Secret Asian Man: Not So Secret But Often Ignored?

Jason Luong
Section A01
In response to : Secret Asian Man by Tak Toyoshima

When I first saw this in the list of readings, I felt somewhat glad. I am actually familiar with Toyoshima's work so, while reading these samples of A Secret Man, I didn't encounter any surprising turn of events in these comic strips. While the topics addressed in some of these panels may come off as sarcastic and cynical of the Asian American experience and dilemma, I found that Toyoshima is actually revealing, in a modern generalization of Asian American youth, who Asian Americans are in today's society. Sure, he is poking fun at many of the Asian stereotypes that have plagued the pan-ethnic community for decades and centuries, but, with his methods, he is disproving them. I recall this process as being coined reverse-stereotyping. This term refers to creating new, hopefully positive stereotypes that counter the old, assumedly negative stereotypes. Overall, I see A Secret Man as a presentation as to the challenges this generation of Asian Americans must face during the age of modern globalization.

Angry Mother

In Response to: Angry  Little Asian Girl

     I absolutely love Angry Little Girls. The selected comics display the relationship between her and her mother. Her mother is always angry and unsatisfied. This is a typical relationship between an Asian child and his or her parent. The Asian parent is never happy with their child. They always expect more and never compliment or praise their child. They have are not sensitive to their child's feeling and bluntly say mean things, in this comic strip the mother says, "You ugly. That why you have no friend." I honestly think Asian parents are not that mean. The Angry Little Girl's mother is always nagging saying, "Blah Blah Blah" implying Asian parents will complain about anything and everything. I do see these characteristics of the mother in many Asian parents. I cannot say I see it with my parents, but I do agree I see these qualities with my friends parents. Actually, My grandparents are very similar with this angry mother. i would like to point out that the simple drawing of the mother is very identical to the typical Asian mother look: a scowling face and short permed hair. This comic is a very simple way of describing the interaction between an Asian child and the parent.

Claudia Chang
ASA 02 Sec a01

Meaning of Being Masculine

In response to "Threatening Men: Defining Filipino American Masculinity" by Kandice Chuh.

In this article, author Kandice Chuh talks about how Filipino men had to prove that they were masculine enough or do more to receive the same amount of respect. In the military, a man had served five years of service fighting for the United States, but this was questioned because it did not seem enough to grant him U.S. citizenship.

The article also talks about a novel in which the main character is Filipino. He goes through childhood and grows up learning about what it means to be Filipino American and also the idea of Filipino American masculinity. It also talks about how a white woman is symbolic for white masculinity because a desire for white women could mean the desire for American masculinity.

It seems to me that masculinity has been racially separated as well. It’s surprising that such an abstract concept could be racially determined. There is no difference between the supposedly “Filipino American masculinity” and the “American masculinity”, which really meant “white masculinity”. However, these men are conditioned by society to believe that there is a difference. 

Xishan (Lucy) Ye

Section A02

blog #10

Kimberly Hwang
Section A01
June 2, 2013
Reading: "Secret Asian Man" by Tak Toyoshima

Asian People Humor

This comic turns Asian stereotypes into funny cartoons. It's creative how the writer satirically portrays Asian American issues. My favorite one was the one where the grandpa asks the asian boy where he is from. Although he is Asian he identifies himself as American and doesn't understand what the question really intended. I also liked the one wear Asian men are seen to be at the bottom of the food chain whereas white, African-American, or Latino men are portrayed to be more masculine and dominant. It is interesting how all the common stereotypes for Asian men are negative from their physical appearance to how they are perceived to be mentally. This is often true because Asian men are stereotyped as unattractive and super smart, overachievers. I enjoyed reading this comic because as an Asian American these issues are relatable.
Question: What are some prejudices that women of color face?

Asian Stereotypes in Comic Strips! = Funny

Andy Wang

Reading Reflection 10

In response to Secret Asian Man by Tak Toyoshima

When I first saw this article I was surprised that it was not an article but a comic strip. I love reading comic strips because I find a lot of the humor ones to be funny. In this comic strip I was entertained by all the Asian stereotype that were listed. It included Asians as martial artists and how most Asians will not get main roles in movies other than martial art movies. It even points to the A&F controversy. I know, the controversy does sound racist but it did feature an Asian as a model! Like you do not usually see Asian male models in big companies and I have never seen one in my life. The skits I find really funny are the ones about romance. Asians will never be the top of the food chain because white people, black people, and even Latinos are all above Asians since they all have something that can arouse women. While Asians are the geeks, nerds, bad drivers, shifty eye, and the small --->. That made me angry but it did point all the stereotypes in one picture. 

