This week, Yahoo launched a beta service called Y! Live, a site that lets anyone with a webcam create their own live web video channel. On a lark, I decided to try it. I mean, what harm could it be, right? Not ten seconds after I started broadcasting, I had a few guests come into the chatroom. And as one might expect, one of them appeared to be a guy who wanted me to take off my clothes. But that’s not the hilariously offensive part. The part that really got me was when he actually told me to “do something Asian plz.” That’s when I started taking screenshots and then promptly left the channel:
This had me thinking. First of all, what the heck is he asking me to do? Eat rice? Do the peace sign? Giggle incessantly? What exactly is “doing something Asian”? Then I remembered to the first days of the dot-com era when I used to have an actual webcam, to display on my blog. Don’t ask me why; I was an innocent tech-curious girl who wanted to know what the hubbub was about. So I went to this random QuickCam site that was suggested with the software, and started to broadcast. Within minutes, if not seconds, I had people chatting me up with really crude pick-up lines. And almost all of them referred to me being Asian as one of the key points.
Of course, I’m not saying I’m unfamiliar with the idea of the Asian fetish. But it was still a shocking and surprising thing to someone who a) didn’t get a lot of flirtations in real life, and b) wasn’t used to being so readily stereotyped.
All of which led me to these questions: Do Asian women, just by the nature of being Asian, appear more submissive to people in general? Are we more coveted as sex objects compared to white women? The answers are probably “yes” but I would love to hear what people have to say about this, and what Asian women in particular have done to deal with this kind of stereotype.
PS. And yes, I know I was naive in expecting actual civility on the Internet with the webcam. My bad.
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a wrote:
White guys expect that Asian women will fall at their feet because they are “White Knights rescuing them from abusive Asian men” and kiss their toes…. or something more X rated that I can’t mention.
Alot of Asian women have fallen for that bull. They turn their backs on Asian guys because they say that they are dweeby. They in turn go after really geeky looking pasty faced white guys that look like they spend all day playing video games.
Posted on 09-Feb-08 at 7:16 am | Permalink
jozjozjoz wrote:
Ooh, baby, Nicole.
Please eat some rice…
Posted on 09-Feb-08 at 7:20 am | Permalink
Kent Brewster wrote:
Very sorry to hear it, Nicole.
And yet … I had a really cool experience with live.yahoo.com. Just poking around, and found some guy I didn’t know who had his Powerbook and an EVDO hookup in a Barack Obama rally in Seattle. By the time it was over we had something like 150 folks all together, watching and chatting with a remarkable degree of civility. Screenshots and impressions are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kentbrew/sets/72157603875312729/
I think Live — if it scales, and the right sort of community pathways form around it — is going to be a game-changer along the lines of YouTube.
Posted on 09-Feb-08 at 9:21 am | Permalink
Akrypti wrote:
Said to an Asian male, “do something Asian please” means “please just do as I order you to do without objection or complaint. Said to an Asian female, it means the same exact only, only with sexual implications.
Posted on 09-Feb-08 at 10:08 am | Permalink
Xxxtine wrote:
Ahahahahahah @ Joz …
That’s almost like saying, “Twirl you hair with chopsticks” - which I currently can’t because I’ve chopped most of my hair off now.
Do something Asian? … 1 + 1 = FU
Posted on 09-Feb-08 at 10:49 am | Permalink
yoshi wrote:
Ok, so I had this great comment in mind about how men and women are like this or that, but I can’t really talk about it without a lot of blabbering.
Anyways, what is doing something asian? it’s such a stereotypical thing. But the world is made up of stereotypes, so i guess we have to live with it. or do we?
Anyways, I think asian women are looked upon as submissive, only because of a stereotype and how it used to be. I know so many people who think they know so much about japan and japanese subculture, but they’ve never been to japan. Hmm something about that seems not right.
(bah i’m blabbering.)
Posted on 09-Feb-08 at 1:51 pm | Permalink
yoko wrote:
“Do something american plz” LOLZ.
I have no idea what “doing something Asian” would even entail, especially online. Bizarre.
Posted on 09-Feb-08 at 5:04 pm | Permalink
“Doing something Asian, huh?” Maybe he wants your Mom to call you up incessantly and ask if you’ve eaten yet.
For the record, I tried y!live tonight; like any social network with a high degree of anonymity, there’s a high degree of trolling, and I’m not a chick; best bet is to just make your account not searchable from the main page. I did that, IMed some friends and hilarity ensued, although I felt exhausted after a while - felt like I had to be “on” all the time.
