Stereotypes of East Asians in the United States
Stereotypes of East Asians in the United States are ethnic stereotypes found in American society about first-generation immigrants and their American-born descendants and citizenry with East Asian ancestry or whose family members who recently emigrated to the United States from East Asia, as well as members of the Chinese diaspora whose family members emigrated from Southeast Asian countries. Stereotypes of East Asians, analogous to other ethnic and racial stereotypes, are often erroneously misunderstood and negatively portrayed in American mainstream media, cinema, music, television, literature, video games, internet, as well as in other forms of creative expression in American culture and society. Many of these commonly generalized stereotypes are largely correlative to those that are also found in other Anglosphere countries, such as in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, as entertainment and mass media are often closely interlinked between them.
Largely and collectively, these stereotypes have been internalized by society and in daily interactions, current events, and government legislation, their repercussions for Americans or immigrants of East Asian ancestry are mainly negative. Media portrayals of East Asians often reflect an Americentric perception rather than authentic depictions of East Asian cultures, customs, traditions, and behaviors. East Asian Americans have experienced discrimination and have been victims of bullying and hate crimes related to their ethnic stereotypes, as it has been used to reinforce xenophobic sentiments. Notable fictional stereotypes include Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan, which respectively represents a threatening, mysterious East Asian character as well as an apologetic, submissive, "good" East Asian character.
East Asian American men are often stereotyped as physically unattractive and lacking social skills. This contrasts with the common view of East Asian women being perceived as highly desirable relative to their white female counterparts, which often manifests itself in the form of the Asian fetish, which has been influenced by their portrayals as hyper-feminine "Lotus Blossom Babies", "China dolls", "Geisha girls", and war brides. In media, East Asian women may be stereotyped as exceptionally feminine and delicate "Lotus Blossoms", or as Dragon Ladies, while East Asian men are often stereotyped as sexless or nerdy.
East Asian mothers are also stereotyped as tiger moms, who are excessively concerned with their child's academic performance. This is stereotypically associated with high academic achievement and above-average socioeconomic success in American society.
Exclusion or hostility
Yellow Peril
The term "Yellow Peril" refers to white apprehension in the core Anglosphere countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States, first peaking in the late 19th-century. Such perilism stems from a claim that whites would be "displaced" by a "massive influx of East Asians"; who would fill the nation with a "foreign culture" and "speech incomprehensible" to those already there and "steal jobs away from the European inhabitants" and that they would eventually "take over and destroy their civilization, ways of life, culture and values."The term has also referred to the belief and fear that East Asian societies would "invade and attack" Western societies, "wage war with them" and lead to their "eventual destruction, demise and eradication." During this time, numerous anti-Asian sentiments were expressed by politicians and writers, especially on the West Coast, with headlines like "The 'Yellow Peril'" and "Conference Endorses Chinese Exclusion" and the later Japanese Exclusion Act. The American Immigration Act of 1924 limited the number of Asians because they were considered an "undesirable" race.
Laws in other Anglosphere countries
Australia had similar fears and introduced a White Australia policy, restricting immigration between 1901 and 1973, with some elements of the policies persisting up until the 1980s. On February 12, 2002, Helen Clark, then prime minister of New Zealand apologized "to those Chinese people who had paid the poll tax and suffered other discrimination, and to their descendants". She also stated that Cabinet had authorized her and the Minister for Ethnic Affairs to pursue with representatives of the families of the early settlers a form of reconciliation which would be appropriate to and of benefit to the Chinese community.Similarly, Canada had in place a head tax on Chinese immigrants to Canada in the early 20th century; a formal government apology was given in 2007.
Perpetual foreigner
As of circa 2004-2007, there is a widespread perception that East Asians are not considered genuine Americans but are instead "perpetual foreigners". Circa 2003 Asian Americans often report being asked the question, "Where are you really from?" by other Americans, regardless of how long they or their ancestors have lived in United States and been a part of its society.As of circa 1997-1999, East Asian Americans have been perceived, treated, and portrayed by many in American society as "perpetual" foreigners who are unable to be assimilated and inherently foreign regardless of citizenship or duration of residence in the United States. A similar view had been advanced circa 2010 by Ling-chi Wang, professor emeritus of Asian American studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Wang asserts that mainstream media coverage of Asian communities in the United States has always been "miserable". He stated, "In mainstream media's and policymakers' eyes, Asian Americans don't exist. They are not on their radar... and it's the same for politics."