Christianity and Korea

A Response to "The Structure and Social Functions of Korean Immigrant Churches in the United States"

by: Jonathan "Prince" Garcia

Korean immigrants coming to America, often found themselves in a new place where they did not know the culture or the language, like many other immigrant groups. The article describes how the Korean churches throughout America provided basic services to those immigrants in need. The positive thing that came from the assistance of the churches was that many of the immigrants were able to assimilate to the new American way of life, while still being able to hold onto what their cultural roots are. Ethnicity within the Korean churches was also key because it provided examples of how Christianity had been made to be adapted to numerous other cultures. Social status and mobility upwards was also key because many of the Korean immigrants were from well-to-do families who sought to continue that sort of lifestyle in America. Being that I am a Christian and also begrudgingly American, I believe that religious institutions should help provide services to immigrants so that they can better assimilate into the culture, while still being able to hold on to their culture and beliefs. 

Question: In what ways do Korean immigrants change their lives in order to assimilate within American society and culture? 

Leigh Hiura
Reading: Threatening Men: Defining Filipino American Masculinity

I really do not understand what was going on in the minds of Americans in the past. I never understood why they thought it was okay to segregate people based on their skin color and like with this article, why Filipino men could be considered a threat just because some American girls may find them attractive. So what. I do not understand the past. However, it is a bit similar to now with gay marriage. I personally support it and believe that anyone should be able to get married to whomever they want, but people think it is wrong and it should not happen. I do not understand this either. Why can’t we just let everyone be equal. Not “equal” but truly equal in the sense that we are not threatened by someone else’s masculinity or who they love. It should not be a big deal and I do not think those who try to make it a big deal are right. Maybe we should feel threatened if someone, and it could be anyone of any color, is smarter than you and you are competing against them for a job or something but that is different because it won’t be based on race, it will be based on ability. With ability you can change, you can work harder, put in more hours and I understand that. With race though, what do you do? That is my question. Why would you feel threatened by something you cannot change and by something that should not make a difference?

Trying to be Outspoken

Sharon Hong

In the article “Secret Asian Man” by Tak Toyoshima, I read some of the Asian stereotypes that were shown throughout movies and society. In the screen, Asian Americans are never portrayed the way they are in real life. Usually, Asian Americans are shown for humor and to ridicule how white people see them as. These stereotypes will constantly keep going at the rate these movies keep showing these stereotypical images. Even though we, as Asian Americans, try to oppress this attitude, there is nothing that can be done when people with power keep striving to put Asian American down. My question is how long will it take for Asian Americans to be in power? How can people stop stereotypes? These stereotypes that media keeps portraying are the reasons why people judge us Asian Americans before getting to know us. There are so many discrimination and racial assault that there must be something done now. I hope people will be more understanding of Asian Americans later on and stop having the mindset of some people being minorities. Everyone deserves their rights and hope that the Secret Asian Man will become more outspoken about how Asian Americans actually feel, and how wrong the media portrays them as. As Asian Americans, we should not be as passive as we were taught to, but gain our rights through speaking out and saying what is wrong and not.

Secret Asian Man

I thought this article was interesting in how most of the comic strips talked about Asian stereotypes in Hollywood and society using sarcasm and humor. Very rarely do you ever see a film that stars all Asian actors that isn't about martial arts, and rarely do you see an Asian actor as a romantic interest for women actors in films. Secret Asian Man talks about all these things, and is a reflection of how most Asian Americans feel about these issues. He calls out these issues directly, which is very unlike Asian Americans and the myth of the model minority, where Asians are known to keep their thoughts and opinions to themselves. The Secret Asian Man somewhat idealizes Asian American ideas, while at the same time combining these ideas into an entity Asian Americans should strive to become like. How can Asian Americans become more outspoken about their ideas, like the Secret Asian Man?

