To: Anne Gus (Part 1)

Dear Anne Gus,

In the flurry of all the flaming you have been receiving, I hope you are able to find time to sit down and read this. I would like to I introduce you to your West Coast counterpart, Alexandra Wallace. She is an ex-UCLA student, emphasis on EX. Alexandra Wallace’s bid to infamy came in a video that later on went viral. Many video responses made on youtube became viral also. Here is one by Jimmy Wong and DavidSoComedy. (Their responses to Alexandra Wallace actually also applies to your articles.) I just hope you also find out what happened to her after that post went viral online.

In this post I hope to break down your errors and help you understand why they are more ignorant than not.

We will start with your first post titled, Asian Women Need To Stop Dating White Men.

1. Your 2nd sentence to your post is offensive.

“They are such an eyesore that I wish they would just put a big fat trigger warning on themselves, or just like wear one of those blankets that women from the Mid-East wear, jihads, or whatever, and cover up completely. “

As a self-proclaimed feminist, this sentence should not have even appeared in your post (let alone writing the entire post!) Really? This sentence solely shows the entire world or thought catalog community how thoughtless and ignorant of other cultures you are as a white woman (I will touch upon how you experience White Privilege later when I breakdown your 2nd post).

2. Back it up with Facts

“The WMAW phenomenon is itself one steeped in Patriarchal values, sexism and racism.”

If you are going to write something or anything, please, please, PLEASE back it up with facts! It is the same as writing a paper for college: you address the problem, you write your opinion, and you back it up with facts. Baseless claims will have your post going viral and being flamed similar to what Alexandra Wallace experienced a few years ago.

How is WMAW phenomenon steeped in Patriarchal values, sexism and racism? You do know you are contradicting yourself as in the previous paragraph you claimed that we “yellow women” are strong and independent. Are you also insinuating that, according to you, “normal” a white relationships is not steeped in patriarchal values, sexism and racism?

3. Millions of Asian women, really?

“Ever since its breakout, it has caused white men to trick millions of Asian women into relationships in which they’re being heavily taken advantage of.”

How are these white men tricking millions of Asian women into relationship where they get heavily taken advantage of? Where are the statistics? My genetics professor once said, “Numbers/Statistics don’t lie.” Bless him as much as I did not enjoy the class, that comment is correct. Show us some numbers Anne.

4. Scarlet Fever v. Yellow Fever

“Unlike Scarlet fever, which, thanks to modern medicine was gotten rid of after like the First Spanish civil war, scientists back then had no clue how to cure its coeval cousin, the Yellow fever Pandemic.”

You clearly have some clue as to what Scarlet fever is… (I am going on the assumption that you know.) However I hope you do know that Yellow Fever is an actual virus that people suffer from. Here, please educate yourself with this information from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. Please do some research before you make baseless claims!

5. Horsey? Really?

“Even now, in 2014, or the Horsey year as you guys call it,”

If you meant to be mocking, you did it quite unsuccessfully as I am not impressed. It makes you sound like a bloody 5 year old.

 

6. No Cure to Yellow Fever?

“we’re no closer to finding a cure.”

In #4, I mention that you should do research before you post. From the CDC website that I linked you, “Among those who develop severe disease, 20% – 50% may die.” and “Those who recover from yellow fever generally have lasting immunity against subsequent infection.”

There, that is CDC statistics.

7. Strong & Beautiful?

“White men suddenly stop going after strong and beautiful white women like myself, and start trading us for our shorter, black haired and more yellow-hued sisters, namely, you people. ”

Sorry, from what I have read so far I can only determine that you are strongly ignorant and beautifully self-confident. I applaud you for being beautifully self-confident as you think yourself as strong and beautiful. However, you are definitely strongly ignorant. As Macy has mentioned in point #3 in her article, White Men Dating Asian Women Isn’t The Problem – Your Racism Is (Plus, Tips On How To Cure Yourself), you sound quite jealous. Must be our flawless black hair? Jealousy does not suit you. In addition, I’m sure you haven’t met many Asians as you are generalizing all of us. Yes, I might be 5 ft. 2in. but I am proud of it. However, you do know that there are Asian women out there that are close, if not over, 6ft tall?

