I will say honestly however, that I am troubled by the fact that as usual, the majority of the talking has been done by men–Asian American or African American.

Actually most of the talking has been done by men–Asian American or MelaninManson. :) Haha…

We need to stop blaming each other. The problem is not the existence of an Asian American feminist movement.

I don’t think anyone here is blaming Asian American women. If I say that there was a historical Asian American feminist movement led by Hong Kingston and Tan that demonized Asian American men, I’m not blaming anyone other than the people who created that racist movement. I should be able to say this without offending strong Asian American women like nightshade and BTB and cattygurl because I’m simply stating the fact that a major engine of racism against Asian American men has been Asian American feminism. This is a historical truth. We saw this happen yet again with “Falling for Grace.”

In fact, it could be received as a gesture of faith when I say that I see them outside of the AA feminist movement. It means that I respect them for their individual stands against racism, a stand which is the exact opposite of Kingstonism.

My point in Rheinlander was that a real Asian American feminism can take place, but I still believe that all Asian American empowerment movements need to acknowledge and comment on the past AA feminist movement. Those past AA feminists are not that few in number–in addition to Kingston, there’s Tan, Patricia Chao, Fay Ann Lee, Lisa See, Cathy Bao Bean, Nick Kristof (who writes great articles on non-cultural issues but is a total closet orientalist), etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. They are just the figureheads, but they have lots of followers. I’m not saying that we need to fight against them head to head–maybe these “leaders” really are simply misguided–but we need to at least acknowledge that:

a) They’ve done tremendous damage
b) We’re seeking to repair that damage
c) We may all be Asian, but our movement doesn’t include their actions

Even though we didn’t support them in what they did, we all, male and female, need to take responsibility for their actions, much like Germans today have to take responsibility for what people of their culture did a long time ago. Anything less than this, I believe, prevents our community from lifting up our real Asian American feminists.

It’s hardly feminist to believe that women deserve to be treated with respect–that should be a given. The problem that women face in this country is the white patriarchy, not the boohoo so-called oppressiveness of some Asian American dudes on the Internet who hate seeing an Asian sister with a white man.

I don’t think that anyone said that a distinct feminism practiced by Asian American women (and men) wasn’t necessary to building our community. If that is how my words were interpreted, I’m really disappointed.

There is a difference between asking for basic rights, and being a “feminist.” Given the current state of feminism, Asian or otherwise, in North America today, I’m pretty ashamed of these privileged women exercising the right to be narcissistic. This narcissism is not feminism. Can we please stop calling it feminism and labelling opponents of this bullshit anti-feminist?

I’m kind of sick of men implying that they are more feminist than I am.

Also, given the fact that Asian American women are more visible than Asian American men, at a certain point we have to examine how our actions as privileged Asian American women are oppressive. What is the use of gaining personal freedoms if these freedoms come at the cost of people in our community?

No one here is attacking poor women who are being abused by their husbands. Far from it. But we’re mixing up discussions about class, race and gender and not applying the correct arguments to specific cases.

I seriously doubt any woman who is struggling to raise children in shitty conditions, and who knows that what is happening to her is unjust, would even think for a second to call herself a feminist. Is her struggle any less important because she doesn’t use fancy jargon?

Calling oneself a feminist is a really privileged position, especially in the context of our community, where our men are pretty much invisible in media, positions of power and authority. Can we remember this? Can remember that our stance is a privilege, and that we should exercise our privilege with compassion and caution?