- Timothy Huynh

Section A01

Reflection #10: Threatening Men: Defining Filipino American Masculinity

Wingyan Yuen
Section A01
Reading: "Threatening Men: Defining Filipino American Masculinity" by Kandice Chuh

In "Threatening Men," Chuh examines the role of Filipino American men in today's society. It also describes the need for Filipino Americans to prove their masculinity. Some does so by marrying a white woman, some does so by going the extreme. Because America is a society that inclined to embrace heterosexuality.

Filipino men feel the need to go the extra mile and prove their masculinity in order to fit in. They often see white woman as a symbol of assurance. That if they can marry a white woman, they are entitle to what a white man has: equality and to be treated like a normal American.

Double Lives in America

Reading Gina Masequesmay's article "Emergence of Queen Vietnamese America" was a huge eye opener towards the LGBTQ situation in the Asian community. Heteronormativity is the idea that our society favors opposite sex relationships and everything else is considered "not normal". The idea of heteronormativity combined with many Asian American's parents to "carry on the family name" aka have grandchildren that will have the same last name. Masequesmay talks about the difficulty of many Viet-Americans having to live double lives. With their family, they must hide their true identity to avoid being shunned by the family. However, when away from family, their true identity comes out. I understand how difficult it is to live double lives. Like Masequesmay said in the article, immigrant lives are heterosexualized and traditionally gendered. When an immigrant comes out, they are often shunned by those in their native community as well as their American community. It angers me to see this happen, and I am hopeful that changes in the idea of heteronormativity in our society will be eliminated, but only time will tell. Will LGBTQ immigrants be able to, one day, come out without the fear of being shunned by their community and families?

Austin Yu

Section A01

Emergence of Gay & Lesbian in America

Sarak Ouch
Week 10

The article “Emergence of Queer Vietnamese America” was a very interesting article that covered the gay an lesbian community of Vietnamese Americans. I thought that Michelle brought up a great point that she was so caught up in building a successful feature that it never occurred to her that she may have been gay. She was focused on a higher education and was trying to pursue her masters degree. She mentioned that growing up poor made her look to education as a way out of poverty. While doing this, she neglected and suppressed her sexual preference. It was not until she was older that she was able to have stability in her life and explore her sexuality. I believe that she may have waited this long until she found success in herself because she had the freedom to do whatever she please in life when she hit a certain age. I think that in life when we hit a certain point in our life , we then become open in our choices and soon we don’t care about what people have to say about us. Being gay and a minority has many obstacles to overcome because today we are still fighting for the right for equal marriage and as well as equal treatment for minorities.

Reading Reflections #10: LGBQT the New Black?

In response to “Emergence of Queer Vietnamese America” by Masequesmay

            As a strong supporter of LGBQT rights, this article made me a little mad but, also very hopeful. The fact that Vietnamese people who identify as LGBQT are starting to come out and that they have a place to go to for support is great. They don’t have to hide their sexual desires for family obligations or conform to social expectations.

            But in the meantime, there are still too many obstacles. For one, people, Asians especially, just don’t talk about sex. Sex is taboo or it’s just for the bedroom. Well, I think that’s really dumb. Sex is arguably the most natural thing we do. After all, the main goal for any animal is to survive and reproduce. Everybody knows about it. Most people enjoy it. So, why is it so taboo?

Another obstacle is stupid filial piety and family obligations. For all my life my parents have made it very obvious to myself and my brothers that we are to get married and have children. I can’t imagine this being very different for any other Asian person. With all these expectations and pressure, how could an obedient child be gay or lesbian? That’s like stabbing your parents in the heart and expecting them to forgive you.

There’s also the social stigma and hardships that comes with being LGBQT. Why are members of this community constantly denied basic human rights? In a lot of ways they’re kind of replacing US’s problem of racial diversity. America’s already discriminated against every single non-white race, so why not turn on the LGBQT community? You can’t get married or adopt children. You can’t visit your significant other if he/she is lying in the hospital moments away from death. All just because some powerful white men say you can’t. I’d continue but that’s a rant for another time.

Anyway, I’m really glad that these women have finally gotten a chance to be their true selves. Hopefully, in the years to come, more people will find the courage to come out to their families and communities. And maybe they won't be treated as lesser humans. After all people in the LGBQT community are just amazing. This woman included.