In addition, please do not ignore all the short white women out there. Do tell all of us how tall YOU are… & back this stuff up with statistics… @_@”

8. Asian Women as Robots?

“causes White men not only to date outside their own race, but also to see you Asian women as nothing but dehumanized, servile Toshiba robots”

Really? Last time I checked I am as human as the next person. My blood is the same color as a person from another ethnicity. Again, you do not back your claims up with facts. Get this: “Asian women =/= dehumanized servile Toshiba robots” sorry to disappoint. This isn’t like the movies: iRobot or Terminator…

9. Pleasantness

“Being pleasant is NOT a good trait, that’s a very Patriarchal way of thinking, being pleasant denotes that you’re not fierce and strong like women should be.”

First off, here is the dictionary definition of pleasant in the context you are using it. From Dictionary.com: Pleasant – (of persons, manners, disposition, etc.) socially acceptable or adept; polite; amiable; agreeable.

Sorry, how is being pleasant not a good trait? According to you I can’t be fierce and strong if i’m “socially acceptable or adept, polite, amiable, agreeable”?

Are you also implying that you aren’t “socially acceptable or adept, polite, amiable, agreeable”? That just reminds me of Ron Weasley’s table manners.

10. History Portion

I am not even going to get into it… and please spell HISTORY right way…. spelling it HERstory doesn’t make you a feminist. It makes you look like you are unable to type or utilize spell check…

11. Cultured = Bruce Chan?

“Being a very cultured young woman in her twenties who watches a lot of foreign film, I faced this stereotype many years ago. I mean how many female ninjas do you see in all the Bruce Chan movies ?”

If you were a “very cultured young woman in her twenties who watches a lot of foreign film” you would not have made the mistake that it’s Bruce Lee and not Bruce Chan…

Again you generalize! You clearly have only watched “foreign” films made by Hollywood. Have you watched some terrible movies such as “The Grandmaster” or movies with Maggie Q in it? Yes they are still sexualized in those films. However, Hollywood film does the same exact thing to white women.

Unless you are referring to Jackie Chan movies and female fight scenes? If I recall correctly, CZ12 had a fight scene amongst two women.

Finally, Female ninjas? Ninjas actually come from the Japanese Culture. So you maybe thinking about females who know kung-fu? Well, in the previous paragraphs I already made my suggestions (to some female fighting scenes).

12. Cavemen Syndrome

“It is obvious that White men, a group that is infamous for watching movies, have harnessed this stereotype and now use it to justify pouncing on unsuspecting Asian women.”

Since we do not live in the era of the cavemen, men who: clump women over the head with anything, throw (women) over their shoulder and then proceed to pounce them, is highly frowned upon. It is probably the quickest way to end up being arrested and possibly in prison.

13. Exotifying, Objectifying, and Dehumanizing

“They do this, of course, to feed their own twisted need to feel masculine and dominant, while exotifying, objectifying and dehumanizing you poor Asians. You hear that Asian women? They think you’re exotic, like Fanta Exotic. That’s right. White Men think you’re about as human as a carbonated drink.”

I feel like you cannot just clump masculinity, dominance, exoticism, objectifying, and dehumanizing all together and not explain why you think that. Men are stereotypically thought to be masculine and dominant which is part of the reason why they’re taught that “crying is for wimps” or some tosh like that. However, exotifying, objectifying and dehumanizing? White men are not the ONLY men who exotify and objectify Asian women…

On Friday while I was out with friends and as we were leaving, a NON-WHITE waiter stopped me and proceed to apologize and ask if I was Chinese. Then later on tell me I just looked so beautiful. So NO, White men are not the only ones exotifying and objectifying women.

I hope as a Feminist you are aware that white men are not the only ones objectifying women in general, right?

Finally, please do enlighten me about how White men dehumanize Asian women I would love to know.

14. You All Look The Same!

“And, like they’re not even dating you for your looks, because, like no offense, but you all look kind of similar, so they’re dating you purely because of your race.”

Wow. Over-generalization. I’m sorry but you and Alexandra Wallace must be related because with your logic I can say, “don’t be offended but all White Women look the same.” I can reassure you, we do not all look the same nor are we all a carbon copies of each other. THAT would be worrisome and weird.

15. Asian Men

“No offense, but they’re like kinda short and nerdy and not very hot. I mean they’re perfect for you, you’re like made for each other, but white men kind of like, belong to us.”

