The Tao of Self-Confidence E-Book

Sheena Yap Chan

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 292

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

A WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER A guide for Asian women to tap into their confidence and joy, and shine as leaders in today's world In 2021, women represented 54.3% of the US workforce but only held 35% of senior leadership positions. Of that percentage, only 2.7% of Asian women were seen in management roles. While there have been great leaps for women in the workplace in the last decade, women of color still fall behind. The Tao of Self-Confidence book sets a foundation to help Asian Women start being seen as leaders in work and life rather than by our stereotypes. In this book, you'll read about: * Getting to the root causes of what's holding you back and stepping into your greatness * Cultural and historical issues that affect our leadership potential * Finding and gaining more confidence as your authentic self With an honest and vulnerable approach, Yap Chan discusses and explores the specific challenges our community faces, historically and now in the midst of the pandemic, intergenerational and historical trauma, false stories we tell ourselves, and how we can rise above stereotypes. We'll tap into our inner joy, celebrate our authentic self, and awaken the leader within.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction: The State of Asian Women

1 The Model Minority Myth and How That Affects Us

History of the Term “Model Minority”

The Danger of the Myth

The Model Minority Myth and Mental Health

Notes

2 The Challenges Asian Women Still Face

The “Submissive” Stereotype

The Hypersexualized Stereotype

The Yellow Peril Stereotype

“Yellow Fever” Fetishization

Representation of Asian Women in Hollywood

The Representation of Asian Women in Mainstream Media

Lack of Asian Women Leadership Representation in Other Industries

The Pressure to Get Married

The Need for Perfection

Fear of Failure

The Asian American Closet

The Beauty Standards of Asian Women

The Confidence Gap

The Inequality Asian Women Face

Notes

3 Intergenerational Trauma and Why We Need to Talk About It

How Intergenerational Trauma Shows Up for Asian Women

The Centuries of Intergenerational Trauma for Asian Women

Hollywood Representation Tackling Intergenerational Trauma

Turning Red

Umma

The Joy Luck Club

Notes

4 How to Unlock Our Traumas

What Is Trauma?

Childhood Trauma

PTSD

Racial Trauma

Money Trauma

Cultural Trauma

How to Unlock Your Traumas

Notes

5 The Journey to Healing

Open Your Chakras

Take Care of Your Mental Well‐being

K‐dramas

Seek Professional Help

Notes

6 The Journey to Self‐Love

Self‐Care Is Essential

Self‐Love Practices

A Study in Self‐Love

Notes

7 The Power of Self‐Confidence

What Is Self‐Confidence?

Three Steps to Building Self‐Confidence

Have a Purpose

Face Your Fears

The 51% Rule

What Is Your Confidence Color?

The Art of Asking Questions

Learning from the “Nos”

Keep Moving Forward

Don't Wait for the Perfect Moment

Let Go of What Others Think of You

Celebrate Every Win

Practice Makes Progress

Make the First Move

Ask for Help

Notes

8 The Future of Asian Women in Leadership

Kamala Harris

Kim Ng

Wave (Marvel Superhero)

Janet Yang

Sandra Oh

BLACKPINK

Savitri Jindal

Rosa Saito

Notes

Conclusion: Words for Your Self‐Confidence Journey

Resource List

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Index

End User License Agreement

Guide

Cover Page

Title Page

Copyright

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

Conclusion: Words for Your Self‐Confidence Journey

Resource List

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Index

Wiley End User License Agreement

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The Tao of Self - Confidence

A GUIDE TO MOVING BEYOND TRAUMA AND AWAKENING THE LEADER WITHIN

Sheena Ya p Chan

Copyright © 2023 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per‐copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750‐8400, fax (978) 750‐4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748‐6011, fax (201) 748‐6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission.

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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data:

Names: Chan, Sheena Yap, author.

Title: The tao of self‐confidence : a guide to moving beyond trauma and awakening the leader within / Sheena Yap Chan.

Description: Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, [2023] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022056044 (print) | LCCN 2022056045 (ebook) | ISBN 9781394166572 (hardback) | ISBN 9781394166596 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781394166589 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Leadership in women. | Asian American women. | Self‐confidence.

