Disclaimer: I am Black. I do not understand what it is like to be Asian, nor will I pretend to. But as a Black woman, I understand the power of racist stereotypes and I believe that I can add valuable commentary to they way that characters in Loveboat, Taipei navigated anti-Asian stereotypes. I will do my absolute best to treat this topic with the care that it deserves. For ways to support the Asian community, please visit https://stopasianhate.carrd.co/
Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen follows the story of rising college freshman Ever Wong, the daughter of Chinese-American immigrants. Ever’s parents decide to send her to Taiwan for the summer to attend a program created to give young Asian-Americans the opportunity to learn more about Chinese culture. The program, which is intended to be a purely educational experience, ends up being a summer camp like experience where alcohol, romance, and drama are abound.
In the book, there is a very persistent theme of the existence of anti-Asian stereotypes and how they affect the characters. Some brush it off their shoulders, others go out of their way to disprove them, and many feel burdened by them. But there is a very significant journey that a group of characters go on that holds an important lesson in the power of reclaiming stereotypes. Marc, David, Sam, Benji, and Peter are all men and are all members of the program along with Ever. In the first few days of the program, Ever notices that the group of guys have conversations about masculinity and the way Asian men are stereotyped. They pick apart and analyze the physical appearance of Asian men in the program who they view as masculine. They also put on a show of strength to prove that they don’t fit into the effeminate label Asian men are stereotyped with.
With this, Hing Wen shows a common way a lot of people of color respond to racist stereotypes. Marc, David, Sam, Benji, and Peter feel as if they have something to prove and go out of their way to show they are not what they are stereotyped as. The problem with responding to racist stereotypes in this way is that it is never enough. If the globally Eurocentric world we live in determines that you are dumb, there are not enough books you can read in the world that would change its mind. If racist standards of masculinity determines you to be effeminate, there are not enough weights in all the gyms on Earth you can lift to prove them wrong. If a world that demands that people of color are to be seen and not heard determines that you are too loud, no amount of unsaid, tucked-away words will disprove that myth. Another problem with this method of responding to stereotypes is that it can take a toll on a person’s health. In an article for The American Psychological Association, psychologist Wizdom Powell, PhD, says that “Masculinity — the idea that men should be self-reliant, tough and aggressive — can prompt unhealthy behavioral patterns in all men” and when applied to men of color, it leads to “poorer health outcomes.”
When Loveboat, Taipei ends with a talent show performance where Marc, David, Sam, Benji, and Peter put on a drag show, this shows, as Ever says, that they’ve decided to take back stereotypes on their own terms. They let go of the pressure to prove stereotypes about them wrong and decide to do something that is enjoyable for them, Western masculinity standards be dammed. The choice that they made, to stop trying to disprove stereotypes and instead reclaim them, is not only freeing and much emotionally and psychologically healthier, it may end up saving their lives. Each time a person swallows their tongue, or unnecessarily pressures themselves to be better than their peers, or hides a piece of who they are in an effort to defy stereotypes, it chips away at a piece of who they are. It is death by a thousand cuts. The fact that these characters went on this journey will help show a generation of Asian readers that it’s okay to not fit into the standards that a white society sets for them and to explore what it means to be a man on their own terms. Hing Wen’s story shows the importance of standing in one’s truth and how reclaiming stereotypes can liberate you.
Starry Book Sky 