Vargas|title= Asian Men: Slanted Screen|newspaper=Washington Post|date=May 25, 2007|access-date=July 13, 2013}}</ref> The studio changed the ending to Trish (Aaliyah) giving Han (Li) a tight hug. According to Cajayon, "Mainstream America, for the most part, gets uncomfortable with seeing an East Asian man portrayed in a sexual light."<ref name="Jose Antonio Vargas"/>
One study has shown East Asians as being perceived as being "less masculine" than their white and black American counterparts.<ref name="Stereotypes of Asian Male Attractiveness"/> East Asian men are also emasculated, being stereotyped and portrayed as having small penises.<ref>Drummond, Murray JN, and Shaun M. Filiault. "The long and the short of it: Gay men's perceptions of penis size." Gay and lesbian issues and psychology review 3.2 (2007): 121–129.</ref> Such an idea fueled the phenomenon that being a bottom in a homosexual relationship for East Asian men is more of a reflection of what is expected of them, than a desire.<ref>Hoppe, Trevor. "Circuits of Power, Circuits of Pleasure: Sexual Scripting in Gay Men's Bottom Narratives.</ref> These stereotypes are attempts of an overall perception that East Asian men are less sexually desirable to women compared to men of other races, especially whites.<ref name=CulturalPsychology>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bUBsctDWauYC&q=Asians+stature+and+height+stereotype&pg=PA141|title=Pg. 130, 142 "Being an Asian American Male is Really Hard Actually": Cultural Psychology...|access-date=July 13, 2013|isbn=9781109120486|last1=Yim|first1=Jennifer Young|year=2009|publisher=University of Michigan }}</ref> These stereotypes may have an impact on the dating lives of Asian men; a 2018 study found that Asian teenaged males were less likely than their non-Asian peers to have a romantic relationship.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kao |first1=Grace |last2=Balistreri |first2=Kelly Stamper |last3=Joyner |first3=Kara |title=Asian American Men in Romantic Dating Markets |journal=Contexts |date=November 2018 |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=48–53 |doi=10.1177/1536504218812869 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1536504218812869 |issn=1536-5042}}</ref>
When [[Bruce Lee]] established a presence in Hollywood, he was one of the few Asians who had achieved "[[alpha male]]" status on screen in the 20th century.<ref name="Bruce Lee">{{cite news| title=Enter the mind of Bruce Lee| url=https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/19/world/bruce-lee-philsophical-legacy-trnd| last=Blake| first=John| date=August 2, 2016| publisher=cnn.com}}</ref>
Study findings from an analysis of the TV show ''[[Lost (2004 TV series)|Lost]]'' suggest that portrayals of East Asian males have not significantly changed.<ref>{{cite thesis | last=Biswas |first=Tulika |title=Asian Stereotypes lost or found in the first season of TV series Lost? | publisher=University of Tennessee | url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/38371670/asian-stereotypes-lost-or-found-in-the-first-college-of- | access-date=2023-07-01}}</ref> According to Elizabeth Tunstall, East Asian men in the West are still largely denied the stereotypical masculinity ideal of Western societies; however, the hybrid "soft masculinity" of K-pop has improved the image of Asian men as potentially desirable partners among K-pop fans in Western countries.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/un-designing-masculinities-k-pop-and-the-new-global-man-22335|title=Un-designing masculinities: K-pop and the new global man?|publisher=The Conversation|date=January 23, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140127023135/https://theconversation.com/un-designing-masculinities-k-pop-and-the-new-global-man-22335|archive-date=January 27, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Predators of white women===
[[
[[File:The Bitter Tea of General Yen poster.jpg|left|upright|thumb|Poster for ''[[The Bitter Tea of General Yen]]'']]
East Asian men have been portrayed as threats to white women by white men in many aspects of American media.<ref name="Espiritu">Espiritu, Y. E. (1997). Ideological Racism and Cultural Resistance: Constructing Our Own Images, ''Asian American Women and Men'', Rowman & Littlefield Publishing.</ref> Depictions of East Asian men as "lascivious and predatory" were common at the turn of the 20th century.<ref name="Frankenberg">Frankenberg, R. (1993). ''White women, race matters: The social construction of whiteness.'', [[University of Minnesota]] Press.</ref> Fears of [[Sexual slavery#White slavery|"white slavery"]] were promulgated in both dime store novels and melodramatic films.
Between 1850 and 1940, both US [[popular culture|popular media]] and [[propaganda]] before and during [[World War II]] humanized Chinese men, while portraying Japanese men as a military and security threat to the country, and therefore a sexual danger to white women<ref name="wu"/> due to the perception of a woman's body traditionally symbolizing her "tribe's" house or country.<ref name="Rich">Rich, Adrienne. 1994 Blood, Bread and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979–1985. New York: Norton 1986: p. 212.</ref> In the 1916 film ''[[Patria (1917 film)|Patria]]'', a group of fanatical Japanese individuals invade the United States in an attempt to rape a white woman.<ref name="Quinsaat">Quinsaat, J. (1976). Asians in the media, The shadows in the spotlight. ''Counterpoint: Perspectives on Asian America'' (pp 264–269). [[University of California at Los Angeles]], Asian American Studies Center.</ref> ''Patria'' was an independent film serial funded by [[William Randolph Hearst]] in the lead up to the United States' entry into [[World War I]].
''[[The Bitter Tea of General Yen]]'' portrays the way in which an "Oriental" beguiles white women. The film portrays Megan Davis ([[Barbara Stanwyck]]) coming to China to marry a missionary ([[Gavin Gordon (actor)|Gavin Gordon]]) and help in his work. They become separated at a railway station, and Davis is rescued/kidnapped by warlord General Yen ([[Nils Asther]]). Yen becomes infatuated with Davis, and knowing that she is believed to be dead, keeps her at his summer palace. That being said, it was also one of the first films to deal openly with interracial sexual attraction (despite the fact that the actor playing General Yen is played by a non-Asian actor).