Classification: LCC HQ1233 .C395 2023 (print) | LCC HQ1233 (ebook) | DDC 303.3/4082‐‐dc23/eng/20230110

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022056044

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022056045

Cover design: Paul McCarthy

Cover image: © Getty Images| Wilatlak Villette

Introduction: The State of Asian Women

Growing up in Toronto, Canada, in the 1990s, it was always difficult for me to see anyone in the media who looked like me. No one had similar facial features, and I found it hard to accept who I was and my own culture. I wished for blonde hair and blue eyes. I wanted to change my name from Sheena to Heather to sound more “Western.” Can you imagine being nine years old and already facing all kinds of self‐esteem issues because people who looked like me weren't represented in what I saw and heard every day?

Over the years, I've worked on fully accepting myself and my heritage. In the process, I promised myself that I would always try to create a stronger representation for Asian women in order to dismantle the negative stereotypes that we still face today.

I started a podcast in 2015 called The Tao of Self‐Confidence where I interviewed more than 700 Asian women on the topic of confidence. Although my podcast has reached over 1.2 million downloads and is among the top 0.5% most popular podcasts in the world, the visibility factor for Asian women was still nonexistent almost everywhere else.

In 2021, I co‐created a book called Asian Women Who BossUp, which highlights the stories of 18 Asian women who have been able to forge their own paths, overcome obstacles, and thrive. It was amazing to see 16 Asian women on the front cover of the book—something I've never seen before.

Asian Women Who BossUp started giving us the visibility we deserve, and Asian women were seen in a different light. For years, Asian women have been “bossing up” in their own industries, but no publication has highlighted their collective breakthroughs and insight until now.

I always believe that if you want the representation you crave, it must start with you. If you're not out there trying to create the representation you want to see, you're unknowingly continuing the vicious cycle.

A report from Catalyst.org (n.d.) on the representation of women of color in management and leadership roles in the United States in 2021 was particularly disappointing, although not surprising:

Black women, 4.4%

Hispanic women, 4.3%

Asian women, 2.7%

When I saw the stats, I started to wonder why Asian women had the lowest representation in leadership roles. Something in me wanted to dig deep and figure out why this was happening.

When I was presented with the opportunity to write this book, I felt a little hesitant. I had bouts of imposter syndrome, doubting I was even the right person to write it. Who was I to write a book based on the topic of leadership? But I realized that if I gave in to my doubts and fears and didn't write this book, I would've been the biggest hypocrite in the world. So I went for it. I found a way to overcome my emotional blocks and made it happen.

I feel grateful and honored to have this chance to write a book that not only helps Asian women but all women in leadership. As women, we still face so many challenges in this arena.

Many leadership books I see out there are basic how‐to books or rigid manuals. Most of them don't talk about the reasons why women, particularly Asian women, don't advance in leadership. So I decided to create a book that really dove into the cultural and historical issues that affect a leadership career. That means exploring the things we have gone through, including what came before us, our heritage, the moment we were born into, and how that has affected us in our daily life.

We don't realize that our personal history and experiences can linger in us and subconsciously affect our actions and decisions in our daily lives. These subconscious, forgotten life experiences may be part of the reason why you are struggling in your current situation.

This is why I decided to write a book like no other, a book I wished had been around when I was starting out: a book on leadership that touches on historical and cultural mindsets as well as personal roadblocks or trauma you may be going through. If you don't work on your mindset first or figure out what kind of baggage you're carrying from the past, it's going to be an uphill battle to become the effective leader you were meant to be.

This book will tackle the things that you don't normally talk about: the taboos in your culture and how you were brought up. I will bring up things that your Asian parents will tell you not to talk about. I will take you on a journey that you have never experienced before.

This book will tackle topics such as the model minority myth and how that has affected the Asian community for decades, the many issues that Asian women still face today, intergenerational trauma, how to unlock other forms of trauma, the journey to healing from your traumas, self‐love and why it matters, the power of self‐confidence, and the future of Asian women leadership.

And while this book may seem like it's catering to a specific audience, these specific stories complete a narrative tapestry that helps all of us better understand each other. You can learn from this because there will be parts of my story that you can relate to. I'm sure you have different taboos in your culture or negative stereotypes that make you feel like less than a leader. I'm sure you've had to navigate issues with racism or sexism in your life simply by being a woman.

