Asian fetish
An Asian fetish is a strong sexual or romantic preference for people of Asian descent or heritage. The term usually refers to women specifically of East or Southeast Asian descent though may also include those of South Asian descent.
The origins of sexually "fetishizing" the people of Asia are unclear. Male Dutch colonists fetishised Southeast Asian women in the Dutch East Indies, on the basis of the darker skin and hair colour of the Indigenous women. Similar accounts were reported in other colonised territories such as British India, where it was common for English men to have Indian mistresses against a backdrop where Indian women were sexualised through what scholars describe as a typical colonial gaze and viewed as seductive, sensual and exotic. After World War II, Japanese women gained prominence in American beauty pageants, at a time when large numbers of Japanese war brides were entering the United States.
Targets of Asian fetish report a number of harms and psychological burdens as a result of being fetishized, such as anxiety and doubt about the motivations of those who display interest and difficulty asserting their individuality while being reduced to their race and gender.
The derogatory term yellow fever is sometimes used to describe the fetishization of East Asians and Southeast Asian men/women by non-Asians, as well as having a preference for dating or marrying men/women of East Asian and Southeast Asian origin. The usage of "yellow" stems from the color terminology for race that is sometimes applied to people of East Asian descent.
While this article and the underlying research largely focuses on heterosexual males with Asian fetish, Asian fetish can also be homosexual, directed at Asian men, and be held by people of all races who are not Asian.
History
Although there are multiple theories about the origin of the Asian fetish, it has been posited that modern Asian fetishism in the United States emerged in the aftermath of US-led wars in Asia.In the 1800s, after the opening of Japan by Matthew Perry, word began to spread in the United States about the seductive femininity of Asian women. Nationalistic fears that Asian women would seduce White men and destroy White families led to the passage of the Page Act of 1875, which prevented Chinese women from entering the United States. However, another purpose of the ban was to limit the reproduction of the Chinese working class in America.
As early as the 1920s, it was noticed that Dutch men preferred South East Asian women over Dutch women. When the Dutch East Indies was a colony of the Netherlands, a new beauty ideal was established, which ranked Indigenous women with light brown skin and lustrous black hair at the top. The American consul general to the Dutch East Indies remarked that, to the average man, a mixed-race woman in the colony was considered more attractive than a "pure" Dutch woman, because Dutch women's complexions were too pale.
After World War II, the U.S. military occupied Japan, and U.S. soldiers began to interact with Japanese women. Although the American military initially forbid relations with Japanese women; the U.S. servicemen were "enamored" by the femininity of Japanese women, and formed relationships with them anyway. There was a perception that Japanese women were superior to American women, and there was a widespread sentiment "that a Japanese woman's heart was twice as big as those of her American sisters".
In 1959, Akiko Kojima, a Japanese woman, became the first non-white woman to win the Miss Universe beauty pageant. That same year, Miyoshi Umeki, also a Japanese woman, won an Academy Award. This period marked the beginning of the phenomenon known as the "Oriental wave" – during which Asian women first gained prominence in Western media. The wave mainstreamed a stereotype of Asian femininity: slender, shy, and intelligent; yet also sexual.
Terminology and usage of yellow fever
A common term used for Asian fetishization is yellow fever. The term is used as a derogatory pun on the disease of the same name, comparing those with a fetish for East and Southeast Asians or "Orientals" to people who are infected with a disease. Yellow fever is used in Asian fetishization to refer to the color terminology of people of East Asian descent, because historically, persons of East Asian heritage have been described as "yellow people" based on the tone of their skin. Hwang argues that this phenomenon is caused by the stereotyping of Asians in Western society. The term yellow fever is analogous to the term jungle fever, a derogatory expression used for racial fetishism associated with dating between different races.Alexandra Mathieu notes of two different types of fetishism that deal with race: in racial fetishism, stereotypes associated with race become coveted reality with value placed on it instead of mere construction, which differs from sexual fetishism, where body part or object is fetishized or imbued with sexual associations and value. Association of behavior would be racial fetishism, whereas sexual association of characteristic look would be sexual fetishism.