===Misogynists===
Another stereotype of East Asian men, especially of Chinese men, is that they are [[misogynistic]], insensitive, and disrespectful towards women. However, studies have shown that East Asian American men express more [[gender egalitarian]] attitudes than the American average.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Chua|first1=Peter|last2=Fujino|first2=Diane|date=1999|title=Negotiating New Asian American Masculinities: Attitudes and Gender Expectations|url=http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=sociology_pub|journal=Journal of Men's Studies|volume=7|issue=3|pages=391–413|doi=10.3149/jms.0703.391|s2cid=52220779|url-access=subscription}}</ref> East Asian men are commonly portrayed in Western media as [[male chauvinists]].<ref name="Big American Misconceptions about Asians">{{cite web|title=Big American Misconceptions about Asians|website=GoldSea|url=http://www.goldsea.com/Features2/Essays/get.html|author=Conrad Kim}}</ref>
Even literature written by Asian American authors is not free of the pervasive popular cliche of Asian men. [[Amy Tan]]'s book ''[[The Joy Luck Club (novel)|The Joy Luck Club]]'' has been criticized by Asian American figures such as [[Frank Chin]] for perpetuating racist stereotypes of Asian men.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=hb-jKArjedIC&dq=%22Chin%22+%22Come+All+Ye+Asian+American+Writers+of+the+Real+and+the+Fake%27%22+&pg=PA133 Come All Ye Asian American Writers of the Real and the Fake].</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.reviews/msg/9455e65126606190|title=Review: The Joy Luck Club|author=Tanaka Tomoyuki|via=Google Groups}}</ref>
==Women==
===Dragon Lady===
{{See also|Dragon Lady}}
In the 19th and 20th centuries, [[Western film]] and [[Western literature]] sometimes stereotyped powerful Asian women as "Dragon Ladies" and subservient Asian women as "Lotus Blossoms". These memes persists in to the present time, and other stereotypes related to the Lotus Blossom include the hyper-feminine "China dolls", "[[Geisha|Geisha girls]]" and war brides.<ref name="Tajima, R. 1989 pp 308"/><ref name="Ukockis">{{cite book |last1=Ukockis |first1=Gail |title=Women's Issues for a New Generation: A Social Work Perspective |date=13 May 2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-023941-1 |page=356 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2kUnDAAAQBAJ&dq=dragon+lady+stereotype&pg=PT356 |quote="Media portrayals of Asian Americans continue to present these memes: Dragon Lady, Lotus Blossom and the male as a sexless nerd. The Dragon Lady has too much power, whereas the Lotus Blossom and the male loser have too little power (Ono & Pham, 2009)."}}</ref>
More recently, the Dragon Lady stereotype was embodied by [[Ling Woo]], a fictional character in the US [[comedy-drama]] ''[[Ally McBeal]]'' (1997–2002), whom the American [[actress]] [[Lucy Liu]] portrayed. Ling is a cold and ferocious<ref name="Shimizu">{{cite book|last=Shimizu|first= Celine Parreñas|title=The hypersexuality of race|publisher=Duke University Press|year=2007|page=87 |chapter=The Sexual Bonds of Racial Stardom|isbn= 9780822340331}}</ref> bilingual [[Chinese American]] lawyer, who is fluent in both English and Mandarin<ref name="Prasso">{{cite book |last=Prasso |first=Sheridan |title=The Asian Mystique: Dragon Ladies, Geisha Girls, and Our Fantasies of the Exotic Orient |publisher=PublicAffairs |year=2006 |edition=Illustrated |pages=72–73 |chapter=Hollywood, Burbank, and the Resulting Imaginings|isbn=9781586483944}}</ref> and is well-versed in the arts of sexual pleasuring unknown to the American world.<ref name="Prasso" /><ref name="Patton">{{cite journal |last=Patton |first=Tracey Owens |date=November 2001 |title="Ally McBeal" and Her Homies: The Reification of White Stereotypes of the Other |journal=Journal of Black Studies |publisher=Sage Publications, Inc. |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=229–260 |doi=10.1177/002193470103200205|s2cid=144240462 }}</ref> At the time, she provided the only major representation of East Asian women on television,<ref name="Patton" /> apart from news anchors and reporters.<ref name="Sage" /> Because there were no other major Asian American celebrity women whose television presence could counteract the Dragon Lady stereotype,<ref name="Patton" /> the portrayal of Ling Woo attracted much scholarly attention.<ref name="Sage">{{cite book|last=Dow|first= Bonnie J.|others=Julia T. Wood|title=The SAGE handbook of gender and communication|publisher=SAGE|year=2006|pages=302–303|chapter=Gender and Communication in Mediated Contexts |isbn= 9781412904230}}</ref>
