Body image in the APIA community
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
This is a great follow-up to the recent Addicted to Race episode I co-hosted with Latoya, in which we discussed the intersection between race and body image.
It’s a video produced by students at Columbia University (hat tip to Reappropriate) and I recognize quite a few people I met when I keynoted the New York City Asian American Student Conference back in April. Kudos to them for putting together this very compelling documentary.
It was especially depressing to me to see how many of the young women in the video had suffered from eating disorders or who had friends who did. 
This is definitely an issue that is under-discussed among Asian-Americans.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Rob wrote:
It kills me because all the girls are good looking. What else do they need to change?
What’s weird is I’ve observed body image issues with Asian men and it’s a desire to weighttrain because they’re tired of being stereotyped as weak and quiet.
Posted 03 Jul 2007 at 9:26 am ¶
Jenn wrote:
“It kills me because all the girls are good looking. What else do they need to change?”
With all due respect to Rob, in my opinion it is this phenomenon, precisely, that contributes to body image issues amongst all girls, including APIA women. It is this idea that girls should be judged by appearance, predominantly, over other factors like intelligence or personality.
Why should it matter how “beautiful” the women in the video were — unless one still believes that women should preoccupy themselves primarily with altering their weight or facial features to fit into someone else’s standard of beauty. Had the video shown huskier, more muscular, taller, or wider women or stereotypically “uglier” women, would they have been more justified in their level of eating disorders?
The high rates of eating disorders amongst these women reflect pressures placed on women like them and all across Asian Americana to conform to externalized standards of beauty. Until all women — Asian American and otherwise — can be recognized as beautiful for their internal traits over their external traits, eating disorders and other problems of body image will continue to be a problem.
Posted 03 Jul 2007 at 12:56 pm ¶
Kai wrote:
Absolutely, Jenn. I profoundly disagree with Rob’s response that the “girls” being “good-looking” is a reason to find this upsetting. Sorry, Rob, just being honest here; judging women based on superficial looks according to some ridiculous male standard is part of the problem.
I also agree with Carmen that this issue is under-discusssed in the Asian American community, and that progressive activists (myself included) need to do more to raise awareness around this issue, both among young women and their families. Growing up, I had a couple of female cousins with eating disorders and the responses from their families were totally unsatisfactory; if I could go back, I’d make a point of adding a more assertive progressive perspective to the mix of voices my cousins and their families were hearing. Going forward, I’ll be sure to do so.
What’s kind of strange is that, personally, I consider generally healthy eating habits and gastronomical practices to be a rich part of my cultural heritage (diet based on rice, tofu, greens, mushrooms, aromatic roots, steamed fish, and relatively small portions of meat; balancing the Five Elements). Not sure exactly what this has to do with anything, but it somehow seems relevant.
Rob is kinda tangentially right, however, that eating disorders are rising dramatically among young men, alongside steroid abuse, especially in the gay community; and from what I hear this is affecting lots of young Asian American men. The proliferation and glorification of mass media images of men with ripped bods are apparently a big part of this (I’m not pointing any fingers, but see Yul Kwon below and consider why he’s been so well-received and how that impacts other young Asian men). But the phenomenon is so new as to be very poorly understood, and I doubt it will ever rise to the levels of female eating disorders because of the flagrant sexism in our society.
Posted 03 Jul 2007 at 3:46 pm ¶
WomunOfColour wrote:
Did you guys notice that the “half-Korean” girl kept saying “American” where she meant “White Caucasian”? Why?
Posted 03 Jul 2007 at 8:09 pm ¶
Ike wrote:
Her parents probably do that (I know mine do), and the only people likely to correct it are Asian-Americans. To which the standard response is “You know what I meant”.
Posted 04 Jul 2007 at 8:49 am ¶
James wrote:
“Did you guys notice that the “half-Korean” girl kept saying “American” where she meant “White Caucasian”? Why?”
Uh, because she’s an Asian woman?
Posted 04 Jul 2007 at 9:25 am ¶
Anonymous wrote:
“Uh, because she’s an Asian woman?”
Oh, sorry James, I didn’t know that an “Asian woman” can’t also be an “American” or that “American” automatically means “white” or “non-Asian.”
Posted 04 Jul 2007 at 11:30 am ¶
Donna Darko wrote:
It’s not just the responses of families that are totally unsatisfactory, the latest research shows Asian families are the cause of eating disorders and body issues in Asian American women. The women’s words in the video reflect the research:
Where do these pressures to change come from?
Girl 1: I think pressures come within my family.
Woman 2: My aunt told me if my feet got too big I wouldn’t get a good Chinese husband.
Woman 3: My own family thought that I was larger than what a Korean girl should look like.
Woman 4: Our parents encourage what the media puts out there. They encourage looking a certain way.
Woman 3: The pressures of your parents. The pressures of your culture. You’re put in a place where you want to be like everybody.
Woman 4: If the people who are closest to you tell you you’re not good enough or beautiful enough, that has the biggest effect.
Woman 5: This past summer when I was in China, there was definitely a difference between my body and bodies of Asian girls there.
Posted 04 Jul 2007 at 4:45 pm ¶
JC wrote:
Oh man… to Asian Americans who’s not so “white-washed”, American=white. It’s just the way it is. Only white folks would ask that kind of question.
