Paper Tigers by Wesley Yang - Essay Example

Paper Tigers by Wesley Yang Apart from the influence of Asian culture on life of its representatives in the United States, the article titled Paper Tigers written by Wesley Yang and published in the New York Magazine addresses the issue of stereotyping based on race and ethnic background. The essay by Jennifer Pozner titled Ghetto Bitches, China Dolls and Cha Cha Divas discusses the same issue. Despite the fact that they share the same broad theme, the works under consideration are completely different as they analyze the issue from different perspective. More specifically, Yang’s essay deals with stereotyping of Asian American mostly at educational establishments and at the workplace, while Pozner’s work discusses stereotypes created and cultivated in the media. In addition to this, Yang speaks mostly about men, and Pozner examines stereotypes about women. From the analysis and comparison of the arguments of the two articles, it follows that racial stereotypes operate in different ways for men and women. Overall, the essay will analyze racial stereotypes created in corporate America (based on Yang’s work), racial stereotypes on the media (based on Pozner’s piece) and compare the ways racial stereotypes operate for men and women (through the analysis of the two articles). As it has been mentioned above, in his essay, Wesley Yang addresses stereotyping of Asian American males at the workplace, in corporate America in particular. Specifically, Yang discusses the notion, which is referred today as the Bamboo Ceiling defined as “an invisible barrier that maintains a pyramidal racial structure throughout corporate America, with lots of Asians at junior levels, quite a few in middle management, and virtually none in the higher reaches of leadership”. In other words, the author of this article claims that despite the fact that many of Asian Americans graduate from elite universities with higher grades than representative of other ethnic groups living in the United States, they are not perceived as suitable for holding leading positions in business. To prove this, Yang addresses the statistical data, in accordance to which Asian Americans, and Asian American men in particular, are in the minority when it comes to holding leading positions: “Asian Americans represent roughly 5 percent of the population but only 0.3 percent of corporate officers, less than 1 percent of corporate board members, and around 2 percent of college presidents” (Yang). For Yang, however, the notion of Bamboo Ceiling is not the result of racism but is “a matter of unconscious bias” that is based on cultural observations and assessment of employees “not as Asians but as individuals” (Yang). Choosing these words to describe the nature of stereotypes in regard to Asian American men, Yang somehow mitigates the seriousness of the issue under consideration. Based on the above-mentioned premises, the author of the article draws a conclusion that stereotypes take roots from Asian Americans’ character and upbringing. That is to say, Yang claims that Asian Americans themselves have created these stereotypes and now they justify them by their behavior and features of character, such as obedience, commitment, eagerness, submissiveness etc. From what is mentioned above, it becomes clear that stereotypes about Asian American men do have background and are created based on what the representatives of other cultures observe in life. In addition to this, as Yang writes only about men, it is possible to draw a bottom line and say that stereotyping works for men in relation to their actual abilities and skills applied at the workplace. When it comes to women, the situation is different, as it is shown in the article by Jennifer Pozner. More specifically, while stereotypes about men are created and applied in regard to their abilities to perform a particular kind of job as well as certain roles at the workplace, stereotypes about women have nothing to do with their professional skills or skills related to the completion of specific tasks. On the contrary, the stereotypes created are more personal and, in many cases, are too generalized and at the same time too misogynistic views. Compared to what one learns about stereotypes about men from Yang’s article, stereotypes about women are mostly of negative character. All the stereotypes about Asian American men discussed in Paper Tigers are relatively neutral and even positive if to compare them to stereotypes used in relation to female representatives of different ethnicities described in Pozner’s work. In Ghetto Bitches, China Dolls and Cha Cha Divas, racial stereotypes about women are negative ones. In Yang’s essay, characteristic features that serve as the basis for stereotypes do not have a negative component in them. They are described as reserved, obedient, hard-working, smart, organized, self-reliant, uncomplaining, and sometimes shy; they make sacrifices for the future, appreciate harmonious relations and respect their family and parents (Yang). Women of different ethnic groups, in their turn, stereotyped based mostly on their affiliation to a particular race and, more importantly, to the gentler sex. In other words, stereotypes about women have nothing to do with their characters or skills they obtain; sexuality is what determines the nature of stereotypes when it comes to women belonging to various ethnic groups. In the media, in America’s Next Top Model in particular, Pozner defines such stereotypes: Asian women are referred to as exotic lotus flowers, China dolls, dragon ladies, sex nymphs: African American women are called ghetto black Barbies, devil, “sexy little animals” that should be tamed and “softened up”, “wild things” etc. (Pozner). From Pozner’s work, it follows that no positive characteristic feature of a particular ethnic group or culture is taken as the background for stereotypes about women. Based on the analysis and comparison of the articles written by Wesley Yang and Jennifer Pozner, racial stereotypes are created and applied in different ways for men and women. As it follows from Paper Tigers by Yang, the society has taken positive features of Asian American men, exaggerated them to some extent and then used as the background for stereotypes, which are usually used in academia and in corporate America as the basis of the so-called Bamboo Ceiling. For women, the situation is completely different. More specifically, it is their femininity and sexuality that are used as the framework of all the stereotypes, and no positive feature is taken into account when it comes to racial stereotypes about women. Essay Outline I. Introduction 1. Both Yang’s and Pozner’s essay address the issue of the creation of stereotypes based on race and ethnicity. 2. Yang analyzes racial stereotypes about men in corporate America, while Pozner discusses racial stereotypes about women in the media. 3. The articles prove that racial stereotypes operate in different ways for men and women. II. Main Body 1. In accordance with Wesley Yang, the main outcome of racial stereotypes about Asian American men is the Bamboo Ceiling, the barrier that prevents Asian Americans from holding leading positions. 2. Stereotypes about Asian American men are based not on racism but rather on cultural observations of the majority of the society. 3. Racial stereotypes about men are created based on their characteristic features, behavior, habits, upbringing and are applied at the workplace. 4. Racial stereotypes about women are generalized and misogynistic in their nature. 5. Racial stereotypes about men and racial stereotypes about women differ in their nature. 5a. As it follows from Paper Tigers by Yang, racial stereotypes about men are mostly created based on their positive features. 5b. In accordance with Pozner’s article, racial stereotypes about women are all negative. 5c. Racial stereotypes about women are based mostly on their femininity and sexuality rather than on their skills, abilities, features of character or apperance. III. Conclusion Racial stereotypes are created in different ways for men and women: for men, it is their skills and character that are used as the basis; for women, the bare facts that they belong to the weaker sex and are representatives of a particular ethnic group are considered. Works Cited Pozner, J. L. Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV. Seal Press, 2010. Print. Yang, W. "Paper Tigers." New York Magazine. 8 May 2011: n. page. Web. 27 Feb. 2015. . Read More