This attention has led to the idea that orientalist stereotyping is a specific form of racial microaggression against women of East Asian descent. For example, while the beauty of Asian American women has been exoticized, Asian American women have been stereotyped as submissive in the process of sexual objectification.<ref name=":0" /> [[University of Wyoming]] [[Darrell Hamamoto]], Professor of Asian American Studies at the [[University of California, Davis]], describes Ling as "a neo-Orientalist [[wikt:masturbatory|masturbatory]] fantasy figure concocted by a white man whose job it is to satisfy the blocked needs of other white men who seek temporary escape from their banal and deadening lives by indulging themselves in a bit of visual [[cunnilingus]] while relaxing on the sofa." Hamamoto does maintain, however, that Ling "sends a powerful message to white America that East Asian American women are not to be trifled with. She runs circles around that tower of [[Jell-O]] who serves as her white boyfriend. She's competitive in a profession that thrives on verbal aggression and analytical skill."<ref>{{cite web |author=Chisun Lee |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-11-30/news/the-ling-thing/http |title=The Ling Thing – – News – New York |publisher=Village Voice |date=November 30, 1999 |access-date=February 21, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110412013356/http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-11-30/news/the-ling-thing/http/ |archive-date=April 12, 2011 }}</ref> Contemporary actress [[Lucy Liu]] has been accused of popularizing this stereotype by characters she has played in mainstream media.<ref>{{cite web|author=Nadra Kareem Nittle|title=Five Common Asian-American Stereotypes in TV and Film|url=http://racerelations.about.com/od/hollywood/a/Five-Common-Asian-american-Stereotypes-In-Tv-And-Film.htm|publisher=About News|access-date=October 16, 2014|archive-date=April 12, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140412064928/http://racerelations.about.com/od/hollywood/a/Five-Common-Asian-american-Stereotypes-In-Tv-And-Film.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
===Hypersexuality and submissiveness===
An iconic source of images of East Asian women in the 20th century in the West is the 1957 novel ''[[The World of Suzie Wong]]'' that was adapted into [[The World of Suzie Wong (film)|a movie in 1960]], about a Hong Kong woman.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sumi K. Cho|chapter =Converging Stereotypes in Racialized Sexual Harassment: Where the Model Minority Meets Suzie Wong|editor1=Richard Delgado|editor2=Jean Stefancic|title=Critical Race Theory: the Cutting Edge|page=535|quote=...Hong Kong hooker with a heart of gold.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/hkjo/view/35/3500490.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110410112802/http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/hkjo/view/35/3500490.pdf|archive-date=April 10, 2011|url-status=dead|title=Hong Kong as City/Imaginary in ''The World of Suzie Wong'', ''Love is a Many Splendored Thing'', and ''Chinese Box''|author=Thomas Y. T. Luk|publisher=The Chinese University of Hong Kong}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Academy-Awards-Crime-Films/Asian-American-Cinema-REPRESENTATION-AND-STEREOTYPES.html|title=Asian American Cinema: Representations and Stereotypes|website=Film Reference}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author1=Staci Ford|author2=Geetanjali Singh Chanda|url=http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/hkjo/view/35/3500494.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306021305/http://sunzi1.lib.hku.hk/hkjo/view/35/3500494.pdf|archive-date=March 6, 2009|title=Portrayals of Gender and Generation,East and West: Suzie Wong in the Noble House|publisher=University of Hong Kong}}</ref> The titular character is represented through a frame of white masculine heterosexual desire: Suzie is portrayed as a submissive prostitute that is sexually aroused at the idea of being beaten by a white man. [[UC Berkeley]] Professor of Asian American Studies Elaine Kim argued in the 1980s that the stereotype of East Asian women as submissive has impeded their economic mobility.<ref>{{cite journal | first= Elaine |last=Kim | year=1984|title=Asian American writers: A bibliographical review|journal=American Studies International|volume=22|issue=2|pages=41–78}}</ref>
[[File:AlbaneseButterfly.jpg|thumb|left|180px|[[Italians|Italian]] soprano [[Licia Albanese]] as Butterfly in [[Giacomo Puccini|Puccini's]] ''[[Madama Butterfly]]'']]
According to author Sheridan Prasso, the "China [porcelain] doll" stereotype and its variations of feminine submissiveness recurs in American movies. These variations can be presented as an associational sequence such as: "Geisha Girl/Lotus Flower/Servant/China Doll: Submissive, docile, obedient, reverential; the Vixen/Sex Nymph: Sexy, coquettish, manipulative; tendency toward disloyalty or opportunism; the Prostitute/Victim of Sex Trade/War/Oppression: Helpless, in need of assistance or rescue; good-natured at heart."<ref name="prasso"/>
Another is ''[[Madama Butterfly]]'' (''Madame Butterfly''), an [[opera]] by [[Giacomo Puccini]], [[Luigi Illica]] and [[Giuseppe Giacosa]]. It is the story of a Japanese maiden (Cio-Cio San), who falls in love with and marries a white American navy lieutenant. After the officer leaves her to continue his naval service away from Japan, Cio-Cio San gives birth to their child. Cio-Cio San blissfully awaits the lieutenant's return, unaware that he had not considered himself bound by his Japanese marriage to a Japanese woman. When he arrives back in Japan with an American wife in tow and discovers that he has a child by Cio-Cio San, he proposes to take the child to be raised in America by himself and his American wife. The heartbroken Japanese girl bids farewell to her callous lover, then kills herself.
