Call for Writers: Asian Womanhood in Pop Culture

Asian women are often fetishized, objectified, eroticized, and/or infantilized in pop culture. “China doll” stereotypes that represent Asian women as compliant, doll-like sexual objects are still prevalent. Western attitudes are influenced by a history of exploitation and colonization of Eastern culture. This deep desire to possess seems to manifest in an eroticization of all things Asian, especially Asian Women.

 

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Our theme week for March 2015 will be Asian Womanhood in Pop Culture.

Asian women are not safe from the generalized stereotypical rendering of Asian people as a whole, in that Asian women are often represented as very intelligent/nerdy or experts in martial arts. If we are to believe pop culture mythology, all Asian women are born with eyeglasses and an ability to kick ass in a school girl miniskirt.

Aging female Asian characters lean toward the wise, Old World crone trope, full of mysticism and tradition.

Asian women are often fetishized, objectified, eroticized, and/or infantilized in pop culture. “China doll” stereotypes that represent Asian women as compliant, doll-like sexual objects are still prevalent. Western attitudes are influenced by a history of exploitation and colonization of Eastern culture. This deep desire to possess seems to manifest in an eroticization of all things Asian, especially Asian Women.

Why do these female Asian archetypes exist, and why are they so popular? Are there examples of Asian womanhood that defy these archetypes? Is there space within these archetypes for nuanced characterization? Are Asian women allowed to be complex, multi-layered human beings, flawed heroines and villainesses?

Feel free to use the examples below to inspire your writing on this subject, or choose your own source material.

We’d like to avoid as much overlap as possible for this theme, so get your proposals in early if you know which film you’d like to write about. We accept both original pieces and cross-posts, and we respond to queries within a week.

Most of our pieces are between 1,000 and 2,000 words, and include links and images. Please send your piece as a Microsoft Word document to btchflcks[at]gmail[dot]com, including links to all images, and include a 2- to 3-sentence bio.

If you have written for us before, please indicate that in your proposal, and if not, send a writing sample if possible.

Please be familiar with our publication and look over recent and popular posts to get an idea of Bitch Flicks’ style and purpose. We encourage writers to use our search function to see if your topic has been written about before, and link when appropriate (hyperlinks to sources are welcome, as well).

The final due date for these submissions is Friday, March 20 by midnight.

Marco Polo

Lost

Monsoon Wedding

Gilmore Girls

Kill Bill

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

Grey’s Anatomy

The Mindy Project

The Joy Luck Club

Mulan

Big Hero 6

The Good Wife

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Battlestar Galactica

Battle Royale

The Transporter

Wayne’s World

Rumble in the Bronx

In the Mood for Love

Slumdog Millionaire

Snow Falling on Cedar

Geisha

Shaolin Soccer

The Last Emperor

Bride and Prejudice

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li