Posted on 09-Feb-08 at 9:22 pm | Permalink
giap wrote:
It’s sad but a common observation that Asian woman, like every other human being enjoys, even basks in the glow of adoration. Imagine for a moment you were born into a certain minority group that thought it virtuous to be humble and hard working, not to look people in the eyes and a bunch of other commonalities we Asians feel represent us as an Asian people. Then picture suddenly you’ve bloomed into a young woman and are now the center of attention from hordes of testosterone- charged peckerwoods whose preconceived notions of Asian woman are the ones portrayed in the media. Now, these crackers are relentless because like all predictors, with dedication and hard work - especially when the word around town is it’s just that easy - it’s a sure thing. So, let’s be honest. Who doesn’t like fortitude and dedication ?
Posted on 10-Feb-08 at 1:14 am | Permalink
giap wrote:
giggle, say no, and then give in.
Posted on 10-Feb-08 at 1:26 am | Permalink
jozjozjoz wrote:
Oh yeah, baby…
Drink some tea, Nicole…
Ooh, that’s so hot!
Posted on 10-Feb-08 at 2:08 am | Permalink
Xxxtine wrote:
Joz … I want you to lick that Pocky stick … Lick it good.
Posted on 10-Feb-08 at 8:44 am | Permalink
jozjozjoz wrote:
bwahaha @ Xxxtine!
Oh, Xxxtine! You know how much I want to play with your Hello Kitty!
Posted on 10-Feb-08 at 6:41 pm | Permalink
Xxxtine wrote:
Joz,
I want you to Poke-your-mon.
Pwahahahahahaha!
Posted on 10-Feb-08 at 8:32 pm | Permalink
jozjozjoz wrote:
Xxxtine,
Please just let me have a bite of your won ton.
Please?!!?
Posted on 10-Feb-08 at 8:36 pm | Permalink
Xxxtine wrote:
Watch me have sex with Edison Chen … oh wait …
Posted on 10-Feb-08 at 8:42 pm | Permalink
Efren wrote:
Wait, can I have sex with Edison Chen?!!!
Posted on 11-Feb-08 at 12:47 am | Permalink
jozjozjoz wrote:
*waves a little white flag*
I give up, y’all!
I can’t top Edison Chen… oh wait…
Posted on 11-Feb-08 at 7:42 am | Permalink
Grace Chu wrote:
Forget the “do something asian plz” comment. The guy still supports Ron Paul, who is batshit crazy, and 99% of his (current) supporters are batshit crazy. Anyone who still supports Ron Paul after Paul was outed (around a month ago) for sending out racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic newsletters in the 1990s is a nutball. Anyway, I wouldn’t worry about what a nutball says online.
Posted on 11-Feb-08 at 9:19 am | Permalink
Jesse! wrote:
Eat some rice.
That would be sooooo hot.
Posted on 11-Feb-08 at 1:40 pm | Permalink
alienman wrote:
Hm, I’m wondering if he wasn’t just trying to offend you on purpose by saying things that he KNEW would offend you.
Posted on 11-Feb-08 at 1:47 pm | Permalink
Efren wrote:
joz: I’m sure you can top Edison Chen, just go to your local adult toy store…and you can figure out the rest…
Posted on 11-Feb-08 at 3:07 pm | Permalink
Burt wrote:
LOL! Somebody should make a video for youtube. Have “Bizarre Love Triangle” by New Order playing in the background - even more appropriate than any Barry White song.
Posted on 11-Feb-08 at 3:11 pm | Permalink
Xxxtine wrote:
Joz, you giving up already … that blows … oh wait …
Posted on 11-Feb-08 at 8:15 pm | Permalink
anonymous wrote:
I don’t mean to stereotype at all, but I’ve noticed a bit of a pattern here (and yes, I am an asian female).. I always see older white men with much younger asian women. Maybe some do it for the financial support? My friend (who is, like me, i in high school) was downtown once, and this 50-year-old white guy tried to take her out to lunch. Later on, she saw him walking with a very, very confused asian women.
I think one stereotype is that since there are so many asian women, asians are easy.
Posted on 12-Feb-08 at 7:29 pm | Permalink
Efren wrote:
Xxxtine: get joz’s picture from her most recent blog post, and get a suggestively placed pocky stick, and voila! joz blowing!
Posted on 15-Feb-08 at 12:20 am | Permalink
:: jozjozjoz :: wrote:
Yeah, Efi.
NO ONE wants to see that, I promise.
No one.
Posted on 15-Feb-08 at 12:00 pm | Permalink