Asian stereotypes and racism in novels

[Azure Boone]

Deleted. Thanks for all the help

[imron]

'Almond shaped' is a common way to describe eyes using the Chinese language. I don't think there's anything racist about it. If you were saying something like slanty-eyes or similar, then yes that would be, but almond, not really.

And when I have my heroine "oohh and ahhh" in said Asian market, I get, "why is she so amazed?"

I lived in a small town in China for several years. I can tell you for a fact, whenever I visited a big city and went to a western supermarket, there were plenty of "oohs" and "ahhhs" and amazement at seemingly ordinary western foodstuffs that couldn't be had for love or money where I was living. As long as she's oohing and ahhing about stuff she can't normally get in a US supermarket and as long as she doesn't normally get much opportunity to go to Asian markets herself, then I think such behaviour is probably to be expected.

P.S. Moved your post to its own thread.

[Lu]

White Western woman here, so little to no personal experience with racism, so all of this is fwiw.

'Almond-shaped eyes' doesn't sound racist to me but it sounds so very, enourmously cliche. For that reason alone it would be better to come up with something else. It's not inherently racist for an Asian woman to have an accent, but if you are white and this is your only Asian character so far it can look like you think this is what Asian women are: almond-shaped eyes, covers her mouth when she laughs, accent, oohs and aahs as her (white?) boyfriend shows her around the Asian market. I suppose she has more traits to her than these, but this all seems rather stereotypical to me, which perhaps your editor is confusing with racism.

But yah, not sure what kind of romance novel you're writing, but it is of course not the genre best known for breaking revolutionary new ground, so in a way it's a bit weird your editor is complaining about some stereotypical traits on a heroine. Did the publisher perhaps get a lot of criticism about a non-white character in the past, or is there some other reason they're extremely sensitive or careful about this?

If you know any actual Asian women, perhaps bring them along to discuss this with your editor, that might help convincing them. If your editor is unconvincable, try changing the heroine's ethnicity to, I don't know, Greek, Kyrgyz, South African, something, and see if that helps. Or perhaps switch hero and heroine, make it about a hot Asian guy (almond-shaped eyes and all) and a white lady that he takes to the Asian market. That would get rid of much of the stereotype that your editor is seeing as racism.

Good luck, I hope it becomes a great book!

[Hofmann]

Well, having less-than-fluent English isn't insulting if she's lived in a non-English speaking environment for a while. You can't expect someone to be fluent in English right after stepping into the US (assuming the setting is the US).

About the laughing gesture: I know some Koreans (not Korean-Americans. Koreans.) who clap when they laugh. I wouldn't take offense if I read that a Korean FOB did that.

About the Asian market: I think you'd better be more specific, because to me an Asian market is a market in Asia. A bazaar maybe? And if this is her own culture (which one can't assume is the case because Asia is a big place), then there is really nothing to ooh and ahh about in most cases. Or maybe she's oohing and ahhing and thinking "Wow...so even barbarians know the difference between gongbi and xieyi."

Almond-shaped eyes: Why point it out? If her ethnicity (you haven't said which flavor of Asian she is) suggests to the reader that it is the case, then it's rather unnecessary.

[Matty]

If it's descriptive and realistic and nothing negative I don't see any big problems.

The real problem is people are racist. Now people have got from totally insensitive to overly sensitive.

To me it's similar to the problems in Australia where the natives were treated pretty badly, but now the government has decided we are all equals and should be treated equally. So using that logic there's now special education teaching students to be sorry to the natives for what early immigrants did to the natives. They government also decided in being more equal to give a separate more leniant set of rules to natives and give them more opportunities that other students don't have. For example only native Australians can borrow a laptop in the library to increase equality.

I don't think it's so much you (I haven't read it), it's the system and people always taking the extremes on decisions, they don't seem to realise that there's a middle ground.

I assume English isn't her native language and there's a reason why she was shocked at the market, we're running a little low on context here.

I'm suprised they didn't ask why you chose the hero to be Chinese.

[jbradfor]

[Not Asian, not female, but that doesn't stop me from posting.....]

