Presentation: Under his eye: orientalism, stereotyping and the colonial gaze
As part of Women at Imperial Week 2022, the EDI Centre and Imperial As One invited besea.n (Britain's East and South East Asian Network) to come and speak about the misogyny faced by East and South East Asian (ESEA) women. Please note, this is a recording of the live presentation.
This presentation aims to foster a deeper understanding of the social problematic of 'racialised misogyny', particularly when it comes to women of East and South East Asian heritage. We will examine its roots in colonialism and imperialism, cover the concept of orientalism, and look at modern-day examples of where these issues occur in the media around us, including rehashed stereotypes in film, tv and advertising, as well as 'yellow fever' and the realm of dating apps. We will aim to connect the dots between problematic representation of ESEA women's bodies and temperaments, and real-life, often violent consequences.
Finally, we'll take a moment to celebrate some of the women-led solidarity movements that have sprung up in recent years, and what we can all do to challenge the system.
Presenter Bios:
Mai-Anh Peterson
Mai-Anh is a British Vietnamese, Hong-Kong-born Londoner-turned Edinburgher, currently living in Senegal. She is a co-founder of besea.n and a globalisation/localisation specialist. She has written for publications such as gal-dem, Bad Activist Collective and Shado magazine, as well as guesting on BBC Woman's Hour, covering topics of advocacy, anti-racism and ESEA community building. In her spare time, she enjoys butchering the Vietnamese language ('learning'), devouring #ESEAreads and sampling different #ESEAEats. You can find her on Instagram @maianhpeterson or on Twitter @mapeterson8.
King-Wey Hii-Ko
King-Wey is a British born, Chinese Malaysian Londoner who is passionate about fighting racial and gender based oppression, with a particular interest in how transformational justice can help us make the world a more empathetic place. Like her fellow besea.n-ers, she is committed to creating a safe and joyful environment, in which the ESEA community can thrive. She is also a member of the community group, ESEA Sisters.
Outside of community organising, King-Wey works as a florist and has her own business creating floral designs for events, shoots and installations. Her other activities include eating, cooking, sneaking in naps, (whilst) cuddling her dog Maggie, staying up till ungodly hours for no apparent reason, and pretending to be an extrovert when she’s really an introvert.
Resources from presentation
Bellebono, June. 2022. ‘“She-men”, “ladyboys” and “transvestites”: uncovering trans Southeast Asian archives.’ gal-dem.
https://gal-dem.com/trans-southeast-asian-women-archives/
Chang, Vicky. 2006. ‘Yellow Fever’, OC Weekly. https://www.ocweekly.com/yellow-fever-6403478/
Cho, Sumi K. 1997. ‘Converging Stereotypes in Racialised Sexual Harrassement: Where the model minority meets Suzie Wong.’ Journal of Gender, Race and Justice, 177, 212.
http://www.faculty.umb.edu/heike.schotten/readings/Cho,%20Racialized%20Sexual%20Harassment.pdf
Lee, Helena (ed.). East Side Voices: Essays celebrating East and Southeast Asian Identity in Britain. Sceptre, 2022.
Marsha, Alia. 2018. ‘What’s the Deal with Men’s Rights Activists and Asian Fetishes?’ VICE. https://www.vice.com/en/article/9kqqn3/whats-the-deal-with-mens-rights-activists-and-asian-fetishes
Park, Giboom. Not Your Yellow Fantasy. New Degree Press, 2020.
Shor, E., & Golriz, G. 2019. ‘Gender, race, and aggression in mainstream pornography.’ Archives of Sexual Behavior, 48(3), 739–751. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-018-1304-6
The Colour of Power 2021: https://thecolourofpower.com/
Woan, Sunny. 2008. ‘White Sexual Imperialism: A Theory of Asian Feminist Jurisprudence.’ Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice, Vol. 14, Issue 2, Article 5.
https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1243&context=crsj
Zheng, Robin. 2016. ‘Why Yellow Fever Isn’t Flattering: A Case Against Racial Fetishes.’ Journal of the American Philosophical Association, 400-419. https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/96D2F19F052E8A2625968037BE756FEA/S2053447716000257a.pdf/why_yellow_fever_isnt_flattering_a_case_against_racial_fetishes.pdf
Further resources and support
Britain’s East and South East Asian Network: https://www.besean.co.uk/
‘A non-profit, grassroots organisation founded by East and South East Asian (ESEA) women, whose mission is to promote fair and positive representation of ESEA people in the UK and tackle discrimination at all levels in our society.’
End Violence and Racism: https://www.evresea.com
‘The UK’s first nonprofit dedicated to addressing racism towards people of East and Southeast Asian heritage’.
Kanlungan: https://www.kanlungan.org.uk
‘Kanlungan is a registered charity consisting of several Filipino community organisations working closely together for the welfare and interests of the Filipino and other migrant communities in Britain.’
Southeast and East Asian Centre - SEEAC: https://www.seeac.org.uk
‘Southeast and East Asian Centre (SEEAC) is a welcoming home to the migrants, refugees and anyone of Southeast and East Asian heritage in the UK. Working especially with under-represented groups within. Community interest company (CIC) based in London’.
Stop Asian Hate UK: https://www.facebook.com/groups/sah.uk/
‘A group campaigning against violence and racist discrimination against East Asians, Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders living in the UK.’
Vietnamese Family Partnership: https://www.vietfp.org
‘A charity which supports the Vietnamese community in London and promotes wider understanding of Vietnamese culture.’
Vietnamese Mental Health Services: http://www.vmhs.org.uk
‘The Vietnamese Mental Health Project was established in 1989 to provide services to people from Vietnam with mental health difficulties and their families.’
Protection Approaches: https://protectionapproaches.org/
‘Protection Approaches was the first organisation in the UK working to address the diverse challenges of identity-based violence, from hate crime to violent extremism and genocide’
British Chinese Biz: https://msha.ke/britishchinesebiz/
‘Building a community for British Chinese Businesses’
British Chinese Project: http://www.bcproject.org/
‘The British Chinese Project aims to empower the UK Chinese community, making them aware of their democratic rights and responsibilities whilst ensuring the needs and interests of the community are heard at a political level’.
Asian Leadership Collective: https://asianleadership.co.uk
‘Champion the East and South East Asian (ESEA) community to strengthen their leadership approach, to leverage skills and knowledge to push through barriers for equal representation, especially within senior management and C-suite positions.’
Dear Asian Youth London: https://dearasianyouthlondon.carrd.co
‘A student-led, UK-based chapter of non-profit organisation Dear Asian Youth aiming to educate and empower British Asian youth and communities, to uplift the British Asian identity, and ultimately to fight our misrepresentation in mainstream media.’
