On Cat Calls, Intersectionality and Being an AA Woman

Living as an Asian American woman in New York City, being attacked by racism is a daily situation. Being called “Chinadoll”, “cute Chinese girl” and the like is an everyday reminder of my extremely vulnerable position as an Asian American female in American society- constantly exoticised, sexualized and demeaned, all at once and with the expectation that we as AA females are just supposed to quietly take it. It is never just a “compliment” about your supposed attractiveness- it is attractiveness perpetually linked to the fetishism of the Orient, an Asian woman to fit in your box of assumptions and ideas of the exotic.

The intersection of being Asian American and a woman is one of the most invisible places of personhood- people truly believe they can get away with saying anything to an AA woman. In their line of thinking, what is an Asian person going to do, albeit a woman?

Tonight, a few Asian American friends and I were walking down the streets of Chinatown, Manhattan. A looming six-foot white male, mid-thirties to forties, began eyeing my friend and me, suddenly breaking our preferred bubble of physical space by inching too close. My female friend and I quickly side-stepped to avoid him, and walked past, only to be screamed at, “I would never want to get with a f-ing Chinese anyway!”

He continued to yell as we made our way to the end of the street. As an Asian American woman, you are expected to silently take whatever treatment is given you. The assumption of being docile and submissive plays into such racist cat-calling. But when there is any sign of rejecting such repulsive behavior, the tables can be quickly turned.

And it is so intriguing just how quickly being looked upon as an Asian American woman can be turned from the subject of appeal to the subject of disgust. An Asian American woman is either the subject of sexualization and exoticization or the subject of repugnance. Because the man was not free to gaze upon us without reproach, my friend and I were hastily turned into the disgusting unwanted- he would never get with a Chinese.  

And isn't it amazing how one's race or ethnic identity can be turned into a slur? The contempt and seething hate with which this man was calling us Chinese, you would have thought he was breathing profanities. 

No one is allowed to make your race into a derogatory term.

It was so easy for the man to turn the tables. The Chinese girl was standoffish? Well then, Chinese people are awful anyway. They’ll make you whatever they want you to be, but it’s rarely a positive depiction. It’s rarely even a neutral, straightforward depiction.