Asian American Beauty – Female Body Image (Part 2 of 2)
Posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 8:44 am
Directed and edited by Calvin Sun. Produced by Aretha Choi, Marilla Li, and Calvin Sun.
***WINNER of the audience favorite “One to Watch Award” in the longest running Asian American film festival in the world; the 30th Annual Asian American International Film Festival!!!***
Director’s Note:
We do NOT intend to show that issues like anorexia and bulimia are specifically Asian American problems. We instead wanted people to see that Asian Americans teenagers struggle with eating disorders just like any other American.
It has been a phenomenon that issues such as eating disorders has been an extremely taboo subject among Asian Americans who come from more conservative backgrounds.
We also must reveal the contradiction of how Asian American girls are pressured in this society to look both “western” and “Asian.”
This includes pressures on how many Asian American girls are supposed to play up this well-known image of looking innocent, weak, and petite as “attractive”, but at the same time mainstream media depicts Asian American females as alluring, “exotic,” and sexy.
We want to show that some are finally speaking out on the issue.
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Part 2 of 2 in a film discussing the Asian American opinion on female body image, beauty standards, eating disorders, and unspoken pressures to be thin in both American and Asian cultures.
An otherwise taboo subject to talk about among specifically Asian Americans, students at Columbia University are now tired of keeping mum about the issue and are speaking out.
This video does not aim to cover every single ground regarding the topic; instead it seeks to begin dialogue with a generalized approach to the problems as a first step. We want first to show that Asian Americans are like any other American struggling with issues of body image while at the same time facing pressures coming from their own respective cultures.
This video certainly focuses on the former point; We hope that the latter will be explored more in the future.
We also hope that the people in this video will inspire others around the world to undertake similar projects that would focus deeper into these issues regarding body image and perhaps more specifically Asian American body image.
Therefore, this is only the beginning.
Produced by Aretha Choi & Marilla Li.
Directed & edited by Calvin Sun.
For more information, please contact aaa@columbia.edu
Dedicated to my father,
Alexander S. Sun
1939-2006
calvin.sun@columbia.edu
Duration : 0:9:41
[youtube L8XWQ62HdCs]
Common, what asian …
Common, what asian girl would watch this video without atleast one white guy in there? Smart guy to put a white boy. I’d get brat pitt to be in my video
Whats the deal with …
Whats the deal with the white guy?
I’d chalk that up …
I’d chalk that up to a cultural thing as opposed to a physical thing. As a short, stocky asian male, I have no problem meeting or dating outside of my race but the stigma is presented through family views. Many asian men become timid around other cultures and they don’t know what’s expected of them or how to act. In addition, they are encouraged to marry within their culture to sustain the family lineage where as girls don’t carry on the last name.
It’s a constant mix …
It’s a constant mix message for Asian Americans. I’m at a weight that is perfectly normal in America and to some, even thin but as a Chinese girl, I’m huge, sadly, to which my family will discuss openly and frequently.
For example, I gained 10lbs since I began work and one of my coworkers, who’s a pleasantly plump African American woman, happily told me, I looked like I put on some weight and was finally healthy. The same day, my mom gave me the “nod of shame” and a tsk-tsk. Confusing much.
The difference is …
The difference is in Caucasian American culture individuality is encouraged. Any crosscultural psych study will show how most Asian cultures encourage conformity and authoritarian parenting. I know for me n most Asians I know were hit as children for not following everything your parents said, including not being thin. Hey, maybe you’re a rebel or maybe your parents went easy on you. But its hard to repeatedly hear over n over youre fat and not begin to believe it, even in the tinniest sense
Well then let them …
Well then let them kill themselves.
There are people out there who don’t choose to starve that need more help than the dumb who choose to starve.
they aren’t thin …
they aren’t thin when compared to other asian girls. these girls are average with the exception of one or two.
Go to asia, the girls there are stick thin
It’s tough for all …
It’s tough for all races of women to meet the mainstream standards of beauty in America.
ALL these girls are …
ALL these girls are very thin. What are they talking about?!