What you have documented here is a well-known issue in Asian countries. It’s only new to Asians in America who’s ignorant of Asia in general.
Posted 04 Jul 2007 at 5:41 pm ¶
WomunOfColour wrote:
@JC
No, the concept “American=white” is not “new” to Asians in North America. If you’ve grown up in North America, “American≠white” is something people of colour realize a bit later, assuming they develop a positive view of themselves.
Only traditional folks insist that “American=white” and that “it’s just the way it is.”
Link for you: http://www.xdlfilm.com/XDL/Asking_Permission.html
Posted 04 Jul 2007 at 8:40 pm ¶
jane wrote:
i wouldn’t necessarily say that the “american doesn’t necessarily equal white” issue is “well-known” in asia, or at least china. i very frequently encounter people who want to know why my hair isn’t blond, if i’m american; and generally it’s only white westerners who will receive the title of “foreigner”; otherwise it’s “japanese” or “korean” or “black person” (these are the literal translations of labels i’ve heard). and also the whole practice of hiring english teachers here who fit the mold of a white foreigner–it’s relatively difficult for anybody who’s not white to find that kind of work that is so easily snapped up by the blond-haired, blue-eyed set.
anyway, that’s quite off topic.
it was nice to see a collection of voices on this subject, as presented in the video, though it would have been interesting if more male perspectives were incorporated into it, i think.
Posted 05 Jul 2007 at 11:41 am ¶
Donna Darko wrote:
The men’s response to the same question focused on mainstream society:
Where do these pressures to change come from?
Man #1: This is stuff we grow up with because it’s out there in society. To make people feel unworthy so they buy products and seek surgery.
Man #2: It so happens a lot of people choose to undergo surgery in this country.
The women blamed their Asian American families and culture (sexism) and the men blamed mainstream white culture (racism). I’m not sure if the men were talking about body issues of men or women.
Posted 05 Jul 2007 at 2:00 pm ¶
Donna Darko wrote:
The question:
Where do these pressures to change come from?
was posed at the 2:00 mark in the first video.
Posted 05 Jul 2007 at 2:03 pm ¶
Jenn wrote:
“it was nice to see a collection of voices on this subject, as presented in the video, though it would have been interesting if more male perspectives were incorporated into it, i think.”
I think I would disagree — I think we need to hear from Asian American women predominantly. While it is true that body image disorders are on the rise amongst APIA men, I think we have traditionally had issues in the APIA community dominated by the concerns of APIA males. To some degree, I think the documentary is stronger because it focuses almost exclusively on what APIA women — who have long been silent on this subject — have to say.
I personally received a lot of pressure both from family and from friends (both within and outside of the APIA community) to conform to a pre-defined ideal of what an Asian woman should look like. Because I am of Chinese descent, I was expected to be slim, slender, etc. However, I was born with a more endomorphic shape and no amount of working out or starving myself will change that. Thankfully, neither me nor my sister succumbed to annorexia or bullimia (probably because we both like to eat too much, plus my sister is already slender despite her love of junk food) but every single one of my sister’s girlfriends had an eating disorder (my sister went to public school in our neighbourhood which is heavily Asian so she had more Asian Canadian friends than I did — my clique was more diverse).
And yet, no one would talk about it. Even my sister who knew — almost considered it par for the course — felt more comfortable telling me than telling her friends that they shouldn’t starve themselves.
Posted 05 Jul 2007 at 2:35 pm ¶
Donna Darko wrote:
Since I was 16 all my pops cared about was that I was “working out.” This continues today. When I was in college, all he said on the phone was, “Are you working out?” That’s all he’d say despite all the other things I was doing including surviving a Top Three Ivy League college. It’s probably because he loves athletics and working out himself but it’s probably due to pressure to conform to the the body types in Asia.
Posted 05 Jul 2007 at 5:23 pm ¶
Donna Darko wrote:
I love my dad like crazy, don’t get me wrong. He likes us all to do athletics.
Posted 05 Jul 2007 at 5:24 pm ¶
Donna Darko wrote:
In case you missed it, Carmen on eating disorders on Podcast 73:
Families play such an important role. For me and a lot of other Asian and Asian American women I know, so much of the negative messaging comes from your immediate family.
Posted 06 Jul 2007 at 11:13 am ¶
Donna Darko wrote:
With the five women in the video and three other women reflecting the research that says Asian American families are the main cause of eating disorders in Asian American girls and women, I resent the suggestion from the Asian American community that eating disorders are the Asian American women’s own fault and a result of trying to conform to the mainstream white culture.
This is why Asian American feminism is neccessary.
Posted 06 Jul 2007 at 11:18 am ¶
Calvin wrote:
Thank you for sharing your comments here; We’re happy that this video is getting exposure as we’re planning to do follow up projects on the subject (exploring it in more depth) in the near future. Any suggestions are more than welcome.
If anyone is in NYC this July and would like to attend the festival world premiere of this film, please come! We’ll be at the AAIFF (30th Annual Asian American International Film Festival), as it’ll screen on July 21st at 12pm noon at the Asia Society (70th st. and Park Avenue). Q&A to follow!
Thanks again everyone. We’re looking forward to continued dialogue and involvement with Asian Americans from around the country,
C
Posted 06 Jul 2007 at 5:36 pm ¶