Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Alias]

Terry Lee, Dec 15, 2006


At the Asia Society�s "Confronting Asian American Stereotypes" conference, there was a panel of Asian American media folks. One in particular caught my attention. He has a blog called AngryAsianMan.com. Since I was not able to get to the microphone in time to speak, here�s what I wanted to say.

Should Asian American men be angry? Well, let me tell you one reason why I get angry. It happens when I come home at night for dinner, and turn on the television to watch the evening news.

Why are there so many more Asian females on TV news than Asian males? When I did a tally of Bay Area TV news stations, I found more than twice the number of Asian women news broadcasters and anchors than their male counterparts.

Of the 23 Asian American broadcast journalists working in the Bay Area, 16 are female and 7 are male. Only one of the Asian male reporters (Alan Wang) is a recent addition to the news scene. All of the rest have been around for what seems to be eons and eons. However, not a single one has moved up to a regular news anchor position, whereas many of the females serve as anchors as well as news reporters.

Now, don�t get me wrong. I am not at all against seeing more Asian female faces on television. It has been a long time coming to see more minorities on television.

But I raise the question: Why is there such a great discrepancy between our genders when it comes to our visibility in the news programs?

The situation is as bad or even worse in national broadcasting. There, one rarely sees Asian males reporting the news. However, it seems inevitable the major national stations will have the young, good-looking Asian woman reporter who sounds and acts as if she were white.

To make my dinner even more unpleasant, the same thing happens when the commercial comes on. Very seldom do I see any Asian guys in them, even though there are many more other minorities featured now. But then again, there seems to be a heck of a lot more young and attractive Asian females in commercials nowadays, used by the producers to show off their glamour and "exoticness."

So I get angry because I know what the game is all about. It�s about the white males who own and control the media. They discriminate against and exclude Asian men, while going overboard to promote, glorify and exploit Asian women. Is it any wonder then, that there are so many white guys who have their fetish?

Of course, this racism has been going on ever since we arrived in this country many, many years ago. Only now, the white males who make the media images are more careful when they use us for their own gain.

Young people need to have positive and strong Asian males as role models. But when they see so few of them and a preponderance of Asian females on television, many of whom, unfortunately, are paired with white men, what�s the message? "You are not good enough to make it in this society. You are not equal to the white guys."

Here in America, Asian females, on the other hand, are good enough, and especially in the eyes of some of those creepy white guys, highly desirable as well.

The power of the white male-dominated mass media industry has been abused and misused. If this doesn�t make you angry, perhaps you�ve been watching too much TV and not spending enough time looking into the history and current state of racism against Asians and Asian Americans in this country. But be careful � it might spoil your dinner, too.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terry Lee has worked as a counselor at City College of San Francisco, CSU East Bay (formerly CSU Hayward). He wrote "Where Have All the Asian Males Gone?" in AsianWeek on Aug. 22, 1986.

[Corporal]

Dave's is hardly the target audience of this article.

[Big_Bird]

[crazylemongirl]

but a korean dude just won survivor! Plus that hot MILF guy from american pie. ...

I do think that this whole 'angry asian man' thing does nothing to further their cause. I'd be looking for more postive representations of Asian men, than whining about the lack of them on TV or that white men are stealing their chicks.

[Fresh Prince]

Interesting article.

While in college I did a research paper on the same topic. According to a survey by the New York Times men only make up 43% of college graduates. That means that more women are graduating and entering professional occupations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/09/education/09college.html?ei=5088&en=cd9efba2e9595dec&ex=1310097600&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1166763967-cjdS6cXC2df/xn/AHPT1Bw

Not to detract from the topic but according to the U.S. department of education and other study groups, Asians graduate high school and college at the highest rate followed by students who identify themselves as white.

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/ewp_03.htm

So more Asians are graduating than any other race in the U.S., and more women are graduating than any other gender.

So is the lack of Asian male representation in the U.S. media a product of bigotry by rich white media elites, or is it a reflection of the lack of qualified professional Asian men entering the workforce?

[mateomiguel]

if you type this into your post you can make a linked word and won't stretch out the page so much:

[jaderedux]

You know what I want I want more Latvians...dammit! And by gawd where are the Maldavians? And the people from Liechtenstein??? Huh where are they and all those people from the endless "stans" huh???

I am sick of the man keepin' 'em down.

You know what I am sick of.....people whining about there isn't enough of this on TV and that on TV. A few years ago there weren't enough woman and now there are plenty. They kicked butt and proved themselves as good as any peni$ holder.

Everyone gets stereotyped...Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Irish, Italians, EVERYONE! Get the F' over it. I am hispanic. I have seen some old movies and TV series that make me wince. But now it is cool to be hispanic. Used to be the same with blacks and now a Korean has won Survivor.....! I think it is cool but people IT IS FREAKING TV...!

Jade The hispanic
FELIZ NAVIDAD.

[Junior]

Oh look what i found.


" It�s about the korean males who own and control the media. They discriminate against and exclude foreigners, while going overboard to promote and glorify themselves.

Of course, this racism has been going on ever since we foreigners arrived in this country since about 1996.. Only now, the korean males who make the media images are worse than ever when they use us for their own gain.

Young people need to have positive and strong Korean males as role models. But when they see so few of them in Korean society what�s the message? . You are not equal to the white guys."

[Fresh Prince]

[Junior]

I don't see the problem. They had bruce lee and Jackie Chan. or was that Charlie chan?
They were American though weren't they?

[endo]

Interesting article. While I agree with some of Fresh Prince's points, I also have to concede the plight of the Asian male in Western media.

I'm a white male, so take it for what its worth.


But at the same time while we see more of the Asian woman/white man as opposed to the Asian man/white woman, doesn't this also reflect society at large?

[mateomiguel]

[Hollywoodaction]

Van Wilder 2: The rise of Taj

http://www.apple.com/trailers/mgm/vanwilder2theriseoftaj/

[Moldy Rutabaga]

[....]

[rocklee]

Before James Kim's passing he was a pretty decent reviewer on TV and more interesting that the "white" folks. On the other hand I've seen an Indian guy with a british accent on one of the American news show and I could not understand a word he said.

Regarding reporters and news readers, I think women have a better sex appeal in front of the screen than their counterparts. They start to lose their appeal when the topic changes to HP vs torque or Ubuntu vs Redhat.