Violence Against Asian American Women: Atlanta Shooting is all about Race, Gender and Class

In the recent past, there has been a spurt in violent attacks on Asian Americans in the US. In March 2021, the most troublesome incident of mass shooting happened in three Spas in Atlanta in which a 21-year-old white man allegedly killed eight people. Among the victims, six were of Asian descent and seven of them were women. The suspect, Robert Aaron Long, has claimed that his attack was not racially motivated. He has confessed to having “sex addiction” and that he was a regular visitor at the massage parlours. It has been revealed that he intended to eliminate the temptation posed by them.

The horrifying incident has not only brought focus towards hate crime in the country, but also towards the objectification of Asian women as a sex object. It has outraged the Asian American community, especially the women, and has drawn swift responses. President Biden has called on US lawmakers to pass legislation to address the hate crime against Asian Americans. Vice President Kamal Harris acknowledged the presence of Racism, Xenophobia and Sexism in the US. She further added that “The president and I will not be silent. We will not stand by. We will always speak out against violence, hate crimes and discrimination wherever and whenever it occurs.” The incident also highlights the vulnerabilities of women at the workplace, especially migrant women.

Increasing hate crimes against Asian Americans have been linked with the spread of Covid-19. The community has been blamed for the spread of the virus due to its Chinese origin. The rhetoric was fuelled by former President Donald Trump who called it Chinese Virus and Kung Flue on various platforms. The National Report by Stop AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) Hate, mentions 3795 incidents of verbal harassment, shunning and physical attack against Asian Americans between March 2020 and February 2021 (the period coinciding with the spread of Covid-19). The report also noted that women reported incidents 2.3 times more than men.[i]

It is important to note that violence against women of colour in the US does not fit into the single category of Racism or Sexism – but as an intersection of both racism and sexism. As Kimberlé Crenshaw, an African American Feminist scholar argues that a key aspect of intersectionality lies in its recognition that multiple oppressions are not each suffered separately but rather as a single, synthesized experience.[ii] Developing an intersectional lens to understand the experience of Black Women in America, she argues that Black women sometimes experience discrimination in ways similar to white women’s experiences; sometimes they share very similar experiences with Black men. Yet often they experience double-discrimination—the combined effects of practices that discriminate based on race and the basis of sex. And sometimes they experience discrimination as Black women—not the sum of race and sex discrimination, but as Black women.[iii]

The horrifying incident has prompted many Asian American women to share their encounter with violence in the country. The digital platforms and social media are filled with Asian American women sharing their experiences of racial and sexist comments they have faced in everyday life. In a research published in Asian American Journal of Psychology in 2018, out of the 107 participants, only four said they had never experienced discrimination.[iv] They had to face racist and misogynistic men who cling to a narrative that Asian women are exotic and submissive and sexually available partners.

Asian American Women face a unique set of stereotypes in American society. There is a long history in the country of the portrayal of Asian women as docile, exotic, hyper-sexual, and unaware of western feminism. Page Act of 1870, enforced to restrict the movement of immigrant labour, particularly restricted the migration of Chinese women to the US citing that they are into prostitution or have immoral character. This stereotype was further reinforced by US military operations in Korea and Vietnam where they were provided with prostitutes from the region. Also, movies and pop culture have played role in this as women from Asia are portrayed in desirable or exotic manner. In recent years, many western men marry Asian women in the Mail Order Bride phenomenon. This marriage is arranged by international marriage broker websites. To attract attention, women from the region are depicted in web pages and advertising material in a manner that further feeds this stereotype.