I agree. but that’s …
I agree. but that’s the exact problem that women who r born with naturally thin bodies have. They’re often lumped in with girls who starve themselves down 2 their bones, simply because they fit the part. It’s pretty sad that ppl today, all over the world, hold such a crippling inability to love themselves, no matter what they look like.
I’m not asian but I …
I’m not asian but I think asian people should not change their eyelid shape because its beautiful the way it is, asian eyes are unique and defining and if i were asian i wouldn’t want to change them
imho, really thin bodies are unattractive and scary and i definitely see curvaceous fuller bodies like marilyn monroe as way more attractive
hey, just want you …
hey, just want you to know I thought the video was well done- I’m “Korean-AMerican” having been adopted by white parents and I’ve had to deal with this bullshit my entire 23 years…I’m sure it’ll continue for awhile. Saddest story ever was I used to pinch my nose so that it would be pointier and I would walk around the house trying to make my nose thinner and more caucasion….this was when i was like 10 yrs old…
oh my gosh really? …
It was terrible.
oh my gosh really? In Japan, it is really bad.. I am a Japanese girl who is 22. When I used to live there, everyone was obsessed with being skinny and having white skin and big eyes. It was terrible, You were considered fat if you weighed over 50 kg its true
No way
No way
True, true!
True, true!
When I was in …
When I was in middle school, everyone was like, “You’re so thin, you’re so thin. What’s your weight?”
So I said, “50 kg (or about 100 lbs or so…)”
Then they gasped and said that I didn’t look that fat and that Asians shouldn’t be over 50 kg.
What’s more sad is that my mom was surprised as well….
I try to look …
I try to look beyond the shadow of the media but unconformity has left me cold.
Living in Singapore …
Living in Singapore, where you see hordes of skinny chinese girls, I definitely feel like I don’t belong here. I’m also sick and tired of having people telling me that I’m fat even though I’m of an acceptable BMI. I’m victimised just cos I don’t weigh below 100 pounds. =(
Draviina,
Comments …
Draviina,
Comments like yours lower the confidence of Asian men, and raise the confidence of white men.
Basically, women with negative body image have low confidence, and it’s treated as a social problem for all to deal with, hence this video.
Men with low confidence are just considered weak and few people care at all.
You are like a black man who says, “I like white women, cuz black women have too much attitude.” Not good enough. You need to try harder. Open your mind.
I have double …
I have double eyelids and I’m full asian.
I go to my family and,
I feel left out for not having single eyelids.
well im not sure …
well im not sure about every case, but in my case.i am chinese american and all my chinese friends have grown up together in the same church, our parents know each other b/c they want similar interests with their friends and english is not their first language. i’ve grown up with them. and we all like to date someone we can share common interests with.
i actually prefer guys of a different race but ONLY b/c they are more outgoing and confident than the boys at my school.
where are all those …
where are all those beautiful asian american? not all asian american have problem like this i should say.. some enjoy their looks and most of asian american people are cute, they are simply beautiful.. they didn’t pick those anyways because the topic is just about the negative part of being a mix race…
I actually think …
I actually think that Asian American male body image would be a more interesting topic since Asian American men have more difficulty fitting into society. Seriously, a lot of Americans think that Asian American women are beautiful. Asian men, much less so. I bet that every woman in this video will get married. But a group of 10 Asian American men? They face much tougher odds.
Actually I’m a half …
Actually I’m a half asian guy and I have been made fun of because of it, but it really wasn’t a big deal. The thing is, we also get a lot of immediate respect because of our ethnicity that far outweighs any you get from rednecks and bigots.
Anyway, you’re about how the mass media portrays caucasian women, but most white girls can’t live up to that ideal either. So like I said, It sucks for everyone, not just us Asians.
Garamri, you know …
Garamri, you know so little. Obviously you haven’t been made fun of because of your race. Most of the media protrays Caucasian woman as the ideal beauty. When you’re a minority, you not only have to worry about how you look like as a whole, but also you are sublimitably told you aren’t as good as Caucasian women. Every Asian American person I know has been made fun of just because they look different from everyone else.