It's important to share your specific stories. I've been rejected way too many times in my life because my story was “too specific” or that it catered to a “specific” audience. But your specific story can help people from all walks of life in many ways. You can either relate to a story, learn something new, or see things from a different perspective.

If you hear the same stories over and over, how would you learn and create positive changes? You can't keep doing the same things and expect a different result (which, by the way, is the very definition of insanity).

Being “specific” is a good thing, and it's about time to learn about leadership from a different perspective, especially one that's often seen as invisible or not taken seriously in leadership roles: that perspective is from me, a woman of Asian descent.

Stereotypes come up just from how I look: the media has often implied people who look like me were the cause of COVID‐19 or that my only goal is to be a good housewife. Because of my Asian features, I face immediate judgment, and this judgment from stereotypes has fueled a rise of violence against Asian women like me, especially since the COVID‐19 pandemic. The community has been in tears for the Atlanta shooting in 2021 that took the lives of six innocent Asian women; the death of Christina Yuna Lee, who was murdered in her own apartment; and many others.

Having a leadership book from an Asian woman's perspective is more important than ever. Being on the receiving end of generations of misdirected hate and rage, voices like mine need to come out of the background and be heard. In the words of Lizzo: “It's about damn time!”

1The Model Minority Myth and How That Affects Us

The Asian community has always been seen as silent, well‐behaved achievers and held up as “good examples” when talking about the underrepresented and immigrants in Western countries, especially the United States. While it may seem like a compliment, this stereotype has caused harm that's rippled through the Asian community.

According to the book The Routledge Companion to Race and Ethnicity: “The term ‘model minority’ refers to minority groups that have ostensibly achieved a high level of success in contemporary US society. The term has been used most often to describe Asian Americans, a group seen as having attained educational and financial success relative to other immigrant groups. The ‘model minority’ label on its surface seems to be an accolade because it appears to praise Asian Americans for their achievements.”1

And yet you rarely see Asian women (or even men) in higher leadership and management roles. In many instances, the measure of success for Asians is taken for granted. For example, how can one Asian person in a leadership position be seen as a “success” in representation? It's as if that person's Asian‐ness was enough to represent the more than 24 million Asian Americans who live in the United States.

You would think that if Asian Americans “achieved a high level of success,” then at the bare minimum, the community would represent at least 20% of the leadership positions in the United States, which is far from the reality.

History of the Term “Model Minority”

On January 9, 1966, sociologist William Petersen wrote an article for the New York Times Magazine called “Success Story: Japanese‐American Style.”2

In the original article, Petersen talks about the exclusion, challenges, and discrimination that Japanese Americans had gone through and mentions how they successfully overcame their challenges by assimilating into Western culture.

While some Japanese Americans embraced this article as a sign of success for the community in terms of gaining visibility and validation, most thought the depiction of Japanese Americans as “compliant” was overly exaggerated.3

It's amazing how one person's article has drastically affected the way Asian Americans and Canadians were seen by the Western world. It's taken as absolute truth, when in reality it's only one person's perspective.

Japanese Americans started to be used as an example of obedience and strong work ethic compared to the “problem minority.”

If there is one word to abolish when describing non‐white people it's the word “minority.”

In many cases, it no longer means the statistical minority, but a term for exclusion and inferiority: minor as in not important or not the preferred norm. “Minority” feels like we're being downgraded because of differences in cultural background. It's become such a problematic term that needs to be dismantled in the work for equity and progress.

Since that article came out from Petersen claiming that Japanese Americans were the model minority, more articles came out claiming Asian Americans are the model minority because we are “obedient” and willing to assimilate in to Western culture.

From personal experience, I think this is especially true for Chinese Americans, as mentioned in this follow‐up article, titled “Success of One Minority Group in the US.”4

The article describes Chinese Americans as hardworking and self‐sufficient people who don't need help from anyone else to achieve the American Dream. It also mentions that even with low pay and long hours building the railroad tracks, and faced with the Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese Americans “never complained” about it. Chinese Americans were willing to take any job they could get in America. If they were a scholar in their home country and the only job they could get in America was being a waiter, then they were willing to take it. The message was that you could throw anything at Chinese Americans, and no matter how bad the situation, they would find a way to adapt.