The attacks also challenged the model minority image of Asian Americans. They have always lived under the banner of Model Minority. This tag propagated the idea that Asian Americans were exempt from a social problem such as unemployment, poverty, racism, delinquency and familial conflict. They were also portrayed as the community whose example should be emulated by other migrant groups. Such an image looks at Asian American as a homogenous group and ignores the diversity of the community in the US. Significant numbers of Asians have also arrived after the 1980s under the family reunification clause of the Immigration Act of 1965.[v] Many recent immigrants were not high skilled professional like their predecessors, and are semi-skilled and unskilled labourers – like taxi drivers, domestic workers, busboys, and convenience store employees.[vi] They have a limited set of skills which proves a hindrance for them in easily assimilating in the American society. According to US Census data, Asian Americans have a 12.3 % poverty rate.[vii]

The illegal immigrants, the unpaid workers, and the ill-paid labourers in the US are seen by the community as aberrations to the stereotypical image.[viii] The community also denies the existence of gays, lesbians, battered women, and women working in the sex industry as inconsistent with their heritage, under which they take refuge as if the acknowledgement of their existence would be an act of self-destruction. The concerns related to the new set of immigrants have not been duly acknowledged within the community as well as in larger society.

The Atlanta shooting case in particular highlights the vulnerabilities of immigrant women at the workplace. The last decade has witnessed an unprecedented rise in the number of Asian women migrating for work- mainly to get employed in feminized work i.e. Domestic Work, Care Work and the Sex Industry. Globally, women in gender-segregated labour markets are vulnerable to various forms of discrimination, exploitation and abuse. Women working in the Global Sex Trade Industry (Porn, Entertainment, and Sex Work) often face various gender-based violence and stigma attached to sex work. The spas involved in the Atlanta shoot case are yet to be linked with any form of sex work. However, there are a substantial number of Asian women who work in illicit Massage Parlours. In one New York City study, 47% of women working in indoor sex venues were foreign-born and in another study in Los Angeles women working in indoor sex venues tended to be Asian or Latina.^[ix] Women working in the Shadow Industry are often deprived of legal protection, suffer violence from clients. People, particularly women, are indifferent to crimes against sex workers. A report found that most women working in illicit spas feared to arrest even more than assault or robbery.^[x]

The US is a country comprising a large number of Asian migrants. For long migrants have continued to arrive in the US providing diversity to the population. As of 2019, there were 14.1 million immigrants from Asia residing in the US.^[xi] This has helped the country to portray itself as a democratic, multi-ethnic, and multi-cultural society. A country that welcomes immigrants, selling of the ‘American Dream’ became a global phenomenon and has attracted millions of people as an escape from the deteriorating economic and political situation in the home country. The recent Vice President election of Kamala Harris as the first woman, as a first black woman and as the first person of Asian descent has helped further build this image. However, the recent incidents of hate crime against Asian American women show that more challenges need to be taken care of.

[i] Stop AAPI Hate (2021), https://stopaapihate.org/2020-2021-national-report/ (accessed on 1 Apr 2021).

[ii] Crenshaw, Kimberle (1991), “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color”, Stanford Law Review, 43(1241): 1241-1299.

[iii]Collins, Patricia Hills (1989), “The Social Construction of Black Feminist Thought”, Signs, 14(4): 745-773.

[iv] Mukkamala, S. and Suyemoto, K. L. (2018), “Racialized sexism/sexualized racism: A multimethod study of intersectional experiences of discrimination for Asian American women”, Asian American Journal of Psychology, 9(1): 32–46.

[v] Dasgupta, Shamita Das (1998), “Gender Roles and Cultural Continuity in the Asian Indian Immigrant Communities in the U.S.”, Sex Roles, 38(11/12): 953-974.

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] NHPR (2020), “Asian-American: Smart, High-Incomes, And … Poor?”, https://www.nhpr.org/post/asian-americans-smart-high-incomes-and-poor#stream/0 (accessed on 1 Apr 2021).

[viii] Dasgupta, Shamita Das (1998), “Gender Roles and Cultural Continuity in the Asian Indian Immigrant Communities in the U.S.”, Sex Roles, 38(11/12): 953-974.

^[ix] Chin, John J. et al. (2019), Illicit Massage Parlors in Los Angeles County and New York City: Stories from Women Workers, Johnchin.net/Article_Files/MP_Study_10.11.19_FINAL.pdf (accessed on 1 Apr 2021).

^[x] Ibid.

^[xi] Hanna, Mary and Batalova, Jeanne (2021), “Immigrants from Asia in United States”, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/immigrants-asia-united-states-2020 (accessed on 1 Apr 2021).

Arpita Giri

Adjunct Researcher, Asia in Global Affairs