Section A04
Week 8
The Lee article “Teaching Justice and Living Peace: Body, Sexuality, and Religious Education in Asian American Communities” was definitely an interesting read, particularly in the context of my own experiences and observations as a queer Vietnamese-American. While there were parts of the article that I agreed with, there were also a number of things that bothered me. For one, though Lee never explicitly states it the article makes it seem as though Confucianism is a religion, which it is not - rather, it is a very influential philosophy that can still be seen in modern East (and some Southeast) Asian societies, in the treatment of women and the veneration of education, among other cultural practices. Secondly, though I realize this is likely outside of the writer’s own scope of knowledge, the fact that this is an article claiming to analyze the role of religion in Asian American spaces and specifically in the way sexuality is treated in those spaces, yet only chooses to focus on Christianity, is a disservice to the large population of religious non-Christian Asian Americans for whom religion plays a large role in their view of sexuality. Though the Christian church definitely is more obviously a factor in the lack of sex education within many communities, especially when it comes to female and non-heteronormative sexualities, and issues of gender and gender identity, it is also not the only religious influence that holds great weight in Asian American communities specifically. On a separate note, I’d also like to protest Lee’s interestingly uncritical treatment of homosexuality, being visibly out, and general openness of sexuality as being inherently Western, even though they really actually are not. Rather than expand on, say, the usage of “westernization” statements to de-legitimize the writings of queer, LGBT+, and feminist scholars and activists (or even just mention it), Lee just writes a blurb about how sexuality is affiliated with Western ideas and values and leaves it at that.
How can we as the next generation make sure that our communities (both as Asian Americans and as queer/LGBT+ Americans) are not mutually exclusive? And what are the ways in which we can make it easier for people to consolidate their religious, Asian, Asian American, and queer/LGBT+ identities?
How can we as the next generation make sure that our communities (both as Asian Americans and as queer/LGBT+ Americans) are not mutually exclusive? And what are the ways in which we can make it easier for people to consolidate their religious, Asian, Asian American, and queer/LGBT+ identities?
References:
References: Lee, B (2006). "Teaching Justice and Living Peace: Body, Sexuality, and Religious Education in Asian-American Communities". Religious Education.
Image Source:
Call for a Fully Inclusive Tet Parade Retrieved February , 2019, from https://www.glaad.org/tetparade
Smart critique!
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