The Danger of the Myth

The Western world has always lumped the Asian community together as one race and one culture in spite of the fact that Asian culture is a very diverse community with many different ethnicities.

Even when I googled the terms “Asian Culture Facts,” the top‐ranked article that popped up was “10 Interesting Facts to Help You Understand Chinese Culture,” showing two white people in traditional Chinese clothing.5

In 2022, the world according to Google still thinks that all Asians come from China. Hopefully, by the time you read this book, the algorithms have changed and will rank an article that has diverse representation when you search for “Asian Culture Facts.”

This has become a huge problem, especially with the rise of Anti‐Asian hate crimes in the United States and Canada. When former US President Donald Trump constantly called the COVID‐19 virus the “China Virus,”6 it became a call to violence, and every single Asian person inadvertently became a target of a hate crime.

I remember reading articles about Asian elderly men and women, whether they were Chinese, Thai, Filipino, or Indian, being attacked. Each time, I couldn't help thinking that it could've been my mother, grandmother, or aunt who was attacked. Even people in the Latinx community were being attacked whenever they were mistaken for an Asian person. I remember reading an article about a 70‐year‐old Mexican woman who was brutally beaten up while riding the bus for that reason.7

In 2020, mainstream media started publishing and televising news of the COVID‐19 virus, mentioning its origin in Wuhan, China, and sensationalizing speculations instead of focusing on facts. Whether I wanted to or not, I felt even more afraid for my safety every time I had to go out:

One look at me, and it's an instant assumption that I was the cause of COVID‐19.

People might assume I was a bat eater even though I have never eaten a bat, and I haven't eaten meat for more than five years.

People might tell me to “Go back to China!” even though I have never been to China and was born in the Philippines.

I was constantly afraid my family might become a target of all the misplaced anger and hate over the pandemic.

And when I reflect on it now, I realize this was the same fear and paranoia that our community has dealt with for being the scapegoat for the COVID‐19 pandemic.

It's difficult to be seen as a community of diverse backgrounds when physical appearance and stereotypes lump Asians together as a monolith culture. But here's the truth:

Forty‐nine sovereign countries make up Asia.

8

As of 2022, more than 4.7 billion people live in Asia, which is considered the most populous continent in the world.

Asia has more than 2,300 recognized languages.

The model minority myth started the ball rolling on reducing Asians to one or two cultures. The mindset that how one or a few behave represents the whole culture has negatively affected generations of the Asian community, especially Asian women.

An article from the Epoch Times talks about taking a closer look behind the rise of Anti‐Asian hate crimes. I was a contributor to that article, and I mentioned that the model minority concept was a big reason for this rise, especially for Asian women. I explained how the model minority myth dehumanizes Asian women, even today:

Women are less likely to report a crime due to our upbringing. When something traumatic happens, we usually keep it to ourselves or ignore that it happened. Also, growing up in an Asian culture, we want to save face and never tarnish the family name even when we know that traumatic experience wasn't our fault…. We end up being the easy target.9

The perception that Asians are achievers, model citizens, and self‐sufficient can hurt rather than help. As an Asian, if you're seen to ask for help from our peers or fail to live up to a certain standard, you end up becoming a “failure” in our culture according to the standards of the Western world. The pressure is high when you have to live by these unrealistic standards.

If you do speak up or talk back, you become the problematic Asian woman, and you're not living by the standards of our cultural upbringing. You end up being penalized for not living up to the expected stereotype. You're supposed to be the model citizen who should never complain about any injustice that you face because the older generation never complained about anything when they migrated to the United States and Canada.

Even asking a question feels like you've failed as a human being because you're supposed to be the high achiever who knows everything and should never have to ask for help. How many times have you wanted to raise your hand in school or at work to ask a question but are too embarrassed to do it, because you fear that you will get laughed at or someone might call you stupid? Been there, done that many times in my life.

Even as we saw a rise of anti‐Asian hate crimes during the pandemic, it didn't start there. There's a long history of racism against Asians, which I will explain in the next chapters.

