Asian Stereotypes

Asians have always been shown as the model minority, meaning a positive thing. People of Asian descent are shown to be hardworking, very studious, very grateful, politically inactive, intelligent, productive, inoffensvie people who raise their social standing through diligence and good merit.

An example of the intelligence stereotype is that 25.2% of people who are American-born but of Asian ancestry over 25 hold a Bachelor's Degree compared to 15.5% of general Americans over 25 who hold a Bachelor's Degree.

Asians have also been implicated in shooting sprees, political corruption and cheating scandals. An example is the Virginia Tech Massacre. The killer was a Korean-born teen named Seung-Hui Cho

In the 1800s, Chinese men were given a negative image, due to the fact they were given what Westerners called 'women's work'(i.e. child care, cooking, laundry). The Chinese workers wore their hair in long braids (queues), long gowns, cone shaped hats. Back then, when the Transcontinental Railroad was being installed, Asians were used for the dangerous work of using dynamite to blast the tunnels.

Asian men have been shown as being predators to white women. For example, in the 1916 movie Patria, a group of fanatical Japanese invaders invade the US to rape a white woman.

Another common stereotype of Asian men is that they can be called misogynists, or more commonly chauvinists, meaning they treat women as second class citizens.

Some of the more common stereotypes of Asian women include:

• Aggressive, opportunistic, sexual beings
• Predatory gold diggers
• Geisha Girl: docile, reverent, obedient, submissive
• Vixen/Sex Nymph: sexy, manipulative
• Prostitute: helpless, heart of gold

There are also stereotypes about appearance. The epicanthic fold of their eyes, positively called 'almond shaped' or negatively 'slant eye', having yellow toned or tan skin, for boys having a bowl cut haircut, for girls having overgrown bangs, having a knowledge of how to perform martial arts, difficulty with the English language.