File:Starring Mickey Rooney.jpg|thumb|300px|The introduction of Mickey Rooney's performance of I. Y. Yunioshi in the theatrical trailer for Breakfast at Tiffany's
I. Y. Yunioshi from Blake Edwards' 1961 American romantic-comedy Breakfast at Tiffany's is one such example which had been broadly criticized by mainstream publications. In 1961, The New York Times review said that "Mickey Rooney's bucktoothed, myopic Japanese is broadly exotic." In 1990, The Boston Globe criticized Rooney's portrayal as "an irascible bucktoothed nerd and an offensive ethnic caricature". Critics note that the character of Mr. Yunioshi reinforced anti-Japanese wartime propaganda to further exclude Japanese Americans from being treated as normal citizens, rather than hated caricatures.
A 2006 study by UCLA researchers for the Asian American Justice Center, Asian Pacific Americans in Prime Time, found that Asian-American actors were underrepresented on network TV. While Asian-Americans make up 5 percent of the US population, the report found only 2.6 percent were primetime TV regulars. Shows set in cities with significant Asian populations, like New York and Los Angeles, had few East Asian roles. The lack of East Asian representation in American film and theater supports the argument that they are still perceived as foreigners.
East Asian women
East Asian women have long been fetishized as highly desirable by white men, and studies have shown that they are the most desired women in the Western world, and are considered the most physically attractive.Some scholars believe that modern stereotypes of Asian women's sexuality may trace their roots to European colonialism and overseas military intervention. Overseas soldiers saw East and Southeast Asian women as physically and sexually superior to white women. East Asian women were stereotyped as extremely seductive and sinister, and this stereotype was so alarming that nationalist politicians sought to ban Asian women from entering the United States. The 1875 Page Act was passed, banning Chinese women from entering the United States, to prevent married white men from falling to the temptation to cheat on their wives with Asian women.
During the occupation of Japan by the U.S. military, American soldiers came to view Japanese women as superior to American women. Among U.S. soldiers, it was said that the heart of a Japanese woman was "twice as big" as an American woman's; reflecting the stereotype that Asian women are more feminine than Western women.
Food
Food from Chinese restaurants in the United States is often claimed to be unsafe due to contamination of Chinese-imported food or the use of monosodium glutamate, the latter of which putatively causes a condition known as Chinese restaurant syndrome, and food scares in China often receive heightened attention in Western media. Asians are also stereotyped as eating animals unusual for consumption in the US such as cats and dogs, or even stealing pets for consumption, despite the declining consumption in China. This notion was amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic, with US Senator John Cornyn characterizing the country in March 2020 as "a culture where people eat bats and snakes and dogs and things like that".Model minority
East Asians in the United States have been stereotyped as a "model minority"; where as a collective group have achieved an above average socioeconomic performance and standing compared to other ethno-racial groups in United States while possessing positive traits such as being seen as being conscientious, industrious, disciplined, persistent, driven, studious, and intelligent people who have elevated their socioeconomic status through merit, persistence, tenacity, self-discipline, drive, and diligence. The model minority construct is typically measured by their above average levels of educational attainment, representation in white-collar professional and managerial occupations, and household incomes relative to other ethno-racial groups in the United States.Generalized statistics and positive socioeconomic indicators of East Asian Americans are often cited to back up the model minority image include the high likelihoods and probabilities of East Asian Americans of getting into an elite American university in addition to possessing above average educational qualifications and attainment rates, high representation in professional occupations such as academia, financial services, high technology, law, management consulting, and medicine, coupled with a higher household income than other racial groups in the United States. East Asians are most often perceived to achieve a higher degree of socioeconomic success than the U.S. population average. As well, other socioeconomic indicators are used to support this argument, such as low poverty rates, low crime rates, low illegitimacy rates, low rates of welfare dependency, and lower divorce rates coupled with higher family stability. However, though East Asian Americans have a higher median income than most other ethno-racial in the United States, they also have a larger income gap than any other ethno-racial group. However, the indicators fail to reflect the diversity of the East Asian community as a whole. According to a report for the Ascend Foundation, whilst the probability of East Asians getting hired for high-tech employment opportunities is high, East Asian Americans as a collective racial group also have the lowest probability of earning a management promotion while climbing the ladders of corporate America. This is also reflected in the under representation of Asian American lawyers in leadership and management roles.