There has been much controversy about the opera, especially its treatment of sex and race.<ref>{{cite news|title=Controversy About the Opera |url=http://theater.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=940DEFDE143EF932A15750C0A96E948260 |work=The New York Times }}{{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Calendar/Film?Film=oid%3A137974 |title=Film Listings |publisher=AustinChronicle.com |date=November 29, 1996 |access-date=February 21, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.news24.com/Content/Entertainment/International/1044/02569e24362e416698ed4960809ffc76/15-02-2007-07-06/Puccini_opera_is_racist |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120903174450/http://www.news24.com/Content/Entertainment/International/1044/02569e24362e416698ed4960809ffc76/15-02-2007-07-06/Puccini_opera_is_racist |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 3, 2012 |title=Puccini opera is 'racist': News24: Entertainment: International |publisher=News24 |date=February 15, 2007 |access-date=February 21, 2010 }}</ref> It is one of the most performed operas in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wfmt.com/2025/05/12/most-performed-operas-of-21st-century/|title=Treasured Titles: Exploring the Most Performed Operas of the Last 25 Years|publisher=wfmt.com |date=May 12, 2025 |access-date=August 23, 2025}}</ref> This popularity only helps to perpetuate the stereotype of Japanese women being self-sacrificing victims to "cruel and powerful" Western men.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fm20050703a1.html |title=Puccini's masterpiece transcends its age | The Japan Times Online |publisher=Search.japantimes.co.jp |date=July 3, 2005 |access-date=February 21, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605234512/http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fm20050703a1.html |archive-date=June 5, 2011 |quote=More insidious perhaps is the opera's enduring fantasy of Japanese women as self-sacrificing and, the helpless victims of cruel and powerful Western men.}}</ref>
''Butterfly'' received a modern adaptation in the form of ''[[Miss Saigon]]'', a 1989 [[musical theatre|musical]] by [[Claude-Michel Schönberg]] and [[Alain Boublil]]. This musical has also been criticized for what some have perceived as racist or sexist overtones. Criticism has led to protests against the musical's portrayal of Asian men, Asian women, and women in general.<ref>[http://www.modelminority.com/article970.html Steinberg, Avi. "Group targets Asian stereotypes in hit musical," ''Boston Globe'', January 2005.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430204135/http://www.modelminority.com/article970.html |date=April 30, 2012 }} Retrieved on 2007 – December 15.</ref> It banked a record $25 million in advance ticket sales when it was opening on Broadway.<ref>{{cite news|author=Richard Corliss|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,970956,00.html?iid=chix-sphere |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016194520/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,970956,00.html?iid=chix-sphere |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 16, 2007 |title=Theater: Will Broadway Miss Saigon? |publisher=TIME |date=August 20, 1990 |access-date=February 21, 2010}}</ref>
According to artist and writer [[Jessica Hagedorn]] in ''Asian Women in Film: No Joy, No Luck'', Asian women in golden era Hollywood film were represented as sexually passive and compliant. According to Hagedorn, "good" Asian women are portrayed as being "childlike, submissive, silent, and eager for sex".<ref name="wilson">{{Cite news |last=Hagedorn |first=Jessica |title=Asian Women in Film: No Joy, No Luck | magazine=[[Ms. Magazine]] |date=January–February 1994 }}</ref>
In instances of [[rape pornography|rape in pornography]], a study found that young East Asian women are overrepresented.<ref name="racism_porn">Mayall, Alice, and Diana EH Russell. "Racism in pornography." Feminism & Psychology 3.2 (1993): 275–281.</ref> It had been suggested that the hypersexualized yet compliant representations of East Asian women being a frequent theme in American media is the cause of this.<ref>Park, Hijin. "Interracial Violence, Western Racialized Masculinities, and the Geopolitics of Violence Against Women." Social & Legal Studies 21.4 (2012): 491–509. Web.</ref> In addition, East Asian women being often stereotyped as having [[Human vaginal size|tighter]] [[vagina]]s than other races is another suggested factor.<ref name="racism_porn" />
===Tiger mother===
{{Main|Tiger mother}}
In early 2011, the Chinese-American lawyer and writer [[Amy Chua]] generated controversy with her book ''[[Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother]]'', published in January 2011. The book was a memoir about her parenting journey using strict [[Confucianism|Confucian]] child rearing techniques, which she describes as being typical for Chinese immigrant parents.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/15/amy-chua-tiger-mother-interview | ___location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Heather | last=Hodson | title=Amy Chua: 'I'm going to take all your stuffed animals and burn them!' | date=January 15, 2011}}</ref> Her book received a huge backlash and media attention and ignited global debate about different parenting techniques and cultural attitudes that foster such techniques.<ref>Emily Rauhala (August 14, 2014) [http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2042535,00.html 'Tiger Mother': Are Chinese Moms Really So Different?] Time. Retrieved March 8, 2014</ref> Furthermore, the book provoked uproar after the release where Chua received death threats, racial slurs, and calls for her arrest on child-abuse charges.<ref name="Kira Cochrane">{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/feb/07/truth-about-tiger-mothers-family-amy-chua | title=The truth about the Tiger Mother's family | work=The Guardian | date=February 7, 2014 | access-date=July 14, 2014 | author=Kira Cochrane}}</ref>
The archetypal Chinese tiger mom is (similar to the [[Jewish mother stereotype]] and the Japanese [[Kyoiku mama]]) refers to a strict or demanding mother who pushes her children to high levels of scholastic and academic achievement, using methods regarded as typical of [[childrearing]] in East Asia to the detriment of the child's social, physical, psychological and emotional well-being. According to Marie Moro, Amy Chua links the academic success of Chinese Americans to Tiger mothering.<ref name="Routledge"/> Paul Tullis suggests that this assumption is unfounded, and cites a study suggesting that children of purported "tiger parents" actually have slightly worse [[Grade point average|GPAs]] than those raised by non-tiger parents.<ref name="Poor Little Tiger Cub"/>
