Dangers of Purity Culture: The Sexualization of Asian & Asian American Women

I remember from a young age, being quite concerned about how men perceived me.

     It was freshman year of high school and I was talking to a boy I liked at the time. We were innocently discussing our interests. I mentioned that I liked photography. He mentioned that he loved anime. I mentioned that I had never seen it, prompting him to suggest that we should watch it together.

It also prompted him to mention that he “had a serious thing” for half-Asian girls. 

     It scares me to say this, but at the time, my initial reaction was not one of disgust, but of excitement. A guy was paying attention to me. My concern paid off in a way. But a sense of discomfort began to settle in my skin. I couldn’t move. This guy who I barely knew somehow had the power to control the conversation. To control me. And I felt I had no choice but to respond and move on.

“oh that’s cool. so what shows do u like?”

I later stopped talking to him altogether. He eventually dated one of the other four half-Asian girls in my grade. 

     It was right before freshman year of college. I was stuck in quarantine and decided that the best way to pass time was by talking to people on Tinder. No conversation really piqued my interest. Just a few exchanges of “hey! how r u” mixed with a couple of one-liners here and there. But then I got a notification that I received a new message that read:

“So what flavor of asian r u? Can I get a taste?”

I quickly deleted the app.

     I can’t help but think that these men see me as a means to an end. A method to fulfill some fantasy. A curiosity they feel they have the right to explore. That these men see me as a temptation.

     That’s how one 21-year-old, white, Georgian man put it. He found this “temptation” so consuming that he went to three different Asian spas in Atlanta, shooting eight people, six of whom were Asian women. He described himself to be battling a “sex addiction.” He is also part of a Southern Baptist Church and has been involved since a child. His Father holds a prominent position in the church as well.¹

     We will never be able to fully understand this man’s motive. We will never get an exact answer on what he meant when he described the “temptation” he felt and his “sex addiction.” But what we do know is that the concept of a sexual “temptation” is prevalent in our culture. That there is a preferred way to act, which is to be modest, moral, and pure. The concept of purity is pervasive in our culture, clear from the fact that many people have their own definitions of what purity is.

     One anonymous individual simply defined purity as “to not have any sexual relations at all.” Others found the concept of purity to be strongly tied to marriage and its effects on women, stating that “purity is not having sex before marriage as to save yourself for your future husband.” College student Nicholas Cloney elaborated on this sentiment, stating that with purity culture, “women are expected to ‘save themselves’ for marriage,” and that “sexual relationships prior to marriage somehow detract from the value they have.”

     Other people find that purity culture creates a more large-scale effect. Soleil Blanquera, a young woman who has dealt with the effects of purity culture many times in her life, stated that “purity to me means adhering to strict social standards, often in a religious context, which often surround virginity, homosexuality and gender stereotypes.” She continues, saying, “Many of the standards set in purity culture come from white, heterosexual, Christian ideals, like going to church to stay ‘pure’ and that if you have sex before marriage, God will punish you.”

     However, the influence of purity doesn’t just apply to stereotypes of virginity, homosexuality, and gender, but extends to racial stereotypes as well.

Think of some words associated with “purity.” Cleanliness. Naivety. Simplicity. Nativeness.

Whiteness.

     Asian identities and the bodies that are connected with them, like virtually all other non-white identities, are seen as foreign. Foreignness, in all aspects of our culture, has been seen as a threat in our country. Foreignness opposes tradition. Foreignness opposes American values. Foreignness is an inherent danger. But whiteness is not foreign. In America, whiteness is the standard, the ideal. And there has and will be a fight in this country to keep it as such.

     This fight has seen not just social, but legal influence. Many know of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. However, The Page Act, enacted seven years before pertains not just to limiting Chinese immigration, but “the immigration of any subject of China, Japan, or any Oriental country.”² However, unlike the Chinese Exclusion act, the Page Act targets and denounces Asian women, explicitly stating that “the importation into the United States of women for the purposes of prostitution is hereby forbidden,” a common stereotype for Asian women at the time.³ With no actual interest in verifying the real intent of these women, the effects of this law simultaneously generalized and scrutinized all Asian women.  

Then why are Asian and Asian American women now sexualized? Why are we fetishized?

