You are reading

Op-Ed: Why the Atlanta Murders Hit So Close to Home 

Heajin (Hailie) Kim (Photo: Instagram @nyc_photographer_nikita)

March 30, 2021 Op-Ed By Hailie Kim

There was a distinct sinking and roiling in my stomach.  

“Are you a prostitute?” a man asked.  I was 17 at the time. I was not, in fact, a prostitute. I was and am, however, clearly an East Asian woman. 

This question: “are you a prostitute?” is one that made it so that between the ages of 18 and 22, I never wore a v-neck top. 

Even my prom dress went up to my neck. It was, or so I thought, very clearly my fault. Maybe if I hadn’t worn a v-neck shirt, a man wouldn’t have stalked me to my middle school when I was 13, driving alongside me and insisting that I get in his car. Maybe if I hadn’t worn a v-neck sweater, a man wouldn’t have followed me back home from school across the 39th Street bridge and grabbed at my chest when I was 17. 

This kind of fetishization and sexualization of Asian women was a clear factor in the murder of six Asian women in Atlanta. 

The murderer himself confessed to targeting Asian women because they were “temptations” for his sex addiction. This sexualization of Asian women has historically been tied to xenophobia, with Chinese women being barred entry from the United States in the 19th century, suspected of being prostitutes. 

There have, of course, been other historic forms of violence against Asians from the Japanese internment camps here in the US, to the deportation of Koreans from Russia to Central Asia and other Soviet satellite states in the 1930s. 

The words used to sexualize Asian women include “exotic” and “submissive.”

These are adjectives that have also been used to Other Asians at large, especially “exotic.” The phrase “chinavirus” is an example of this, making COVID-19 seem exotic or foreign, and other.

In order to un-Other Asians, it is necessary for there to be more Asian representation in popular culture to start undoing the years of negative portrayals of Asians in the Arts. At the level of government, we will also need to better integrate our neighborhoods and public schools. 

We need universal after school in order to ensure children of all races and socio-economic backgrounds spend time finding commonalities with each other.  Perhaps I’m a little biased as an educator, but education, education, education are the ways to ensure hate crimes like the ones we are seeing cease. 

Hailie Kim is an adjunct professor in the English department at Hunter College.  She is running for City Council in District 26 to represent Sunnyside, Woodside, Long Island City and parts of Astoria.  

email the author: [email protected]

One Comment

Click for Comments 
Charles Castro

Hey professor Hailie kim, if it is Chinese you are speaking about, then say Chinese. It is racist, and, close minded, to limit the term “Asian” to Chinese people. These are the countries in Asia. Education, education, education.
A
Afghanistan
Armenia
Azerbaijan
B
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Brunei
C
Cambodia
China
Cyprus
G
Georgia
I
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Israel
J
Japan
Jordan
K
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
L
Laos
Lebanon
M
Malaysia
Maldives
Mongolia
Myanmar (formerly Burma)
N
Nepal
North Korea
O
Oman
P
Pakistan
Palestine
Philippines
Q
Qatar
R
Russia
S
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
South Korea
Sri Lanka
Syria
T
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Turkey
Turkmenistan
U
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Uzbekistan
V
Vietnam
Y
Yemen

Reply

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Long Island man charged in fatal Flushing hit-and-run that left 81-year-old man dead: NYPD

A Long Island truck driver was arrested on Tuesday and booked at the 109th Precinct in Flushing for a fatal hit-and-run collision that killed a Murray Hill senior who was riding an electric bike on Northern Boulevard three months ago.

Kyle Schreiber, 27, of Lincoln Boulevard in Hauppauge, was charged with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in the death of 81-year-old Peter Seo on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 28.

MTA seizes 19 ‘ghost’ cars registered to toll violators at Queens Midtown Tunnel on Monday

Two days before the MTA Board approved the controversial congestion pricing plan for Manhattan on Wednesday, the agency cracked down on persistent toll violators at the Queens Midtown Tunnel in Long Island City.

MTA Bridges and Tunnels seized 19 vehicles registered to persistent scofflaws on Monday and issued 81 summonses and confiscated two fraudulent incense plates. The MTA noted that the scofflaws accounted for approximately $483,000 in combined unpaid tolls and fees. One of the top persistent toll violators from the targeted enforcement owed nearly $76,000 in tolls and fees.

religion

Mar. 28, 2024 By Athena Dawson

Bayside, known for its beloved Bell Boulevard eateries, beautiful park spaces and Bay Terrace shopping center, has a rich, little known history about its religious institutions.