Living in the Margins

According to the largest national study ever conducted of LGBTQ API/AA people, 89% of respondents have experienced some kind of homophobia or transphobia from the broader API community, and 78% experienced racism from the LGBTQ community. Overall, 98% had experienced some form of discrimination/harrassment in their lives. Thanks to the The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force for this.

First of all, I'm so glad that a study like this finally exists, because having taken a Gender and Health class that was taught from the feminist philosophy of analyzing the intersections of race, gender, and class on any issue...it was frustrating to see extremely little information out there about the health status of AA/API's. They make up such a small proportion of many study participants that their data hardly appear on the results, they can't be used for comparative analysis. This cannot be for a lack of available Asians, as according the the Task Force's executive summary, as of 2005 there were 14 million Asian Americans living in the states. The report consisted of 860 Asian/Pacific Islander Americans representing many different ethnicities from 38 different states. The largest ethnic group represented was Chinese (40%). The study found that 77% of the respondents had experienced verbal harassment for being Asian American/Pacific Islander. That is too many. And it's not just a yellow/white issue. Interracial racism is a huge problem in our society. Even within the broader Asian community racism prejudices and hate between ethnicities is a problem. Homophobia and transphobia are rampant in our society. I read a study that suggested that traditional male gender roles that are strictly enforced in Asian cultures (as men being the head of the household) leads to many Asian families rejecting trans identifying biological sons. A significant proportion of transgender prostitutes are Asian/Pacific Islander, according to a study conducted in the San Francisco Tenderloin area that I read.

Somewhat related, there was a study recently published that said that Asian-American girls aged 15-24 were more likely to committ suicide than any other racial minority or age group of womyn. Keep in mind the mind blowing statistics about racial discrimination experienced by LGBT AA/API's based on their race/ethnicity. The reasons for higher rates of suicide listed, according to the article, are depression from pressure faced from the model minority myth, parents, strict gender roles and expectations, and lack of communication or ability to vent anger to their parents. From personal experience, Asian parents have difficulty recognizing and validating their daughter's feelings of depression (and that is strictly from my limited personal experience, that was not meant to be a generalizing statement at all). This is a generalizing statement: I believe Asian womyn have inherited a culture of bearing the burden of sadness and pressure; pressure to keep their families together, to succeed in life if they are younger generations, and many more of life's pressures. It's as though it is the Asian womyn's lot in life to bear this burden and bear her sadness on the inside, but never complain, never show weakness. She must be strong to survive. I think anyone who's ever read an Amy Tan novel would agree. :) I have read an interesting article about a similar culture in black women, the researcher made the argument that the internalization of stress and depression led to health risk activities--smoking, drinking, or binge eating. The author suggested that the myth of the "strong black woman" was linked to the fact that African-American women have the highest rates of obesity in our country.

Just thought that that was interesting to think about...