Research on racial preferences
In 2007, a study using a sample of 400 Columbia University students at a speed dating event did not find evidence of a preference among White men for women of East Asian descent. The study found that most people preferred to date within their own race.A 2008 American study on female facial attractiveness with majority White participants found that White women's faces were rated most attractive. The study showed gradations of computer-generated racial mixes to the participants in increments of one-quarter. The top three rated faces were 100% White, 75% White 25% Black, and 75% White 25% Asian. To the researchers' surprise, Asian women's faces were rated significantly less attractive than White or Black faces in this study.
In 2012, a UK study found that Asian women were rated as more attractive than White and Black women. It was proposed that this was because Asian women's features were perceived as more feminine, which could explain the high rate of interracial marriages between Asian women and White men in the UK and US. A 2018 facial manipulation experiment conducted in Australia was consistent with these hypotheses, finding both Asian and White participants chose to reduce Asian women's "masculine" facial traits less than White women's, which the authors conclude suggests that Asian faces may be more feminine to begin with.
In contrast, a 2013 Australian study on facial attractiveness with Asian and White participants found that Asian and White women's faces were not different in attractiveness overall, although a slight own-race bias was observed. However, when rating composite faces, all participants rated the composite faces more highly and rated White women's composite faces the highest. In a follow-up experiment, the researchers found that there was no difference in Asian and White women's perceived facial femininity. Another study that same year which used a sample of 126,000 OkCupid users in the US, found that all races initiated chats with their own race the most. Another study that same year using a sample of 934,000 online daters in 20 US cities found that Asian women received the most messages on average, however, the authors also noted that own-race preference was the predominant trend. The authors noted that their results "contradict the popular belief that white men prefer Asian women over white women".
A 2015 study using a sample of 58,880 online daters in nine Western European countries found that non-Hispanic White women were the most preferred group of women by far, followed by Hispanic and then Asian women. This tendency surpassed own-race preference as the predominant trend.
A 2018 study using a sample of 187,000 online daters in 4 US cities found that Asian women were the most desired group of women.
While the perceived femininity and sexual capital of Asian women may depend on the population studied, Zheng argues that attraction is influenced significantly by culture, stating "sexualized stereotypes of Asian women contributes to an individual's sexually preferring them, even if that contribution is not obvious or accessible to introspection."
Effects of fetishization
Encounters with Asian fetishists are a familiar experience for many Asian-American women. Asian women may pick up on clues, such as a history of only dating Asians, even warning each other about potential hotspots for Asian fetishists. While several authors have complicated feelings about the subject, most express frustration at opinions from non-Asians that fetishization is a good thing, pointing out its negative aspects and deconstructing the harmful meanings it entails.Targets of Asian fetish report feeling depersonalized or homogenized, making them interchangeable with any other Asian woman. Depersonalization is particularly negative in a romantic context, where people want to be recognized as individuals. Depersonalization is a closely related concept to objectification. Some authors have written that the objectification of Asian women can lead to violence if the women are seen as objects rather than people.
Another reported harm of Asian fetishization is the feeling of being "othered", or conceived of outside mainstream norms. Possessing "exotic beauty", as opposed to just "beauty", carries the meaning that the type of beauty is necessarily linked to being Asian. If this is the case, one can only attain beauty by fulfilling stereotypes about Asians. The struggle to have sexuality, but not be defined by racial sexuality, becomes very complicated.
These feelings and the psychological burden they entail can persist even when romantic suitors hold no fetishistic intent. The possibility of an Asian fetish or an awareness of the concept can create anxiety and potentially discourage romantic pursuit.
Nonetheless, some Asian women may embrace certain stereotypes about Asians, such as intelligence and rising Asian economic power. Others may find advantage in wielding the sexual power it grants, creating strategies to turn the tables and exploit the men who are drawn by racialized femininity.
Some research has sought to determine how American culture might affect Asian-American body satisfaction. No clear consensus exists. In a meta-analysis of research, Asian-American women showed near-zero difference in average body satisfaction compared to White American women.