I assume her being Asian, and not white, is important to the story, right? Otherwise, why bother? Given that it is important, you need to make her Asian. While avoiding negative stereotypes, it does seem to me that you need to have her act Asian, which means mentioning typical Asian behaviour.

Why don't you sit down with your editor, explain why she needs to be Asian, and then together come up with some traits you both can agree on.

"almond shaped eyes"

I would stay away from this. Yes, in China, that term is used, but Chinese in China have not had over a century of racism like they have in the USA (I assume you are from the USA), and mocking Asian for their eye shape is well known. Rather, instead focus on her beautiful deep brown eyes (and her heaving bosom), I think you'll be much safer and haven't lost anything.

Or perhaps switch hero and heroine, make it about a hot Asian guy (almond-shaped eyes and all) and a white lady that he takes to the Asian market.

YES YES YES

I think that's the best idea of all.

Frankly, making an "authentic" character in a cultural / racial / some-other-demographic group with which you are not familiar is difficult. Since you are female, and your readers are female, developing the female character authentically is more important. As long as the male character has a great chest, does it 3 times a night, and rescues her when she (inevitably) gets kidnapped, that's all you need. So you can make him Asian, and not need to develop that part as much.

[li3wei1]

I suspect the OP is a bit far down the line to be switching genders and ethnicities around:

http://azureboone.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/devil-wants-a-china-doll-scheduled-for-release-in-august/

It would help us if you clarify what you mean when you say the heroine is Asian:

She is of Asian extraction, born and living in Asia

She is of Asian extraction, born in Asia but living in English-speaking country

Her parents were immigrants to English-speaking country, she's born here, but 'mother tongue' is Asian

etc.

So we can better understand what 'her culture' is and what her reactions to 'her culture' are likely to be.

[Demonic_Duck]

[White western male disclaimer].

If you know any actual Asian women, perhaps bring them along to discuss this with your editor, that might help convincing them.

Very good idea. If you know some east-Asian women, ask one of them to proofread your work, keeping an eye out for what they perceive as stereotypes. If you don't know any east-Asian women, then you're shooting yourself in the foot by trying to write about something you have very little knowledge of.

As for "almond-shaped eyes", I've always thought of it as rather a nice image myself, certainly not racist, although I'd agree that it is clichéd, and you don't need to mention the shape of her eyes anyway if your readers already know her ethnicity.

[anonymoose]

Make sure she can do kung-fu.

[jkhsu]

(Assuming you're publishing this book in the USA) You might want to get advice from Asian American Women, and specifically Chinese American Women if your heroine is of Chinese ethnicity. And when I say Chinese American Women, I mean those who have lived in the US for a while (or born in the US). They'll have a better grasp of racial discrimination issues in the US affecting them and what is considered politically correct in writing for US audiences. Remember that even though your heroine may not be "Asian American", your target audience is Americans. Recent immigrants or those living in China will not be able to help you much because racial sensitivity standards are totally different in China than in the US. In the US, people can get fired from their jobs if they say / write something that is not politically correct regarding race.

You might want to try contacting these groups to see if they can help you out or point you in the right direction. (disclaimer: I just did a search online so I don't have personal experience with these groups)

Asian Women United

http://www.asianwomenunited.org/about/

National Asian Pacific Women's Forum

http://napawf.org/

[陳德聰]

Her English isn't fluent.

- I only think this is insulting if she was born in an English speaking country and her English isn't fluent. Otherwise, she would presumably be from somewhere they don't speak English. You as the writer get to kind of decide these things, no? Though I think dialogue written that would reflect this is a touchy issue since if you make her sound like a moron with caricatures of broken English I would probably put the book down thinking "nobody talks like that, I am put off".

She covers her mouth when she laughs.

- This is a thing people do... I don't see why it would be offensive. I catch myself doing it sometimes because I hang around so many girls =_="

Asian Market

- This is odd. You are the writer. Presumably if the characters do something, it's for a reason! If your heroine was telling your hero she missed home, then maybe he would have thought "Oh! I'll take her to the 'Asian Market' near my house and she'll feel better!", but if he's just like "Ah, she's Asian, she must like 'Asian Markets' so I shall take her there to woo her", then I think it reflects poorly on him as a character because he's a bit of a buffoon and then if that is not the intention of the writer it would reflect poorly on you.