===Asian baby girl===
"Asian baby girl", commonly abbreviated "ABG" and sometimes referred to as "Asian bad girl" or "Asian baby gangster", is a term that arose in the 1990s, originally used to describe women involved in the [[Chinese American]] gangster subcultures of [[New York City|New York]]. These women were a part of, or admired the lifestyles of the gangs, before the crime crackdowns ordered by Mayor [[Rudy Giuliani]] caused many of them to become defunct.<ref name="idmagazine">{{cite web |last1=Tran |first1=Mai |date=October 7, 2020 |title=It was a cultural reset: a short history of the ABG aesthetic |url=https://i-d.co/article/it-was-a-cultural-reset-a-short-history-of-the-abg-aesthetic/ |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=September 6, 2021 |website=i-D Magazine}}</ref> The term was then adopted by other Asian Americans from outside the Chinese American gangster subculture of the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]]. The looks, fashion, and aesthetics associated with ABGs gained popularity in the 2010s, and was regarded as a negative stereotype similar to the "[[valley girl]]" or "[[Blonde stereotype|dumb blond]]" stereotype.<ref name="idmagazine"/> It appeared in online forums such as the [[Subtle Asian Traits]] Facebook group.<ref name="blogs.cornell.edu">{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.cornell.edu/info2040/2018/11/29/s-a-d-defines-the-popular-asian-but-its-what-we-expect/|title = S.A.D. Defines the "popular" Asian, but it's what we expect.: Networks Course blog for INFO 2040/CS 2850/Econ 2040/SOC 2090}}</ref> In the 2020s, the ABG stereotype was adopted as a fashion trend on social media platforms such as [[TikTok]] and [[Instagram]]. It refers primarily to millennial or younger women who are highly outgoing and have adopted a gangster aesthetic or personality without necessarily being involved with actual organized crime. Other associated traits include an interest in [[Party#Parties for teenagers and young adults|partying]] and [[fashion]] and [[Promiscuity|sexual activeness]].<ref name="ABG rise">{{cite news |last1=Li |first1=Vicki |title=The Rise of the ABG |url=https://upennfword.com/2020/03/07/the-rise-of-the-abg/ |access-date=November 5, 2020 |work=The F-Word Magazine |date=March 7, 2020 }}</ref><ref name="Nylon ABG">{{cite news |last1=Shamsudin |first1=Shazrina |title=Everything You Need To Know About The Asian Baby Girl Trend That's Taking Over The Internet |url=https://www.nylon.com.sg/2020/03/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-asian-baby-girl-trend-thats-taking-over-the-internet/ |access-date=November 5, 2020 |work=[[Nylon (magazine)|Nylon]] Singapore |date=March 5, 2020}}</ref>
==Physical attributes and traits==
[[Darrell Hamamoto|Darrell Y. Hamamoto]], an American Orientialist and professor of Asian American studies at UC Irvine argued that a pervasive [[racialized]] discourse exists throughout American society, especially as it is reproduced by network television and cinema.<ref name="ReferenceC">Darrell Y. Hamamoto, ''Monitored peril: Asian Americans and the politics of TV representation'' University of Minnesota Press, 1994, {{ISBN|978-0-8166-2368-6}}, 311 pages.</ref> Critics argue that portrayals of East Asians in American media fixating on the [[epicanthic fold]] of the eyelid have the negative effect of caricature, whether describing the Asiatic eye positively as "almond-shaped" or negatively as "slanted", "slant-eyed", or "slanty". These "slanted" stereotypes have even led to the spread of a sexual rumor purporting that Asian women possess sideways vaginas.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-16 |title=After 170 Years, the 'Sideways Asian Vagina' Myth Still Won't Go Away |url=https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/sideways-asian-vagina-myth |access-date=2024-07-28 |website=MEL Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> Even worse, these critics contend, is the common portrayal of the East Asian population as having yellow, sometimes orange or even lemon colored skin tones (which the critics reference as [[colorism]]).
This colorist portrayal negatively contrasts "colored" Asian Americans with the European population of North America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. East Asians are also stereotyped (or orientalized) as having straight dark (or shiny "blue") hair usually styled in a "bowl cut" (boys) or with straight overgrown bangs (girls). They are often homogenized as one indiscriminate monolithic conglomeration of cultures, languages, histories, and physiological and behavioral characteristics. Almost invariably it is assumed that a person of Asian descent has ancestral origins from an East Asian country.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5nn03oZbkt8C&q=asians+are+stereotyped+as+being+a+homogeneous+group&pg=PA123 |title=Body Politics of the Asian American Woman: From Orientalist Stereotype to the Hybrid Body |author=Jung Heum Whang |date=September 2007 |access-date=June 26, 2013|isbn=9780549173045 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CZXtZ8lFepsC&q=immigrant+acts+asian+american+homogeneous+group+lisa+lowe&pg=PA68|title=Immigrant Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics|author=Lisa Lowe|publisher=Duke University Press|year=1996|access-date=June 26, 2013|isbn=0822318644}}</ref>
There is also a common assumption that people of East Asian descent are always Chinese or are supposed to be proficient in a Chinese language. This often results in racist remarks and ethnic slurs against Asian Americans such as telling them to "[[Go back to your country|Go back to China]]" even if the Asian-American person does not happen to be of Chinese descent. In reality, the term "Asian American" broadly refers to all people who descend from the Continental Asian sub-regions of [[Central Asia|Central]],<!--Since 2020, the US Census Bureau has included Central Asians and Afghans as Asian Americans. See https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2023/05/08/asian-identity-in-the-us/ and open the tab "Are Central Asians considered Asian?"--> [[East Asia|East]], [[Southeast Asia|Southeast]], and [[South Asia]]<!--As of 2025, people of West Asian (Middle Eastern) ancestry and Iranian ancestry are still categorized by the U.S. Census Bureau as being "White"--> as a whole. While people of Chinese descent make up roughly 5 million of the roughly 18 million Asians in America, a plurality, other Asian American ethnic groups such as the Filipinos, Indonesian, Japanese, Koreans and Vietnamese make up a larger portion of the total.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Rise of Asian Americans|url=http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/asianamericans-graphics/|website=pewsocialtrends.org|publisher=Pew Research Center|access-date=January 24, 2017}}</ref>