     Because the sexualization of the female body trumps all that. A foreign female body isn’t a threat. A foreign female body and sexuality become inviting, appealing, attractive, exotic, and mysterious. Later in America’s history, with increased involvement in foreign affairs, and the creation of U.S. military bases in Asian countries, sexual interactions typically between white men and Asian women became commonplace.⁴ In combination with the growing acceptance of interracial romantic and sexual relationships, a larger, accepted, sexualization of Asian female bodies spread.

     The Asian female body’s appealing foreignness becomes subject to white expectations of physicality and its representation. Nothing makes this clearer than the copious amounts of terms for Asian women, such as “China Doll,” “Dragon Lady,” “Geisha Girls,” “Asian Baby Girl,” just to name a few. All of these terms relate to Asian women’s physical appearance and sexual appeal.

     University of Rochester student, Emily Chan, elaborates on these ideas, stating, “I think the idea of submissive Asians is absolutely the result of colonization interacting with Asian countries and the popularization of Asian wives being exotic things to bring back.” Blanquera adds, commenting that “[people] have this idea that Asian women are meeker and more subservient which fuel a lot of their fetishes.”

     These sentiments are proven by the stereotypes, embodying the idea that Asian women are small, cute, girlish, passive, and subservient. All traits which are commonly desirable to men. However, for women who don’t fit this mold, the concept of a “Dragon Lady” symbolizes the strong, dominant, yet sexually alluring woman. This binary traps us, and as Joey Lee states in his article on these terms, leaves us “without space for anything complex or human in the middle ground.”⁵ In the eyes of others, the perception of our identity is not that of a spectrum of individuality but is reduced to a binary. We become minimized and characterized.

     But no matter how female Asian bodies are sexualized, America’s deeply ingrained Christian teachings continue to reject the exploration and indulgence in sexuality. This condemnation creates conflict. And for many religious individuals, the inner conflict builds. And it often seeks a target.

     And that target is placed on our backs. Concepts of purity situate Asian female bodies in dehumanizing desirable positions while the surrounding culture simultaneously criticizes this sexualization. The cultural judgments which result from this duality act as judge, jury, and executioner.

     At a first glance, a comment looks like just a comment. An uncomfortable mentioning of preferences is chalked up to weird phrasing and a tinder message from a stranger doesn’t seem like that big of a deal. But to fully understand this issue, we can’t just take these actions at face value. We need to look at the sum of its parts. We need to realize the domino effect every comment or action or way of thinking has. And that it could be a comment one day

and an act of violence the next.  

References

1. “A Man Accused of Killing 8 in Atlanta Area Spa Shootings Pleads Guilty to 4 Deaths.” NPR. 2021.

2. United States Congress. “1875 Page Act,” Asian American Digital History Archive, 2021.

3. United States Congress. “1875 Page Act,” Asian American Digital History Archive, 2021.

4. Leong, Karen and Kuo, Karen. “U.S. Has a Long History of Violence Against Asian Women.” The Philadelphia Tribune, 2021.

5. Lee, Joey. “East Asian “China Doll” or “Dragon Lady”?.” Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections 3, 2018.

Bibliography

“A Man Accused of Killing 8 in Atlanta Area Spa Shootings Pleads Guilty to 4 Deaths.” NPR. 2021.

Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress. “An act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to the Chinese.”           General Records of the United States Government, 1789-1996.

Karla, Manpreet. “Purity Culture, American Imperialism and the Dehumanization of Asian Women.” Art of Citizentry,       2021.

Lim, Audrea. “The Alt-Right’s Asian Fetish.” The New York Times, 2018.

Lee, Joey. “East Asian “China Doll” or “Dragon Lady”?.” Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary                    Connections 3, 2018.

Ngu, Sarah. “How Purity Culture and Anti-Asian Racism Intersect in Some White Evangelical Circles.” NBC News,            2021.

Nguyen, Celeste. “Asian American Women Faculty: Stereotypes and Triumphs.” San Francisco: University of San              Francisco, 2016.

United States Congress. “1875 Page Act,” Asian American Digital History Archive, 2021.

Uyehara, Mari. “The Roots of the Atlanta Shooting Go Back to the First Law Restricting Immigration.” The Nation,            2021.

Leong, Karen and Kuo, Karen. “U.S. Has a Long History of Violence Against Asian Women.” The Philadelphia                    Tribune, 2021.