I’m sorry, what? Short, nerdy and not very hot? *sigh* First of all, you are generalizing as I know Asian men who aren’t short… What’s wrong with being nerdy? There are nerdy white men too. I guess that’s a turn off for you? Asian men who are not very hot, hmm.. wow. You have clearly not come in contact with a lot of Asians for you to say that. I pity thee. Please come to NYC maybe then you’ll come in contact with more.

Finally, what is this about white men belonging to white girls? Sorry girl, there is no written rule about white men belonging to white girls. I’m sorry you think that way, because it just shows that you are a narrow-minded individual.

16. Mandarin?

“Help me put a stop to this Mandarin madness, show your Asian friends this article and send tweet under #stopWMAW.”

So help me! Mandarin is a dialect of Chinese. Chinese spoken in China. China is a nation in the continent of Asia. Before you jump with your messed up logic that Mandarin = Asian, Mandarin is spoken in a few countries in Asia but not all. Last time I checked, Russia still spoke Russian, Korea still spoke Korean and Japan still spoke Japanese, etc.

This post is the result of my ASIAN friend showing me this article. I shall congratulate you as you caused me to come back to this blog after a year of absence to deconstruct/rip apart your post instead of writing my thesis.

I feel like we should either tweet under #StopAnneGus or #End Ignorance, that would be more appropriate. I hope this post will help you educate yourself and realize how ignorant you truly are.

Sincerely,

Christine

Is It A Joke or Is It Offensive?

Today after I heated my food up in the old cafeteria of Hunter College, I found a seat across from this older looking man who told me, “a table shouldn’t be only for one person.” Which is an opinion I wholeheartedly agreed with as each can fit up to 4 people. However after I pulled out my chopsticks, uncapped my lunch, and started eating I did not expect to having a conversation over my food… It went something like this:

Man: “What are you having? Chop suey?”

Me: “I..uh…It’s uhh…mapo tofu…”

Man: “What?”

Me: “It is…uh…tofu…”

Man: “What’s in it?”

Me: “uh…tofu…(looks down at food)…scallion…pork…”

Man: “oh, did you make it?”

Me: “No…”

Man: “Who made it then?”

Me: “My mom…”

Man: “oh, its even in a glass bowl!”

I swear, I have never been so uncomfortable about what I have for lunch ever. When this man asked me if it was chop suey, I had a rather mixed reaction to his question ranging from understanding to offended… I was understanding because his intent for the question to come off as a joke was clear, however, poorly delivered and vastly misplaced. His line of questioning made me fell truly offended because it showed his ignorance towards other cultures and his inappropriate “joke.”

Chop suey (link is to wiki definition), is widely known in American culture as the stereotypical Chinese staple food. According to Lily, there is also a font called “Chop suey,” among the many other food related fonts that are associated with Chinese food (aka the  font you see on Americanized-Chinese Food Take Out) seen in her article, Stereotype(face): Origins Of The Chop Suey Font.

However I digress, Chop suey does NOT equal to the different types of Asian/Chinese/Ethnic food you see out there! I do not know how many times I need to emphasize that… It is basically saying that all Europeans/White people only eat salad. What I am trying to say is that it is okay to ask “What are you eating?” and NOT okay to ask someone you do not even know if they are eating chop suey… The reason I say this is because it A) makes you look incredibly stupid and B) it may be offensive to the person you are asking. Your friends would only be exasperated at you and tell you what they are eating and just let it go because they know you are joking, but I have never met that man before in my life so it was definitely NOT okay…

My friend jokes around with me about him not believing that I have metal chopsticks because he jokes that I could just “accidentally” take someone out with it right up the jugular. Its hilarious because he’s seen me eat food in our classes before, and he would just ask what I’m eat, which I would just tell him about it. This is a process of introducing my cultural background to them and satisfying their curiosity. He’s never asked me if my food was chop suey instead he asked me what I was having for lunch.

and what was that comment about it being in a glass bowl? Why couldn’t my food be in a glass bowl? >:[ (I am not going to start on that…)

So for all my reader’s out there, please please PLEASE don’t see some Asian person and ask them if they’re eating chop suey and they won’t ask you if your eating grass, I mean, salad…

Here is what Mapo Tofu is: link (to Wiki).

