Why study Asian American sexual politics? There is a major lack of critical
analysis of Asian Americans and their issues surrounding their place in the United States
as racialized, gendered, and sexualized bodies. There are three key elements to my
methodological approach for this project: standpoint epistemology, extended case
method, and narrative analysis. In my research, fifty-five Asian American respondents
detail how Asian American masculinity and femininity are constructed and how they
operate in a racial hierarchy. These accounts will explicitly illuminate the gendered and
sexualized racism faced by Asian Americans. The male respondents share experiences
that highlight how "racial castration" occurs in the socialization of Asian American men.
Asian American women are met with an exotification and Orientalization as sexual
bodies.
This gendering and sexualizing process plays a specific role in maintaining the
racial status quo. There are short and long term consequences from the gendered and
sexualized racist treatment. The intersected racial and gender identities of the
respondents affect their self-image and self-esteem. For the women, femininity has been shaped specifically by their racial identity. "Orientalization" as a colonial concept plays
a role in these racialized and gendered stereotypes of Asian American Women. The
gendered and sexualized racialization process and "racial castration" has impacted Asian
American men in a different way than their female counterparts. Violence is a prevalent
theme in their gendered and racial formation. Asian American men begin as targets of
violence and sometimes become perpetrators.
I also analyze how romantic and sexual partners are chosen and examine the
dynamics of Asian American intraracial and interracial relationships. While Asian
American "success" as "model minorities" is challenging white supremacy, gender and
sexuality become "regulating" forces to maintain both the racial and gendered order.
Finally, I offer and discuss the resistance strategies against gender and racial hierarchy
utilized by my respondents. Asian Americans must be creative in measures that they take
for group and individual survival. Respondents resist in intimately personal ways against
