For a long time, Asian or descendant women were portrayed in movies and series as submissive, innocent and, at the same time, sensual. She is there to satisfy the white male protagonist, who is her “saviour”. This stereotype even has a name: lotus flower.
If not portrayed in this naive way, the yellow woman is the stereotype ‘dragon lady’, who uses her sensuality as a personal weapon. Either way, they are hypersexualized on screen. Famous movies like “The Last Samurai” or “Born to Kill” are some examples.
In the case of the Asian male or descendant, there are many examples portraying them as the unattractive nerd, just plain weird comic relief who is never wanted by anyone.
Han Lee, from “2 Broke Girls”, is always mocked by the protagonists when he shows interest in living a loving relationship. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” character Mr. Yunioshi, Holly Golightly’s annoying neighbor, is played by white actor Mickey Rooney wearing eye patch, artificial tan and prosthetic teeth – a case of yellow face.
But this scenario has changed for men. The popularization of East Asian pop culture brought a new representation: that of men who dance and sing well in elaborate performances (k-pop, j-pop…) and who play romantic and captivating characters, who do everything for the girl (dramas South Koreans, Chinese, and so on).
There are women who even go to South Korea looking for the perfect k-drama man – and CNN has already done an article warning of the dangers of going to the country with just that goal in mind.
asian fetish
The term “yellow fever” is used to describe a sexualized attraction to yellow people – yes, yellow fever is not just the disease we need a vaccine for! This attraction is often influenced by stereotypical representations in the media and the projection of characteristics of fictional characters and admired artists.
“Fetishization is basically you reducing a person or a group of people who have dimension, who have dreams, who have fears, who have depth, into a few simple aspects,” content creator Leo Hwan explains to CNN.
According to Hwan, it has much more to do with the observer than the observed, who believes that a person’s physical characteristics define them, especially when talking about Asians and descendants.
“So she must be a nerd, she must be demure”, she exemplifies. “A man must have a small penis. Or else he must not be so ‘manly’. You build it around all these physical attributes,” he says.
Actress Jacqueline Sato has even seen many of these examples in cinema and TV, which make men have the same view of yellow women.
“They think we are submissive, that we are docile, but we are also hypersexualized. And at bedtime, there are ‘N’ fantasies that came from these movies, but that were constructed from a white man’s vision,” she describes.
Even if straight men haven’t watched these stereotypical movies, there’s something they probably watch in secrecy: pornographic websites. For you to have an idea, “Japanese” was the most searched keyword by men in 2019 on the Porn Hub website. In 2022, it ranked 2nd, according to the platform’s Year in Review report.
For Sato, there needs to be more roles for yellow people who break stereotypes, but this is a big battle that she herself fights as a professional in the field.
“As an actress, several times I’ve received some roles and had to say ‘so, this isn’t enough, let’s talk?’”, she explains. “There are people who welcome you very well, say: “Let’s do it, thank you”. But there are people who don’t want to, who prefer to keep it the way it is, even knowing that this will offend a portion of the population”.
“I have never dated a Jap”
If you have a friend who is Asian or of Asian descent (Japanese or otherwise), ask her if she has ever heard that phrase. The answer is unlikely to be no, and they are tired.
“It may seem silly to some people, but first of all, we’re not Japanese, we were born in Brazil, but there’s also the issue that it’s just for looks, you know?”, explains Jacqueline. “’I want to get one with these characteristics’. It’s not because it’s you, it’s not because, in fact, he found you interesting”.
But there are even worse stereotypes. The worst situation that Jacqueline has ever lived and that comes from the fetish for yellow women happened when she was only 12 years old. She was walking with her family, who were further along, and a group of guys approached her and asked: “Is it true that yours is crossed?”, referring to her private parts.
“As if the format were different, as if, because the eye is ‘more drawn’, it would be like this”, he reports. “But I walked fast, I went to stay with my family and I was scared. I thought, “What do you mean they think that?” and that marked me”.
Years later, she discovered that this type of comment was not an individual experience, it happened to several yellow women with whom she spoke afterwards. “There is a misogyny, there is a mixture of things and imaginary that are totally wrong about us”.
The Impact of K-Pop
East Asian pop culture has more and more fans. In the case of South Korea, the phenomenon even has a name: it is the hallyu, or Korean wave, in Portuguese. Worldwide, there are thousands of fans of K-pop artists and South Korean dramas who have already won important nominations and trophies at awards such as the Grammy, Emmy and Golden Globe.
For men, this popularity has helped push past all those movie and TV characters where they were portrayed in an emasculating way as the unlovable weirdo.
“I think I needed something like what K-pop did with regard to the representation of Asian men in Brazil when I was in high school,” says Leo Hwan.
Hwan says that he never followed the pattern of traditional masculinity, but that he would have adopted more the style of South Korean artists if he had had that reference at school. “Many of these K-pop groups also step outside what is expected of traditional masculinity, they are loved and desired for it, not in spite of it.”
But the content creator draws attention to the fact that, because they have not been desired for a long time and now have women fetishizing them, there are straight men who are taking advantage of girls.
“To a certain extent it is healthy, but we live in a sexist society”, he observes. “There are several cases of men being ‘scrotums’, and that’s where the machismo power dynamics come in”.
Hwan believes they are enjoying the moment, but says this “enjoyment” is not building their self-esteem, but “makeup” years of rejection.
“I have a very dear friend. Once we were at a party, in a bar in the Augusta region, here in São Paulo, and a girl arrived who was very interested in him”, he says.
They stayed, until the bars started to close and the group had to think of somewhere else to go. They suggested a Korean bar they frequented a lot, but Hwan’s friend didn’t want to go.
“He told me he didn’t want to go because he was afraid to get there and she’d leave him for another Asian”, he reports. “It’s not good for your self-esteem to think that a person can change you for anyone. This has already happened to him, it is not a gratuitous fear”.
“I think a lot of Asian men get into this to make up for shortcomings”, he reflects. “Relating with people who see you that way because of your appearance ultimately destroys your self-esteem.”
Fetish x Crush on your favorite artist
And what’s the fine line between having a crush on a K-pop idol and fetishizing Asians? According to Jacqueline Sato, the answer lies precisely in you admiring someone you know minimally.
“Is different. You’re talking about that artist, that actor. In a way you are already humanizing it, although you are liking the image he brings to the media, and not for who he is at home, because you don’t know, ”he says. “It already has a certain layer, it’s not this ‘shell’ on the outside”.
But when it doesn’t matter who the person is and you’re only interested in their physical characteristics, Sato says he leans towards the fetish: “The guy wants you because you look like something he’s already seen and liked, he’s horny, but he doesn’t know anything about it. you”, he describes.
Watch the video of the interviews with Jacqueline Sato and Leo Hwan:
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m Robert Neff, a professional writer and editor. I specialize in the entertainment section, providing up-to-date coverage on the latest developments in film, television and music. My work has been featured on World Stock Market and other prominent publications.
