Asian American Sexual Politics: The Construction of Race, Gender, and Sexuality

(Paperback)

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Asian American Sexual Politics explores the topics of beauty, self-esteem, and sexual attraction among Asian Americans. The book draws on sixty in-depth interviews to show how constructions of Asian American gender and sexuality tend to reinforce the social and political dominance for whites, particularly white males, even in the supposed post-racial United States.

Drawing on established scholarship on the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality, Asian American Sexual Politics shows how power dynamics shape the lives of young Asian Americans today. Asian American women are often constructed as hyper-sexual docile bodies, while Asian American men are often racially castrated. The books interview excerpts show the range of frames through which Asian Americans approach the world, as well as the counter-frames they construct. In the final chapter, author Rosalind S. Chou offers strategies for countering racialized and sexualized oppression.

This provocative book shows how persistent racism affects Asian American body image, self-esteem, and intimate relationships.

Reviews

Bravo! In a highly original analysis Rosalind Chou demonstrates that the hypersexualization of Asian American women and men links closely to white racial framing and domination. Asian American men face racialized castration, women exoticized sexualizationin both cases sustaining dominant images of white male superiority and virility while doing much damage to the self-esteem and health of Asian Americans. Significantly too, Chou concludes with a savvy assessment of Asian Americans coping and countering strategies for racialized and sexualized oppression. -- Joe R. Feagin, Texas A&M University
While a vibrant theoretical literature exists on the intersectionality of race, gender, and sexuality, little has been written about how individuals encounter and reflect on the connection between these forms of difference. Rosalind Chous provocative study fills this void. Drawing upon the lived experiences of her Asian American respondents, she demonstrates the persistence of white hegemonic notions of race, femininity, and masculinity, and the difficulty of developing counter frames to oppressive discourses. -- Michael Omi, University of California, Berkeley
Basing her book on qualitative research she conducted with more than 60 Asian American women and men, sociologist Chou (Georgia State Univ.) examines various facets of Asian American sexuality. Chapters discuss key theoretical concepts, how internal home-culture factors influence the construction of gender and sexuality within the lives of the author's informants, and the role of external mainstream institutionsincluding the media, schools, and peer groupsin the development of gendered and racialized stereotypes. Separate chapters use informant interviews to describe the experiences of Asian American women and men. Another section discusses how gendered and racialized stereotypes influence the dating experiences of the author's informants. Chou concludes with an assessment of strategies that may be useful for Asian American men and women to combat stereotypes held by those internal and external to their communities. This book will be of the strongest interest to students and scholars of gender studies, Asian American studies, and ethnic studies, especially those familiar with the theory and terminology associated with critical race and gender theory in the social sciences. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries. * Choice Reviews *

Author Bio

Rosalind S. Chou is assistant professor of sociology at Georgia State University. She is the coauthor of The Myth of the Model Minority: Asian Americans Facing Racism with Joe R. Feagin.