Mainstream media hardly ever covered the racist attacks that happened to our community at the beginning of the Stop Asian Hate Movement. Social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram were the source of most of the news about the attacks against the Asian community.

The Atlanta shooting that happened on March 16, 2021, which took the lives of six Asian women, was the moment that mainstream media started to talk about the rise of anti‐Asian hate crimes.

The Model Minority Myth and Mental Health

I wanted to have this as a separate topic because mental health is not talked about enough, especially in the Asian community. When it comes to mental health, the model minority myth has definitely made it almost impossible for you to talk about how you feel or even seek help. The Huffington Post article titled “7 Ways ‘The Model Minority’ Myth Hurts Asian American's Mental Health”10 was one of the few examples that sheds light on what the community is going through. It listed these very real concerns:

The expectations for academic and career success can feel impossible to meet.

You are always seen as hardworking, intelligent, and nice. The pressure and anxiety start to increase when you cannot live up to this standard, especially when it comes to academics. When you become a B or C student, you've become a failure to yourself, your family, and your culture.

The myth suggests Asian Americans face less racism than other people of color.

Asian Americans have been facing racism for centuries but were told never to talk about it. Mainstream Western history also tends to erase or gloss over major events that disadvantaged Asian Americans, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act or the Japanese internment camps. Many people also assume that anti‐Asian racism didn't exist in other countries during the pandemic. I can tell you, being in Canada, that this is far from the truth.

The model minority myth hides the economic realities of many Asian Americans.

Asians are often portrayed as an affluent group. Often, this harms the many others who need resources and help.

They're less likely to seek out mental health help.

This is so true; mental health has always been a taboo in the community. You are told to never share your feelings, and it's a sign of weakness, especially if you go to a licensed therapist. Being able to express what you are feeling is healthy for you to maintain your mental well‐being.

Not all Asians are considered model minority enough.

If you don't live up to a certain standard, you end up being a failure, just like when I failed kindergarten in the Philippines for coloring outside the lines. I was considered a failure from the age of 5 and this mentality stayed with me until my late 30s.

They fall into careers and fields they're uninterested in.

I was told that getting a 9‐to‐5 job was the path to success. So I did what I was told and for 12 years I worked in an office thinking that was the highest level of success I was able to attain as an Asian woman. Even though something inside me knew that I couldn't picture myself working in an office until I retired, I continued to work there because that's what the meaning of success was. So many people end up working in a career they hate, but they stay because of this belief.

It distances people from their culture.

As a child, I wanted to have blonde hair and blue eyes and change my name to Heather because I wanted to be more Caucasian. I thought that was the standard of beauty, and I was embarrassed to be Asian. Even when I lived in the Philippines, it was always about assimilating into American culture. Everyone wanted to speak English well and follow the trends of the Western world.

As an Asian woman, it feels like your whole life is laid out for you. You go to school, graduate, get a good job, get married, have kids, and never rock the boat. Anything outside of that is considered unsuccessful or shameful. The judgments start coming out once you start doing something outside of the path that was laid out for you, and you feel like something is wrong with you because you want to forge your own path.

Even if you want to seek professional help, such as going to see a therapist, it is seen by your culture as a sign of weakness, and it means that something is wrong with you even when every person goes through some form of mental health challenges, myself included.

Now, I am not a licensed mental health expert, and I don't claim to be. I am an advocate to normalize mental health because the taboos in the culture are hurting people, especially during the pandemic. Having to deal with the lockdown and the anti‐Asian racism at the same time, of course that affects your mental health. It's okay to say you are not okay.

I personally was not okay at the beginning of the lockdown. I honestly thought it was the end of the world when everything shut down. It felt like there was no reason to live, and I was too afraid to tell anyone that I was going through my own mental health challenges. It's never healthy to keep your struggles and feelings a secret. You are like a ticking time bomb that is ready to explode, and that's never a good thing.

When I interviewed more than 700 Asian women on my podcast, it was a breath of fresh air to hear that I wasn't the only one dealing with mental health issues. Knowing that they found different outlets to express their true feelings made me feel like I was not alone in my journey and that we are all in this together.