A/N: Sorry for not blogging in such a long time! I went on winter break after my last post and I just never got around to adding a new post. I guess you can thank that man who set my inner-feminist off for coming back here to update… >:O

Farewell to an Eventful Semester

Dear Readers,

This semester has been one filled with discovery and learning. Somewhere along this long winding road of this semester, I discovered my inner-feminist. Maybe it was there the whole time and I just never knew where to look for it, however, I am really glad I found my  inner-feminist. This new discovery brought about a new perspective in my learning career. Professors Daniels and Richardson taught us to use “gender as a lens to discover the underlying struggles” that we have seen in pictures and in life.

Lessons on sex education with Shelby Knox had a profound impact about my view in the world and in life. There is this awe and deep respect when meeting Shelby. Awe because here is this amazing women, who strove for what she believed in at the age of 15. Deep respect because she is able to stand for her beliefs and not let anyone influence her beliefs and goals. Her resilience is just amazing. I just can’t stop singing her praises!

The discussion of the Queer and Trans community and viewing of “Southern Comfort” was interesting as it put me out of my comfort zone. I remember attempt to write my assigned blog post about this topic and I really struggled with it. I did not know how to write about the topic nor was I really connected with the topic. Therefore, without any clue what I was truly doing, I wrote the article and I felt it may have turned out better than I expected.

After the viewing of Pink Ribbon Inc., I became hyper aware of the practices of pinkwashing. Before this class, I already had an introduction into pinkwashing from a previous class, however, we went into more detail about it in this one. For that I am grateful.

Street harassment became a hot topic that I discussed about quite a few times. At first it was written due to the lecture we had with Jaclyn Friedman on Slutwalk and Hollaback. However, it also evolved into something so much bigger than I had hope for. I found an interest within the vast space of feminism. I think experiencing street harassment by a bunch of high schoolers added fuel to my “street harassment rampage” fire. Now, writing my long paper about street harassment, I realize that I have only scratch the extensive surface of street harassment.

These are only a few of the many topics covered in my “Feminism, New Media and Health” class. If I were to go on, I think it would take me a good day to summarize each class for you all! Therefore to check out everything I learned in this class check this out: HONS:201.

I walked into this class not knowing what to expect out of it and now walking out of it with a greater sense of clarity. This class has been amazing and perspective shifting that I cannot thank the professors enough for imparting their extensive knowledge to my classmates and I. However, this is not goodbye to my blog but a farewell to my amazing class. Therefore, no fret! I will return and post on this blog however possibly cut down to once a week. I ask for you forgiveness early as my postings may become sporadic when next semester rolls around as I will be taking 6 classes. Thank you for the amazing support so far and for the your support in the future.

Love,

Christine

The Royal Blame Game

Pregnancy is a miracle process that women experience to bring new life into this world. However, pregnant royalty? That is a whole other story. Pregnant while being part of the royal family results in mass media coverage over your womb. Media coverage of what YOU would name your child, sex of your child, and all that lovely stuff. You would think everyone else is having that baby…

Yes, I am excited that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their first child. Yes, it is quite big news and I am extremely happy for them, however, is it truly necessary to bring about the whole media spotlight upon the Duchess? The mass media coverage over her womb and person will only increase the social pressure she already feels by being the Duchess. Funniest thing? There have been pregnancy reports from various magazines regarding the Duchess of Cambridge’s womb. I’m sorry for putting it so crudely or brashly but its the truth. Currently on Bing.com, if you just search the terms: “Duchess of Cambridge pregnant” you will have 38,000 results. I believe most of these results are news coverages regarding the Duchess and her pregnancy.

However, I digress. The Duchess of Cambridge was recently admitted to King Edward VII Hospital for Hyperemesis Gravidarum. (Hyperemesis Gravidarum is extremely acute morning sickness that usually recedes after the second trimester.) During her stay in the hospital, an incident occurred that brought about the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha. Her death was the results of a prank played by Australian DJs’ posing as Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II calling and asking how the Duchess was doing. The question now becomes who’s to be blamed?

Fingers are now being pointed in every direction. Should Jacintha Saldanha be blamed for sharing the Duchess’s private medical records? Should the two DJs’ be blamed for exposing the Duchess’ medical records which resulted in Jacintha Saldanha’s suicide? Should the Duchess be blamed?

