The Problem with WAP – White American Peril
by DAISY THOMAS
Last week the country was once again rocked by shocking violence when 21-year-old white supremacist Robert Aaron Long murdered eight people in Atlanta, six of whom women of Asian descent. While the murderer has claimed his attacks weren’t racially motivated, his claims of “sex addiction” clearly indicates they were sexually motivated; but to ignore one without addressing the other does not serve anyone, as the two are inexplicably interwoven and have very deep roots in American culture.
Last year’s rise of people taking to the streets to express their outrage over power and economic imbalances, injustices suffered by melanated, disabled, or non-conforming bodies, and the continued and increasing control of a woman’s ultimate humanity. The sharp increase in Asian-American hate crimes sweeping the nation throughout the novel coronavirus pandemic has drawn international news. The realization that current hate crime laws simply do not address racism as many minorities experience it, prompted many Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities to join forces to provide protection for their local elderly, many of whom have been targeted by physical violence. After this latest atrocity where eight lives were ruthlessly taken for pure selfishness’ sake, a long needed spotlight on the sexual violence as experienced by the AAPI communities adds to the ever present and ever growing abuses women endure, both within and outside of their communities.
As with all minority women subjugated to man’s desires for the “other,” AAPI women are often depicted as exotic and either as sexual dominants or docile and subservient, which may indicate the high percentage of such women who experience intimate partner sexual violence, many of whom too afraid to seek justice or health and mental care, an issue long a problem in many ethnic communities. State Senator Jani Iwamoto (D-Salt Lake) recently spoke with KUER stating, “We don’t have statistical reports of it but a lot of people are scared to come forward. That’s very important — that we make sure that people come forward and report these things so that we can address it.”
But coming forward after being victimized, especially with any co-existing legality issues — human trafficking violence, residency status, financial desperation, and/or dependence (and dependents,) on top of systemic power imbalances, makes it not only difficult to do even in the healthiest state of mind, let alone after being traumatized. Unfortunately, because of the myriad of intersecting problems, many find coming forward ultimately pointless. Women, regardless of racial or economic status, understand that their reputations, not their victimizer, are at risk — futures potentially permanently sullied, dishonor culturally shaming them, and a broken legal system that often leaves one full of dread, drowning in legal, medical, and therapy bills, and sorely lacking any real closure.
When it comes to sexual violence and assault, when it’s one’s word against another’s, especially if that person’s status is in any way above her own and/or can affect her personal and economic safety, the hassle of possible justice may not be worth the risk of seeking it, leading many abusers to continue ruining or damaging the lives of others. Thus our rape culture cycle of violence continues.
Asian women, like other groups of women, have long been stereotyped and categorized into a handful of tropes for cishet male pleasure: the studious bookworm, destined for a laboratory, the medical field, or tech; the Lolita / schoolgirl / barely legal (a gross term at best) innocent fantasy anime hottie to dominate, punish, and control; and the dragon lady, a natural sexpert ready to whip one into submission some ancient Far East secret mind-blowing technique. There’s probably more, but they all revolve around the same idea; fulfilling a male fantasy with little care or attention to anything beyond the superficial, even the person behind the character.
The increased international popularity of Asian entertainment and culture has led to more folks discovering non-Western history, sociopolitical structure and thought. The hyper connectivity of the Internet and social media leading to amazing innovations and the kind of globalization that can better mankind. But such characterizations of Asian women remain entrenched in a long held traditionof dehumanization and depersonalization, as yet another novelty or “thing” to be had.
Raping and pillaging have existed at least as far back as groups, clans, and tribes have clashed, as a common tactic and reward for conquest, in nearly all cultures. America’s jingoistic history is steeped in such acts; from pre-Colonial rape and genocide of millions of indigenous peoples to modern wartime behavior, seeking pleasure and gratification while fearing being erased themselves. American GIs have long been stationed overseas, most notably in Asian and Pacific Island nations, enjoying the local culture as allowed — often when permission was neither sought nor granted. Asian women have “serviced” our soldiers since World War I, many if not all of whom were forced into these sex slave roles, sometimes as children.
Americans weren’t/aren’t the only soldiers to receive such benefits during war; sexual slavery has existed amongst governments at war for ages, and while China has expressed “deepconcern” over violence that Asian Americans are currently facing, they may want to express such concern regarding allegations of their own sexual abuses — pot meets kettle, and all that.
The dismissal and denigration of women has long warped our perceptions of ourselves, one another, and our potential. Perhaps with the recent reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, a world watching our responses as we try to regain our international standing, paying close attention to policy implementation actions or lack thereof, to the increased public awareness and outrage over many of the issues our communities have been raising, we will finally see these disparate power structures begin to crumble.