It's so important to have healthy ways to express what you are feeling, even if it means sharing your struggles, because it's a way of taking care of your mental well‐being. I was fortunate that the right people came into my life during the pandemic when I was feeling at my worst. Without them, I wouldn't be here today sharing this with you.

If you're going through something right now, have the courage to take care of your mental well‐being. It's okay to seek out professional help, and there's no shame in that. If you're on the journey to healing yourself, you do what works for you.

So many mental health resources are now available. Don't take it for granted. If it's available to you, take the opportunity to use it. Your future self will thank you for it.

Notes

1.

Caliendo, S.M., and McIlwain, C.D. (2020).

The Routledge companion to race and ethnicity

. [online]. Google Books. Routledge, pp. 173–176. Available from:

https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=Iqf7DwAAQBAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s

[Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

2.

Pettersen, W. (2010).

Success story, Japanese‐American style

[online]. Available from:

http://inside.sfuhs.org/dept/history/US_History_reader/Chapter14/modelminority.pdf

.

3.

encyclopedia.densho.org

. (n.d.).

Model minority

[online]. Available from:

https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Model_minority

.

4.

US News & World Report

. (1966). Success story of one minority group in US [online].

US News and World Report,

26 Dec., pp. 6–9. Available from:

https://www.dartmouth.edu/˜hist32/Hist33/US%20News%20&%20World%20Report.pdf

.

5.

Song, C. (2019).

10 facts to help you understand Chinese culture

[online]. China Highlights. Available from:

https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-culture-facts.htm

.

6.

Reja, M. (2021).

Trump's ‘Chinese Virus’ tweet helped lead to rise in racist anti‐Asian Twitter content: Study

[online]. ABC News. Available from:

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/trumps-chinese-virus-tweet-helped-lead-rise-racist/story?id=76530148

.

7.

Lapin, T. (2021). Grandmother brutally beaten on LA bus by attacker who thought she was Asian.

New York Post

[online]. Available from:

https://nypost.com/2021/04/16/grandmother-brutally-beaten-on-la-bus-by-attacker-who-thought-she-was-asian

.

8.

Kids-world-travel-guide.com

. (2018).

Asia facts for kids

[online]. Available from:

https://www.kids-world-travel-guide.com/asia-facts.html

.

9.

Xiao, B. (2021).

A closer look: Behind the rise in anti‐Asian attacks

[online]. Epoch Times. Available from:

https://www.theepochtimes.com/a-closer-look-behind-the-rise-in-anti-asian-hate_3739723.html

.

10.

Wong, B. (2022).

7 ways the “model minority” myth hurts Asian American's mental health

[online]. HuffPost. Available from:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/model-minority-myth-asian-american-mental-health_l_628d470de4b0b1d9844e3297

.

2The Challenges Asian Women Still Face

As an Asian woman, you face so many challenges in perception and mindset that hold you back from being considered for leadership roles. It's important to identify these challenges and name them so you find support or resources as you experience them. All women can relate to these challenges, no matter their culture.

The “Submissive” Stereotype

How many times have you heard Asian women described as quiet, submissive, and obedient? This negative stereotype hurts us as a whole because we are seen as an easy target to be bullied, attacked, and often not taken seriously.

If you're seen as quiet, submissive, and obedient, how can anyone see you as a leader? It's so important to dismantle the negative stereotypes that you and I face so that Asian women and all women can be seen as leaders.

The Hypersexualized Stereotype

Often, Asian women are seen as “exotic” and fetishized as sex objects. The hypersexualization of Asian women is dehumanizing, and a great example of that is the Atlanta shooting.

I remember when I first heard about the Atlanta spa shooting that took the lives of six Asian women. While the Asian community was in an uproar, the county sheriff mentioned that the shooter was having a “bad day” and that his “temptations” were the reasons why he decided to have a shooting spree in three different spa locations.1

Finally, when mainstream media had the opportunity to bring awareness to anti‐Asian crimes that were happening, they were still talking about the shooter with not one mention of the victims. It took days before the media released the victims' names.

What's even worse was the fact that the victims of the Atlanta shooting were blamed for these senseless crimes because there were suspicions that they were sex workers and that led the shooter to kill them. Sex workers or not, there is no reason why any person should intentionally kill someone.2