Do you think the LGBQT “problem” is replacing US’s problem with racial diversity? Have members of the LGBQT become the new “black”?

What other obstacles are there keeping Asians from coming out as LGBQT?

Aren’t you glad we are done with blog posts?

Linda Wei

Section A01

discrimination happens everywhere

Ka Pou Sin

Blog Entry for Week 10 

The different scenarios in the article “Secret Asian Man” by Tak Toyoshima, show the different thoughts about discrimination towards Asians in American Society. We are not truly accepted, we are not included and we are not mentioned. We are not seen on the screen, we are seen as nerdy and geeky people and we are categorized as an Asian-American even though we are American. Why must Asians be looked down on? The general public and society discriminates us and neglect us from the group. We try to fight back, like the scene of “Hypocritical Adventures of the Conveniently Oppressed” in the article; however, we can’t. Even though we try to, the high positions in the job fields are whites or maybe even other races. Therefore, they use that to pressure us and oppress us and try to force us into giving the thought of rebelling because the consequence of it is losing the income for living. 

Reading Reflection #9: Why I Love My Strict Chinese Mom

Wingyan Yuen
Section A01
Reading: "Why I Love My Strict Chinese Mom" by Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld

Chua-Rebenfeld wrote this response to Amy Chua's "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior" at the age of 18. The age a little girl starting to gain a sense of self-awareness. In this response letter, Chua-Rebefeld thanks her mother for pushing her to achieve her fullest.

She dismisses critics to her mother by stating that others do not understand what really goes on in the family. After reading her response, I get the sense that Chua-Rebenfeld is a teenager with independent mind and also great gratitude towards her parents, which most teenagers do not have today. After reading both "Why I Love My Strict Chinese Mom" and "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior" by Amy Chua, I am now a fan of the "tiger mom method," which is not about pushing one's kids to get As and awards, but is about pushing their limits.



Question: Do you think Chua-Rebenfeld really benefits the most from her mother's teaching method?

Reading Reflection #8: Creating Identity

Wingyan Yuen
Section A01
Reading: "Creating Identity, Defining Culture, and Making History from an Art Exhibit" by Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde

Through examining Huynh Chau" artwork, Valverde brings attention to the struggle of Vietnamese American today. That Vietnamese Americans are still struggling to seek peace in their own community. That Vietnamese Americans are still struggling to be truly identified as Americans. It is because they are living under the fear to be turned against by their community, the fear to be called communists.

Using Chau's experience as an example, Valverde also encourages the readers to embrace diversity of the Vietnamese American community as she quoted Chau, "I'm not going to leave the mess in the community for my children to have to take care of."

Question: Is there other Asian American community that goes through the same struggle?

LGBT

Aung Lin

ASA 2-Reading Reflection #10

Title: LGBT

Word Count: 416

1.       Title: “Emergence of Queer Vietnamese America” by Gina Masequesmay

Vietnamese LGBT Community at San Francisco Pride Parade

Before I read this article, I never heard of queer immigrants organizing their own support groups. I always thought LGBT community is mostly white and black people. I’ve never seen gay Vietnamese at the San Francisco Gay Parade. I was shocked to learn that some Vietnamese are openly gay or lesbian. I can’t imagine what David in this article went through. He’s catholic and being himself is against his religion. I don’t know much about religions but I only know that being LGBT is against Christianity and Buddhism. I was shocked that Vietnamese refugees usually settle in Orange County, LA instead of San Jose because of cheaper housing, hot weather, and LA Chinatown. I always thought San Jose was like the Vietnamese town.

Questions:

1)      Why there was only a few studies about lives of queer Vietnamese in the past 27 years?

2)      How can a person explore his/her own sexuality? How long does it take? Is female-to-male transgender David in this article mentally ill?

3)      Is coming out easier in America than in Vietnam? How?