East Asians are often stereotyped as being inherently bad drivers.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m8qgAi0LVj8C&q=asians+stereotype+bad+drivers&pg=PA424|title=Asian American Psychology:Asians Bad Drivers False|access-date=June 8, 2013|isbn=9781841697499|date=September 17, 2008|last1=Tewari|first1=Nita|last2=Alvarez|first2=Alvin N.|publisher=Taylor & Francis }}</ref> East Asians are also stereotyped as academic overachievers who are intelligent but socially inept, either lacking social skills or being asocial.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.natcom.org/CommCurrentsArticle.aspx?id=963 |title=Perceptions of Asian American Students: Stereotypes and Effects |access-date=August 21, 2012}}</ref> A 2010 study found that East Asians in the United States are most likely to be perceived as nerds. This stereotype is socially damaging and contributes to a long history of Asian exclusion in USA.<ref name="zhang">{{cite journal | last1 = Zhang | first1 = Qin | year = 2010 | title = Asian Americans Beyond the Model Minority Stereotype: The Nerdy and the Left Out | journal = Journal of International and Intercultural Communication | volume = 3 | issue = 1| pages = 20–37 | doi = 10.1080/17513050903428109 | s2cid = 144533905 }}</ref>
East Asians have been stereotyped as immature, childlike, small, infantile looking, needing guidance and not to be taken seriously.<ref name="shibusawa_geisha_ally">{{cite book|last=Shibusawa|first=Naoko|title=America's Geisha Ally: Reimagining the Japanese Enemy|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2010|url=https://archive.org/details/americasgeishaal00shib_0|isbn=9780674057470|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="verso book">{{cite web|last=Petersen-Smith|first=Khury|title="Little Rocket Man": The Anti-Asian Racism of US Empire|website=Verso Books|date=January 19, 2018|url=https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3575-little-rocket-man-the-anti-asian-racism-of-us-empire}}</ref><ref name="altright_fetish">{{cite news|last=Lim|first=Audrea|title=The Alt-Right's Asian Fetish|newspaper=New York Times|date=January 6, 2018|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/06/opinion/sunday/alt-right-asian-fetish.html}}</ref><ref name="crimson_yellowfever">{{cite news|last=Hu|first=Nian|title=Yellow Fever: The Problem with Fetishizing Asian Women|newspaper=The Harvard Crimson|date= February 4, 2016|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/column/femme-fatale/article/2016/2/4/yellow-fever-fetishization/}}</ref> The [[Infantilization|infantilized]] stereotype is on both physical and mental aspects of the race. East Asians are believed to mature slower in appearance and body, while also thought of as less autonomous and therefore requiring guidance from the "mature" white race.<ref name="shibusawa_geisha_ally" /><ref name="verso book" /> Like children, the perception is that they have little power, access, and control over themselves. The stereotype goes hand in hand with [[Asian fetish|fetish against Asian women]], who are perceived as more demure, submissive, more eager to please and easily yielding to powerful men.<ref name="altright_fetish" /><ref name="crimson_yellowfever" /><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aQu7avHHTm4C&q=%22asian+fetish%22&pg=PA134|title=Korean American Women: From Tradition to Modern Feminism|first1=Young In|last1=Song|first2=Ailee|last2=Moon|date=July 27, 1998|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|via=Google Books|isbn=9780275959777}}</ref>
A psychological experiment conducted by two researchers found that East Asians who do not conform to common stereotypes and who possess qualities such as dominance in the workplace are often seen as "unwelcome and unwanted by their co-workers" and can even elicit negative reactions and harassment from their fellow employees of other racial backgrounds.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://phys.org/news/2012-05-dominant-east-asians-workplace.html#nRlv|title=Dominant East Asians face workplace harassment, says study|work=psychology|publisher=University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management|access-date=September 14, 2013}}</ref>
===Physicality and sports===
{{See also|Race and sports|Asian Americans in sports}}
East Asian bodies are often stereotyped of as lacking the innate athletic ability to endure labor-intensive tasks which is required to play and excel in sports, especially in sporting disciplines that involve heavy amounts of physical contact.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NN3dMdxd_38C&q=Pedagogies,+Physical+Culture,+and+Visual+Methods&pg=PR1|title=Pedagogies, Physical Culture, and VisualMethods|series=Sports|access-date=September 14, 2013|isbn=9780415815727|last1=Azzarito|first1=Laura|last2=Kirk|first2=David|date=October 10, 2014|publisher=Routledge }}</ref> This stereotype has led to discrimination in the recruitment process for professional American sports teams where Asian American athletes are highly underrepresented.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thegoodpoint.com/asian-players-in-nfl/|title=Asian population critically underrepresented in NFL|author=Samer Kalaf|work=Sports|access-date=September 14, 2013|archive-date=November 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103190434/http://thegoodpoint.com/asian-players-in-nfl/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://bamboooffshoot.com/2012/02/27/hey-american-sports-where-are-all-the-asian-at/ |title=Hey American Sports! Where are all the Asians at? |author=Michelle Banh |work=Sports |access-date=September 14, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130915073452/http://bamboooffshoot.com/2012/02/27/hey-american-sports-where-are-all-the-asian-at/ |archive-date=September 15, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Asian-Americans-remain-rare-in-men-s-college-3258007.php|title=Asian Americans remain rare in men's college basketball|author=Bryan Chu|work=Sports|access-date=September 14, 2013|date=December 16, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sportmarketingassociation.com/2010conference/2010conferencepresentations/S-05.pdf|title=Studying Antecedent and Consequence of Self Efficacy of Asian American Sport Consumers: Development of a Theoretical Framework|work=Socioeconomics|access-date=September 14, 2013|archive-date=October 4, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004221625/http://www.sportmarketingassociation.com/2010conference/2010conferencepresentations/S-05.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://prezi.com/ce_xnkquk--m/the-lack-of-asians-and-asian-american-athletes-in-professional-sports/|title=The Lack of Asians and Asian-American Athletes in Professional Sports|work=Sports|accessdate=14 September 2013}}</ref>