Almond-shaped eyes.

- I have seen this used as a description of eyes so many times it feel like a stock description. It's like saying "she had golden locks", it's just so unbelievably over done I wouldn't even bother mentioning the shape of her eyes unless she has unusually white-person-looking eyes.

Doesn't it all just boil down to how good of a writer you are? Characters are allowed to be racist in books because they are supposed to be human enough for readers to relate. If your characters are doing things that a reader would think are out of character, or seem like they are disingenuous representations of real life, then people probably won't like it. If you were so worried about the stereotyping you might fall into with writing about what sounds like a foreigner-non-foreigner-love-story, it probably would have been a good idea to do a bit of consulting with people beforehand.

[gato]

Think about what kind of racial sensitivity you would have to exercise if you were to write about a romance between a black man and a white woman. Any stereotypical descriptions would probably raise your editor's alarm. You are entering similar treacherous territory here.

[abcdefg]

I took a look at the Inspirational Image for your heroine to get a better idea of what she was like:

http://azureboone.wo...et-the-heroine/

I'm not Asian, but I live in China, and would still like to offer some "for whatever it might be worth" advice. In my opinion, the most successful way to develop a realistic and believable picture of your heroine is to be very specific about her background and her behavioral traits as well as her appearance.

Do a lot of background digging (if you haven't already) and have her be from a specific neighborhood in a specific part of a specific town. Her habits will be shaped at least to some extent by how she was raised there during her formative years. Where and how did she learn English before moving abroad? Only at school, or also by working part-time in a store?

When she covers her smile, does she do it with the back of her hand? Did she develop that habit at age 14 when she had to wear orthodontic braces for a year and a half to straighten her teeth? Maybe her father had to take an extra job to pay for them.

As to her eyes, was she obsessed with having fashionable "double eyelids" when she was in college? Did she refuse to wear glasses even though she was nearsighted and never adjusted well to contact lenses? Maybe she blinks a lot and holds her mobile phone up close. Did she always wish her face was more "watermelon seed" shaped and less round?

I think having lots of detail will save you from the risk of just employing stock Asian stereotypes and being falsely accused of racism. It will also make her character more believable and there will be less risk of stumbling into silly situations. For example, if she's from Hangzhou, she probably won't get much of a warm and fuzzy feeling out of being taken to a Filipino market in Las Vegas, a Korean market in Dallas, or a Thai market in San Francisco.

[imron]

After reading the link posted by abcdefg, I thought I'd also add that Sheeku is not really a Chinese sounding name. Zhu-Yi chi-Ku, which you say the male lead shortens it from would not be a good Chinese name either. Chinese names typically have 2 or 3 syllables.

[Glenn]

I was thinking the same thing. Zhu Yi is good, though. 朱怡, maybe?

[imron]

Most native English speakers will pronounce Zh incorrectly. See for example any time Zhang Ziyi's name is mentioned by a news reporter or at some awards ceremony or whatever.

[Demonic_Duck]

['nother disclaimer: my knowledge of Chinese names is small]

If it's imperative that her name be "Sheeku" (or some approximation thereof), what about Xi Qu or something similar?

[Hofmann]

Maybe she's not a Han. Let's name her Aisin Gioro Sheeku...or something.

Oh, but using "Paranormal Erotic Romance" as a reminder, which era is she from? Is she a time traveler from the Tang? Or the future United States of China...or something?

[imron]

what about Xi Qu or something similar?

You could also go for Xi Ku, which would sound more or less the same as Sheeku, but I'm not sure I can think of any decent characters that would make that seem like a normal name.

Maybe she's not a Han. Let's name her Aisin Gioro Sheeku

There's no indication she's an imperial princess either.

[Hofmann]

Anything goes if she's a time traveler (which I decided on my own). She's a time traveler from Qing, her destination being post-zombie-apocalyptic People's Republic of California, where everyone's infertile except this one dude, whom she offers to make babies with in order to save the world.

It'll win a Pulitzer.