Exoticism and East Asian women : moving beyond geishas and dragon ladies

This major research paper relates my experiences as a Chinese woman to those of other East Asian women while exploring why East Asian women continue to be sexualized and ethnicized. My paper is based on the feminist standpoint and anti-racist feminist theories, and feminist and post-modern methodologies. The focus is on the Chinese immigration experience to North America, and on Chinese women's lives, with some consideration of Korean and Japanese women because the latter two share similarities in experiences of homogenization of East Asian women. I argue that the experiences of every woman are unique because of their race, migration and settlement experiences. I borrow Ang's (2001) term "togetherness in differences" to describe our experiences. The stereotypes of East Asians and East Asian women are not created in a vacuum; rather they are the direct result of the dominant culture oppressing the "other" in the effort to subordinate them.