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glass_icarusIt's International Blog Against Racism Week, which I forgot to mention yesterday! *facepalm*
The sad thing for me about IBARW is that, rather than feeling that I have nothing to talk about, I have entirely too many relevant things to say. Avatar: The Last Airbender; Lori Phanachone; Texas Representative Betty Brown (Republican); Justice (it is Justice now, isn't it?) Sonia Sotomayor; Professor Henry Louis Gates; the whitewashed cover of Justine Larbalestier's Liar- all of these topics spring to mind so that I sit here choking on all the words that clamor to be spoken. And then, of course, there are the things I have already said, so that I wonder if I should make the effort to write a whole new post instead of simply linking to older ones. Given my lack of energy, I might even have stayed silent today, if I hadn't had some of the following already written.
Back in April, for Asian American Awareness Month, I had a post planned out about body image and the toll that multiple standards and conflicting expectations exact from Asian-American women. Today is still not the day for me to go into that discussion in detail, but a lot of it relates to the rant I've been (mostly) suppressing about the western media slant on the Beijing Olympics.
I am still angry, you see, and even though I didn't agree with China's decisions with respect to their women's gymnastics team and the Opening Ceremonies voice-over, I was and am extremely offended by the way the western (US/European) media handled these topics.
I am angry that Bela Karolyi felt the need to harp on the small size and lack of defined breasts of the Chinese gymnasts, in a sport where these characteristics are the norm. Goddamnit, the vast majority of East Asian women that I know have small breasts, okay? It does not automatically mean that we are "un(der)developed" or pre-pubescent. As a matter of fact, those of us who are larger than A- or B-cups generally have a pretty hard time finding lingerie that fits in East Asia. Actually, those of us who are tall and/or not-skinny and/or have large feet also tend to have difficulty finding shoes and clothes in our sizes in East Asia. Full disclosure, for perspective's sake: I am 5'8", I generally fit into US size 4 (or thereabouts) clothing, and I wear US 8.5 shoes. In America, I am thin and of middling height. In Taiwan (and mainland China, and much of the rest of East Asia), I am considered large; I have not gone clothes shopping there since I was about ten years old.
I am sick of the fact that nobody ever seems to realize that "baby faces" are not indicative of age when one is speaking of East Asian people, except (of course) for the East Asian people in question. All but two of my (many) cousins are older than me by four years to a couple of decades; most of them look around my age. If I were more statistically inclined, I could probably give you an entire Excel workbook devoted to the instances in which I and/or my (East Asian) friends have passed for twelve when they/we were actually fifteen, or been carded at bars when they/we were over 21 (and in a couple of cases, over 30). Granted, further investigation has shown that the Chinese women's gymnasts were indeed underage, but I still maintain that the media frenzy at the time of the initial outcry was utterly shameful. (Think I was overreacting? Take a look at the Karolyis' comments about the Chinese gymnasts, as compared with their comments about the US's other major competitors- Russians, Romanians, other Europeans. Tell me that the snideness, the derogatory terms, the utter refusal to acknowledge the Chinese gymnasts' talent and hard work- regardless of their age!- can be construed as non-racist.)
I also object, strongly, to the western media's voice-over fixation during the opening ceremonies. In their coverage of the most brilliant opening ceremonies in Olympic history, the one thing USian/European reporters focused on was Yang Peiyi, the little girl who was "deemed too ugly to sing," rather than the ten thousand avenues they had to learn (and educate people!) about Chinese culture and history. I am all for giving credit where credit is due, but I object to all the oh-so-enlightened white USians and Europeans babbling about China's focus on aesthetics, as if their own beauty standards aren't equally problematic- if not more so, as women of every color and nationality are also judged by their yardstick. (Of course white beauty standards should be the universal ideal; what are the rest of us thinking?)
In addition, I found all of the outraged "Lip-syncing! Shock! Horror!" reactions to be extremely disingenuous. Never mind the acute internal and external pressures toward perfection which shaped China's decision to present a flawless and united front; never mind that the opinions of the western world were an integral part of those pressures- tell me this sort of thing doesn't happen all the damn time in the west. How many performances do you suppose singers like Britney Spears lip-sync? How many singers sound just as good live as they do in their studio recordings? How many similar instances do you suppose are reported about USian/European artists, and how many of those reports are this extensive?
It infuriates me to this day that every time I looked at a western news source- TV, newspaper, and internet blogosphere- 90% of the articles about the Chinese Olympic athletes had to do with the gymnasts' looks and supposed ages, whereas the articles about athletes from every other nation were life stories or career histories or just plain stats. It drives me absolutely mad that despite the utter transformative incandescence of the Beijing opening ceremonies, the one thing that sticks in so many USian/European minds is the voice-over. Heaven forbid that the achievements of Chinese athletes and artists and people are ever dissociated from their government! Heaven forbid that Chinese people are ever looked upon as individuals rather than scary Communists or outsourced laborers or any number of other stereotypes!
I know that China is far from perfect, and there is clearly ample room for critique; I just wish that once in a while, its critics would analyze their own behavior as well. (Heaven forbid, indeed.)