There are multiple factors that may have resulted in nurse Jacintha’s suicide. However, the sole blame should not be placed on one party. What was the process that King Edward VII Hospital used to confirm that it was Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II on the phone? BEFORE they dispatched the call to the private ward where the Duchess of Cambridge stayed in. Did nurse Jacintha double check if the two were in fact actual royalty? Then there are questionable practices from the DJs and their bosses. This “simply harmless” prank became so much more.

Thhe DJs’ and their superiors have tried to contact the hospital regarding the pre-recorded prank to ask in regards to the prank. However, it was still a splendid idea to air out other people’s private medical details just because their royalty? Does it make it okay if we air out the DJs’ private medical histories? I truly find it hard to believe that this radio station felt that it was okay to air this PRE-recorded “prank”. If they tired contacting the hospital, that means they have thought of the possible repercussions this “prank” would have when it was aired. The radio stations’ parent company plans to donate a sum of £326,000 (about $527,337.43) to the memorial fund that King Edward VII Hospital has created in Jacintha’s name. However £326,000 does not rectify the stupidity of the prank nor does it bring Jacintha back. Is the £326,000 acting as a “price to be paid” as a “I am sorry this happened” and be done with it?

My biggest issue with this entire issue is with this man: Morrissey.

Really?! You are seriously going to blame the Duchess who does NOT want all this media coverage for all of this? She did not ASK to be hospitalized for morning sickness or so Morrissey says, anorexia. I never knew singers were experts on pregnancy and the female body.  In the article from Jezebel.com titled, Big Mouth Strikes Again: Morrissey Blames Kate Middleton for Nurse’s Suicide, Dodai Stewart says, “Kate Middleton is just a girl, who fell in love with a boy, and got knocked up and started vomiting incessantly. It is not her fault.” These words express it perfectly. Everyone is entitled to their opinion on the monarchy and how they work, however to blame the Duchess for being pregnant? I think that is just wrong.

What do you think?

Vocal Art or Not.

Art. Everyone has a different definition, interpretation and idea of it (excuse the generalization here). That is what makes art unique. Vocal art is music and our interpretation of music. This can be your own interpretation of a popular artist’s song. However, there is a limit as to how “unique” vocal art can truly get. Thanks to media, such as YouTube, we are able to view different interpretations of popular music.

An article from Jezebel.com titled, Yoko Ono’s Cover of Katy Perry’s ‘Firework’ Is the Best Thing Ever, stirred up my curiosity of how good Yoko Ono’s interpretation of ‘Fireworks’ could be. I was extremely curious as the author, Madeleine Davies, wrote that the Yoko’s rendition of ‘Fireworks’ is her “favorite” and has “a lot of spirit.”

Here you be the judge:

I linked this video to my friends and here is their response, verbatim. “Christine, Wth did I just watch?!” and “at the beginning i thought she was having an orgasm…” If your reactions were anything like my friends [as opposed to the author from Jezebel.com] than I am glad we agree on something. I just hope and pray the author was exhibiting some heavy sarcasm when she posted that article. Personally, I was horrified at what I watched and felt that I lost 30 seconds of my life that I would never get back. When I referred to “unique” vocal art, I was thinking more along the lines of artists who have made a name for themselves through YouTube.

Alex Goot (video above), Jimmy Wong, Jason Chen, Sam Tsui, Boyce Avenue are only a couple of the YouTube vocal artists that garner about a couple million views in the videos they make. These YouTube sensations truly have amazing talent that may rival music made by well known artists. Sometimes I would prefer YouTube artist’s rendition of popular culture song over the original singer’s. Mike Tompkins is one of the YouTube artists that utilizes his voice and mouth to create all the sounds for his videos. Below is Mike’s creative rendition of ‘Fireworks’ by Katy Perry.

Media and the internet has given us a new outlet to express ourselves. The use of twitter, facebook, and other social media outlets have brought us closer to our favorite celebrities. The same media outlets has also given us new ways to express art. So now contemplate this: is Yoko Ono’s screaming considered to be art? Is it art if the person who created is a celebrity? What is considered art?

Extra:

Below is the original song ‘Fireworks’ sung by Katy Perry for all my friends who have not heard the song before.