From: ST701852@brownvm.brown.edu (Carole E Mah)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asian.american
Subject: an answer to Peter Wung :)
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 15:27:30 EST
Organization: Brown University - Providence, Rhode Island  USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: brownvm.brown.edu
News-Software: BNN via BNN_POST v1.0 beta

On Tue 15 Dec 1992 at 14:01:12 EST, wung@ee.gatech.edu (Peter Wung) said:
>People tend to be more comfortable with people that are like them, race wise,
>class wise, religion wise, etc.   It is very rare that someone will venture
>outside of their surroundings or upbringing to cross over into what is foreign
   This is true.  The thing that gets me is when people (often other
Asian-Americans) will think THEY can tell ME who I AM, and who I "should"
be comfortable with. "oh, you are biracial, you arent asian enough,
you might as well be white so go hang out with the white people, we dont
want you" sort of attitude.  Of course, the people who will say this
sort of thing are not everywhere, but they do exist. grrr.
  I mean, what is "foreign" to me, anyway. Neither the dominant
white culture nor asian culture is entirely familiar or entirely foreign
to me.  But people do not understand this sometimes. They try to slot
you as either/or because ambiguity makes them uncomfortable.
   Thanks for commenting. You, at least, do seem to understand. thanks :)
>I do have a question for you.  Lesbianism amongst asian women is not something
>I
>have thought about, and I am not trying to be crass or disrespectful, I just
>don't know how to approach this.  So here goes.  I don't expect you to be the
>spokesperson for all asian lesbians, but in your experience, are there
>proportionally as many
>sian-american lesbians as caucasian lesbians, i.e. same percentages with
>respect to the overall population of causcasian and asian women?  If not, coul
>this be why you have been dating mostly caucasian females?  Given the more
>conservative world views of asians in general, is it possible that more asian
>lesbians are still firmly in the closet and afraid to come out?
  Again, circumstance.  As I explained before, I mean, look at Kitty
Tsui, she's living in the Asian-American lesbian heartland of the San
Francisco Bay Area.  The East Coast (outside of NY City) isnt exactly
teaming with Asian-Americans of ANY description, in comparison
to California.  And the midwest where I grew up is even sparser.
I'd say there are probably the same approximate percentage.
I didn't think this before, but I have done a lot of reading and
met a lot of people from all over of a lot of different races
since I first came out of the closet, and it is true, the slogan
you hear, "we are everywhere."  People have this stereotype
of gays as being White white white. Well, not so.
  Sure, in some Asian-American families it is harder to "come out
of the closet" than in some non-Asian ones, because of what
you term "conservative" attitudes.  But this doesnt mean we dont
exist, it just means we may at times be more hidden.
  And remember also that Chinese-cu people have not always had
an antagonistic attitude toward homosexuality. Homophobia
is an attitude largely borrowed from the West, in the 19th century.
If you read _Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual
Tradition in China_ by Bret Hinsch (Stanford, Stanford UP, 1991),
you will find that homosexuality has a long tradition in China,
among emperors, especially, but also everywhere esle.
  Carole
--- Thelma and Louise in '92! ---
carole elaine mah
st701852@brownvm.bitnet
st701852@brownvm.brown.edu
Carole_Mah@brown.edu
---------------------------------