The Taiwanese-American professional basketball player [[Jeremy Lin]] believed that his race played a role in him going undrafted in NBA initially.<ref name=barron>{{cite news|last=Barron |first=David |title=Lin tells "60 Minutes" his ethnicity played a role in him going undrafted |date=April 5, 2013 |newspaper=Houston Chronicle |url=http://blog.chron.com/sportsmedia/2013/04/lin-tells-60-minutes-his-ethnicity-may-have-stymied-college-recruiting-offers/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130408081251/http://blog.chron.com/sportsmedia/2013/04/lin-tells-60-minutes-his-ethnicity-may-have-stymied-college-recruiting-offers/ |archive-date=April 8, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> This belief has been echoed and reiterated by sports writer Sean Gregory of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' and NBA commissioner [[David Stern]].<ref name=harvards_hoops>{{cite news|last=Gregory |first=Sean |title=Harvard's Hoops Star Is Asian. Why's That a Problem? |magazine=Time |date=December 31, 2009 |url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1951044,00.html?artId=1951044?contType=article?chn=us |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604061729/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0%2C8599%2C1951044%2C00.html?artId=1951044%3FcontType%3Darticle%3Fchn%3Dus |archive-date=June 4, 2011 |access-date=November 8, 2010 |quote="I've heard it at most of the Ivies if not all of them," he says. Lin is reluctant to mention the specific nature of such insults, but according to Harvard teammate Oliver McNally, another Ivy League player called him a C word that rhymes with ink during a game last season. |url-status=dead }}</ref> Although Asian Americans comprised 6% of the nation's population in 2012, Asian American athletes represented only 2% of the [[NFL]], 1.9% of the [[MLB]] and less than 1% in both the [[National Hockey League|NHL]] and [[NBA]].<ref name=LackofAsians>{{cite web|url=http://prezi.com/ce_xnkquk--m/the-lack-of-asians-and-asian-american-athletes-in-professional-sports/|title=The Lack of Asians and Asian-American Athletes in Professional Sports|work=Sports|access-date=September 14, 2013}}</ref>
== Stereotypes of Asian students ==
In Western universities, students from East Asia and Asian American students often face unfair treatment and stereotypes. People sometimes think Asian American students do not have any problems because they're seen as the "model minority," meaning they're expected to do well in school without struggle. This stereotype can prevent others from comprehending or acknowledging the real challenges some face, like feeling left out, stressed, or not getting enough help. On the other hand, East Asian students are also sometimes imagined as not having good thinking skills, copying others' work, and not helping the class environment. This conflicts with the model minority stereotype.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moosavi |first=Leon |date=2022-07-03 |title=The myth of academic tolerance: the stigmatisation of East Asian students in Western higher education |journal=Asian Ethnicity |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=484–503 |doi=10.1080/14631369.2021.1882289 |issn=1463-1369|doi-access=free }}</ref>
=== Deference to authority ===
When Asian American scholars try to work with their teachers or find a mentor, they sometimes run into misunderstandings because their cultural background is different. For example, in many Asian cultures, it's important to respect those who are older or in charge, and people often talk in ways that are polite and not too direct. But in American culture, people are usually very straight to the point and treat everyone the same, no matter their age or position. This can make communication tricky between Asian American students and their mentors who might expect them to speak up more or brag about their achievements, which can feel uncomfortable or rude to them.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Chin |first1=Dorothy |last2=Kameoka |first2=Velma A. |date=2019 |title=Mentoring Asian American scholars: Stereotypes and cultural values. |url=https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/ort0000411 |journal=American Journal of Orthopsychiatry |volume=89 |issue=3 |pages=337–342 |doi=10.1037/ort0000411 |pmid=31070419 |issn=1939-0025|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
=== Impact on earning ===
In the context of East Asians in North America, it has been found that they are stereotypically viewed as more competent but less warm and less dominant compared to Whites. However, the prescriptive aspect of these stereotypes, particularly the belief that East Asians should be less dominant, has notable implications in the workplace.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Berdahl |first1=Jennifer L. |last2=Min |first2=Ji-A |date=2012 |title=Prescriptive stereotypes and workplace consequences for East Asians in North America. |url=https://doi.apa.org/doi/10.1037/a0027692 |journal=Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=141–152 |doi=10.1037/a0027692 |pmid=22506817 |issn=1939-0106|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
In the research conducted by Sanae Tashiro and Cecilia A. Conrad delves into the widely held perception that Asian-Americans, known for their proficiency in mathematics and technology, might enjoy higher earnings, especially in positions that necessitate computer skills.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last1=Tashiro |first1=Sanae |last2=Conrad |first2=Cecilia A. |date=April 2009 |title=Stereotypes, Asian Americans, and Wages: An Empirical Strategy Applied to Computer Use at Work |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1536-7150.2009.00630.x |journal=The American Journal of Economics and Sociology |volume=68 |issue=2 |pages=427–443 |doi=10.1111/j.1536-7150.2009.00630.x |issn=0002-9246|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The study scrutinizes whether this favorable reputation indeed correlates with increased wages for Asian-Americans in comparison to other racial groups. Utilizing data from the expansive Current Population Survey, Tashiro and Conrad aim to uncover whether Asian-Americans genuinely receive a financial premium for employing computer skills in their professional roles.
