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It’s no secret that Asian Americans face ignorant and uninformed stereotypes every day in this country.
So, we recently asked Asian people in the BuzzFeed Community which stereotypes they’re sick and tired of hearing.
CBC
As a Samoan woman, I know Polynesians face a lot of stereotypes in the US. So I wanted to give Asian people the chance to call out the stuff they deal with, too.
Here’s what they had to say:
1.“That we’re all East Asian. Asian Americans can come from many different backgrounds and colors.”
“I hate that many Americans think you don’t ‘count’ as Asian if you’re not Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. There are so many other people and cultures included in the Asian umbrella. From Pakistan to Cambodia to the Philippines, we are all Asian, whether or not Americans think so.”
–Anonymous
HBO
2.“As an Asian man, I hate the stereotype that we all have small penises.”
“I grew up believing that it was true because I heard it so many times, and it took years to be comfortable with my body. The worst part of this is you have a generation of Asian men who doubt themselves and are often seen as undesirable in the dating pool.”
–Anonymous
Netflix
3.“‘Wow, I’m surprised you don’t have an accent.'”
Netflix Indonesia
“Well, ignorant ones, I was born and raised in America. Just because my family is from Vietnam doesn’t mean I have to speak with an accent. If anything, I have more of a Southern twang from being raised in the South. Stop assuming things! You just sound uneducated, ignorant, and racist!”
–Anonymous
4.“The number one stereotype that used to bother me all my childhood was the ‘smart nerd.'”
“As an Indian teenager living in the USA, I was expected to get into Cornell or UPenn because I’m Asian. Substitute teachers would look at me when the smart board wasn’t working. Kids would ask me what I got on the math test. I always had to be smart, or I didn’t fit the ‘Asian standard’. I think because of this expectation, I was hard on myself and made it my goal to fit that stereotype. It crushed my true identity.”
–Anonymous
Michael Yarish / CBS / courtesy Everett Collection
5.“That Asians eat dogs.”
“I don’t know why or where they get that from!”
–Anonymous
Paramount
6.“That all our interracial couples are comprised of an old white perv and an Asian woman looking for a cash machine.”
Hulu
“I’ve been confronted with this stereotype throughout my childhood, sometimes indirectly, sometimes very directly: ‘Did your dad order your mom from a catalogue?’ The disrespect for both of them makes me sick.
And it’s often disguised as some first-world concern for Asian women, when in fact, it’s the racist belief that an equal partnership is unimaginable. I can’t even imagine how hard it must’ve been for my parents when they first got together. They’re actually quite a good match, come from similar social backgrounds with similar jobs, and are almost the same age. I feel like society’s disapproval and unwillingness to actually look beyond the stereotype and learn the truth has impacted their happiness severely, and I think it’s sad and unnecessary.”
–Anonymous
7.“I’m sick of being told that I’m ‘exotic’ as if it’s a compliment.”
Lifetime
“I’m not a bird. The continent of Asia is home to 59.76% in the world population according to Google, so I’m not rare because of my ethnicity.”
–Anonymous
“If one more person calls me ‘exotic,’ I’m gonna hurl.”
8.“The stereotype about Indians that annoys me the most is that we’re always eating curry.”
Hulu
“Very few of our dishes actually have the word ‘curry’ in them; most of them have actual names. Curry just refers to something wet to add to the carb portion of your meal. And all the stereotypes about spicy Indian food and diarrhea are disgusting. Indian cuisine is seriously varied. We have completely different spice palettes in every state, and the reduction of that to ‘spicy and diarrhea’ is not cool.”
9.“That all Asians are the same, and we speak the same language.”
“There are nearly 50 countries in Asia. Just because we (and/or our ancestors) happened to come from the same continent doesn’t mean we are all the same. We also don’t speak just one language; we each speak different languages.”
–Anonymous
NBC
10.“It’s frustrating to see ‘Asian representation’ in media when it’s a thinly veiled Orientalist trope, or the Asian character perpetuates white worship.”
“Similarly, a lot of mixed Asian characters function as some racial allegory or placeholder. These can be within the narrative of the story (like in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before) or subtly demonstrated through the actors (like in Crazy Rich Asians). There’s even awareness in Asian communities about actors known to play into these tropes (Mindy Kaling comes to mind).
Of course, I want to celebrate the wins in our communities and seeing Asian actors onscreen. But there’s also a sense of taking what you can get for now while inching toward progress when the Asian character is more of a plot function than a dynamic person.”
–Anonymous
Isabella Vosmikova / Fox / courtesy Everett Collection
11.“I am so tired of being told that men like submissive Asian women.”
12.“I’m tired of a variation of the model minority myth: the idea that things are so much better because we immigrated to the US.”
“My parents were highly educated people who left the Philippines for a variety of reasons – to avoid persecution during the Marcos era, yes, but also for personal reasons – but they very much experienced downward mobility. Being in the US was a mixed bag of experiences for them rather than a rags-to-riches story.”
–Anonymous
NBC
13.“That Asian countries are underdeveloped and not as advanced as the US.”
“One time, this girl in college asked me if the people in the country I came from ride elephants to get around. We have cars, public transportation, iPhones, and all kind of tech gadgets. All the stuff that we have in the US, we have in Asia, too.”
–Anonymous
STXfilms
14.“I hate the stereotype that Asian women are bad drivers. I drive a manual car.”
Netflix
–Anonymous
15.“That all we eat is food from the country our family came from.”
Hulu
“I’m part Asian, and I eat spaghetti and chicken as much as a white person.”
–Anonymous
16.“That we can’t see very well because of our eyes.”
17.“That Asian women are super kinky and wild in the bedroom.”
Hulu
18.And finally, “Constantly being asked ‘What language do you speak?’ or ‘Where are you from?'”
“1) I was adopted as an infant so English is my one and only language. 2) I find it ignorant that people have to automatically assume that anyone of Asian descent is not from the US.”
–Anonymous
“Growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, I always had the dreaded ‘Where are you REALLY from?’ question thrown at me. Or ‘What’s your NATIONALITY?’ I just wanted to say, ‘I’m American, you dumbass! I’m a citizen of the United States. Do you even know what the word nationality means?’ But being taught to be polite, I never actually said that out loud. Now I’m middle-aged, and I still have those questions asked of me.”
–Anonymous
FX
If you’re Asian, which stereotypes are you sick of hearing? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