2.       “Teaching Justice and Living Peace: Body, Sexuality, and Religious Education in Asian American Communities” by Boyung Lee

Teaching Children about how Homosexuality is against God

I agree with Lee about Asian American religious education. It must include sexuality and sexual identity. In Asian cultures, there’s almost no such thing as coming out especially in Asian Buddhist families. Not only that it is against most of the religion in Asian culture. In America, many parents teach their kids to hate LGBT community because of their religion. They believe it is a sin in their religion. I never once heard of that until I came to America. I was stunned that some parents teach their kids to hate other people. Not only that young girls in Asian families are taught to be obedient to men and must remain a virgin until marriage. Parents shouldn’t teach their kids how to be racist and oppress women. Because of all this, some women even go through hymen restoration surgery to please their families and their husband’s family.

Questions:

1)      If Asians people come out, will they be punished by their God?

2)      In Asian families, if a child come out to his/her parents, how will the parents deal with this kind of situation?

Tiger Moms

Austin Yu
section A01

After reading Amy Chua's "Why Chinese Mothers are Superior", I see the characteristics she uses to describe "Chinese mothers"in my parents. Although I agree that many Chinese mothers are similar in many ways in terms of their parenting methods, I think it's unfair to generalize this idea of "Chinese mother" parenting to all Chinese mothers. I know for a fact that many Chinese mothers do not raise their children in the same way. However, I do agree that a majority of Chinese mother are like this. Like Amy Chua said in the article, I agree that many Chinese mothers have very high expectations for their children. I remember as a child I thought it was very unfair for my parents to expect me to do so many things. However, I now know it is only because my parents care for me and they want me to have a good life. Back in my parent's home country, children there do not have the same opportunities as American children. This is why my parents pushed me super hard to do well in school because a good, free public education is very hard to come by in China and Myanmar. Amy Chua also mentioned how Chinese mothers often make many sacrifices for their family, and especially, for their children. I highly agree with this, and my mother also made huge sacrifices for me as well. Will this kind of "Chinese mother" parenting still exist in the 2nd or 3rd generation of Chinese people?

Parenting: Simple Enough?

Parenting: Simple Enough?
Jason Luong
Section A01
In Response to : "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior" by Amy Chua
After reading "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior", I can see how Amy Chua's article can definitely brings about heavy debate from initial responses. However, after taking the tame to dissect each individual piece of her story, I came to understand that she is not selecting and highlighting one style of parenting over another nor is she using cultural differences as means for ethnic superiority However, the method she coined as "Chinese-style", reminds me of the authoritative and authoritarian methods of parenting that I have read about in Dianes S. Hayashino and Sapna Batra Chopra's "Parenting and Raising Families". The authoritative method is reminiscent of what Chua described as the Western type of parenting; parents of this method are responsive to their child(ren)'s needs and provide comfort at their failings. However, Chua's "Chinese-style" parenting is of the authoritarian type of parenting. In this sense, children must openly bare the full responsibility of their success and failings. Many readers initially believe this method that Chua had used on her child reflects a negative aspect of this method: that she does not care for her daughter's well-being. However, that, as Chua also mentioned, is not the case. The summarize all that I have said so far: each parenting method comes with their own faults and short-comings. But one thought I have had in regards to this topic is where the child's reasoning and voice is during these debates of parenting. While Chua's daughter later wrote back in defense for her mother, this is but a few responses most have ever seen. My question here is why a child, in either and any method of parenting, lacks the ability to speak out when the potential is there?

A True Account of Strict but Caring Parenting

In Response to “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” by Amy Chua. 

            In this article, Professor Amy Chua juxtaposes the parenting ways of “Chinese mothers” to that of “Western mothers”. She used these two terms loosely because different parents can fall under these categories. When she talks about “Chinese mothers”, she meant the way which that type of mothers parent their children. Professor Chua also relates the parenting ways to her own experiences. One of the differences between Chinese mothers and Western mothers is that Chinese mothers believe that their child absolutely have the potential to get perfect grades and be good at instruments. Western parents do not believe in forcing their children to do what they didn’t want to do.

            A lot of what the author talked about rang true to my own ear. I have that type of “Chinese parents” who were very strict and had high expectations. I think that even though many parents believe that when the parents yell at their children horrible names and making their children shamed is bad parenting. However, personally I do not harbor any negative feelings towards my parents. They were strict, yes, but I know they really cared and they just wanted the best for me. Of course, they weren’t as strict as what the author had described, but they did stress that I do not give up. This is a funny and interesting article as it reflected probably what many first generation Asian American children went through. 

Xishan (Lucy) Ye

Section A02