The sad thing for me about IBARW is that, rather than feeling that I have nothing to talk about, I have entirely too many relevant things to say. Avatar: The Last Airbender; Lori Phanachone; Texas Representative Betty Brown (Republican); Justice (it is Justice now, isn't it?) Sonia Sotomayor; Professor Henry Louis Gates; the whitewashed cover of Justine Larbalestier's Liar- all of these topics spring to mind so that I sit here choking on all the words that clamor to be spoken. And then, of course, there are the things I have already said, so that I wonder if I should make the effort to write a whole new post instead of simply linking to older ones. Given my lack of energy, I might even have stayed silent today, if I hadn't had some of the following already written.
Back in April, for Asian American Awareness Month, I had a post planned out about body image and the toll that multiple standards and conflicting expectations exact from Asian-American women. Today is still not the day for me to go into that discussion in detail, but a lot of it relates to the rant I've been (mostly) suppressing about the western media slant on the Beijing Olympics.
I am still angry, you see, and even though I didn't agree with China's decisions with respect to their women's gymnastics team and the Opening Ceremonies voice-over, I was and am extremely offended by the way the western (US/European) media handled these topics.
I am angry that Bela Karolyi felt the need to harp on the small size and lack of defined breasts of the Chinese gymnasts, in a sport where these characteristics are the norm. Goddamnit, the vast majority of East Asian women that I know have small breasts, okay? It does not automatically mean that we are "un(der)developed" or pre-pubescent. As a matter of fact, those of us who are larger than A- or B-cups generally have a pretty hard time finding lingerie that fits in East Asia. Actually, those of us who are tall and/or not-skinny and/or have large feet also tend to have difficulty finding shoes and clothes in our sizes in East Asia. Full disclosure, for perspective's sake: I am 5'8", I generally fit into US size 4 (or thereabouts) clothing, and I wear US 8.5 shoes. In America, I am thin and of middling height. In Taiwan (and mainland China, and much of the rest of East Asia), I am considered large; I have not gone clothes shopping there since I was about ten years old.
I am sick of the fact that nobody ever seems to realize that "baby faces" are not indicative of age when one is speaking of East Asian people, except (of course) for the East Asian people in question. All but two of my (many) cousins are older than me by four years to a couple of decades; most of them look around my age. If I were more statistically inclined, I could probably give you an entire Excel workbook devoted to the instances in which I and/or my (East Asian) friends have passed for twelve when they/we were actually fifteen, or been carded at bars when they/we were over 21 (and in a couple of cases, over 30). Granted, further investigation has shown that the Chinese women's gymnasts were indeed underage, but I still maintain that the media frenzy at the time of the initial outcry was utterly shameful. (Think I was overreacting? Take a look at the Karolyis' comments about the Chinese gymnasts, as compared with their comments about the US's other major competitors- Russians, Romanians, other Europeans. Tell me that the snideness, the derogatory terms, the utter refusal to acknowledge the Chinese gymnasts' talent and hard work- regardless of their age!- can be construed as non-racist.)
I also object, strongly, to the western media's voice-over fixation during the opening ceremonies. In their coverage of the most brilliant opening ceremonies in Olympic history, the one thing USian/European reporters focused on was Yang Peiyi, the little girl who was "deemed too ugly to sing," rather than the ten thousand avenues they had to learn (and educate people!) about Chinese culture and history. I am all for giving credit where credit is due, but I object to all the oh-so-enlightened white USians and Europeans babbling about China's focus on aesthetics, as if their own beauty standards aren't equally problematic- if not more so, as women of every color and nationality are also judged by their yardstick. (Of course white beauty standards should be the universal ideal; what are the rest of us thinking?)
In addition, I found all of the outraged "Lip-syncing! Shock! Horror!" reactions to be extremely disingenuous. Never mind the acute internal and external pressures toward perfection which shaped China's decision to present a flawless and united front; never mind that the opinions of the western world were an integral part of those pressures- tell me this sort of thing doesn't happen all the damn time in the west. How many performances do you suppose singers like Britney Spears lip-sync? How many singers sound just as good live as they do in their studio recordings? How many similar instances do you suppose are reported about USian/European artists, and how many of those reports are this extensive?
It infuriates me to this day that every time I looked at a western news source- TV, newspaper, and internet blogosphere- 90% of the articles about the Chinese Olympic athletes had to do with the gymnasts' looks and supposed ages, whereas the articles about athletes from every other nation were life stories or career histories or just plain stats. It drives me absolutely mad that despite the utter transformative incandescence of the Beijing opening ceremonies, the one thing that sticks in so many USian/European minds is the voice-over. Heaven forbid that the achievements of Chinese athletes and artists and people are ever dissociated from their government! Heaven forbid that Chinese people are ever looked upon as individuals rather than scary Communists or outsourced laborers or any number of other stereotypes!
I know that China is far from perfect, and there is clearly ample room for critique; I just wish that once in a while, its critics would analyze their own behavior as well. (Heaven forbid, indeed.)
no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-29 02:35 pm (UTC)