Contrary to common assumptions, their findings reveal that simply being Asian-American does not assure a wage boost for computer-centric tasks. Their investigation further addresses how stereotypes could potentially influence wage structures. The premise explored is whether employers are inclined to offer higher wages to individuals from groups perceived positively. However, Tashiro and Conrad's research findings contradict this assumption, demonstrating that such positive stereotypes do not afford Asian-Americans any wage advantage in technology-oriented employment.<ref name=":3" />
== Health ==
Stella S. Yi, and Simona C. Kwon have examined the significant impact of poor data quality and prevalent stereotypes on the health of Asian Americans. The discussion delves into how Asian American health is significantly influenced by two primary factors: the inadequate quality of their health data and prevailing stereotypes.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last1=Yi |first1=Stella S. |last2=Kwon |first2=Simona C. |last3=Suss |first3=Rachel |last4=Ðoàn |first4=Lan N. |last5=John |first5=Iyanrick |last6=Islam |first6=Nadia S. |last7=Trinh-Shevrin |first7=Chau |date=2022-02-01 |title=The Mutually Reinforcing Cycle Of Poor Data Quality And Racialized Stereotypes That Shapes Asian American Health: Study examines poor data quality and racialized stereotypes that shape Asian American health. |journal=Health Affairs |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=296–303 |doi=10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01417 |issn=0278-2715 |pmc=9942602 |pmid=35130076}}</ref> It unfolds the narrative that the complex health scenarios of Asian Americans stem from the nation's history, migration patterns, and specific policies affecting this group. A critical issue highlighted is the aggregation of diverse Asian communities, such as Chinese, Vietnamese, and Bangladeshi, into a single category, obscuring the distinct health challenges each group faces. Furthermore, the persistence of stereotypes paints a misleading picture of Asian Americans as not facing health disparities, which is inaccurate.
Three stereotypes are notably discussed: the "model minority" myth, suggesting Asian Americans are universally successful and self-sufficient; the "healthy immigrant" effect, falsely indicating that all Asian immigrants are healthier than U.S.-born individuals; and the "perpetual foreigner" stereotype, which unjustly views Asian Americans as eternal outsiders in the U.S.<ref name=":4" /> The findings reveal that these stereotypes, combined with the lack of detailed data, lead to Asian Americans often being overlooked in health resources and attention, which perpetuates stereotypes due to insufficient data to challenge them. This data shortage is, in part, a result of these stereotypes.
==See also==
{{Portal|Asia|United States}}
* [[Anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States]]
* [[Anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States]]
* [[Anti-Korean sentiment]]
* [[Anti-Mongolianism]]
* [[Chinese Exclusion Act]]
* [[Ching chong]]
* [[Covert racism]]
* [[Elderly martial arts master]], a stock character
* [[Fresh off the boat]]
* [[Gook]]
* [[Microaggression]]
* [[Oriental riff]]
* [[Racism in the United States]]
* [[Stereotypes of groups within the United States]]
* [[Xenophobia and racism related to the COVID-19 pandemic]]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
* Harpalani, Vinay. "Asian Americans, Racial Stereotypes, and Elite University Admissions." ''Boston University Law Review'' 102 (2022): 233+ [https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1897&context=law_facultyscholarship online].
* Kawai, Yuko. "Stereotyping Asian Americans: The dialectic of the model minority and the yellow peril." ''Howard Journal of Communications'' 16.2 (2005): 109–130.
* Lee, Jennifer. "Asian Americans, affirmative action & the rise in anti-Asian hate." ''Daedalus'' 150.2 (2021): 180–198. [https://direct.mit.edu/daed/article-pdf/150/2/180/2060451/daed_a_01854.pdf online]
* Li, Yao, and Harvey L. Nicholson Jr. "When "model minorities" become "yellow peril"—Othering and the racialization of Asian Americans in the COVID‐19 pandemic." ''Sociology compass'' 15.2 (2021): e12849. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7995194/ online]
* Lin, Monica H., et al. "Stereotype content model explains prejudice for an envied outgroup: Scale of Anti-Asian American stereotypes." ''Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin'' 31.1 (2005): 34–47. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Susan-Fiske/publication/8152313_Stereotype_Content_Model_Explains_Prejudice_for_an_Envied_Outgroup_Scale_of_Anti-Asian_American_Stereotypes/links/0c960529d08ca13f6b000000/Stereotype-Content-Model-Explains-Prejudice-for-an-Envied-Outgroup-Scale-of-Anti-Asian-American-Stereotypes.pdf online]
* Ng, Jennifer C., Sharon S. Lee, and Yoon K. Pak. "Chapter 4 contesting the model minority and perpetual foreigner stereotypes: A critical review of literature on Asian Americans in education." ''Review of research in education'' 31.1 (2007): 95–130.
* Reyes, Angela. ''Language, identity, and stereotype among Southeast Asian American youth: The other Asian'' (Routledge, 2017) [https://books.google.com/books?id=GwTFDwAAQBAJ&dq=Stereotypes+of+East+Asian+Americans&pg=PP1 online].
==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080724174617/http://www.deepfocusproductions.com/HollywoodChinese/ Hollywood Chinese] ''Hollywood Chinese'', a 2007 documentary film about the portrayals of Chinese men and women in Hollywood productions.
* [http://www.slantedscreen.com/ The Slanted Screen] ''The Slanted Screen'', a 2006 documentary film addressing the portrayals of Asian men in American television and film.
{{Ethnic stereotypes USA}}
[[Category:Asian-American issues]]
[[Category:Anti–East Asian sentiment in the United States]]
[[Category:East Asian diaspora in the United States]]
[[Category:Stereotypes of Asian Americans]]
[[Category:Stereotypes of East Asian people]]
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