It's sometimes hard living with this idea of being a triple threat.
I am an Asian American women that is quite accomplished in taekwondo.
People usually think that my life should be easy.
But it's just so difficult at times.
Being a woman, I'll always be stuck as a minority within society. Being an Asian American I'm a minority race. On top of that, I'm a third degree black belt in taekwondo. After reading about the "oriental woman" in Aki Uchida's essay, I can understand why I may feel this way.
The idea of the "oriental woman" was created through the fantasies and personal encounters of western men and Asian women. This label stuck to Asian Americans as being objectified people. They are a stereotype that is hard to prove to themselves who they truly are.
Stereotypes shape society's perception on certain groups. Since I'm a black belt, I constantly get asked,
"Can you beat me up?" "Don't hurt me!" "You're such a badass chick!"
"Dang, you must be a tough girl".
These misconceptions bother me at times. I mean, just because I'm a girl that does martial arts doesn't make me any different than a girl that does not have that ability. People think I'm too serious, intimidating, or strict. But whenever I soften up, they think it's just because I'm a girl. I am frequently trying to gain respect as being a female martial artist and athlete because of the restrictions that come with my gender.
Sometimes I want to hide the fact that I do martial arts.
But it's nearly impossible because it's who I am.
It's like what Haunani-Kay Trask was arguing about in her essay "Feminism and Indigenous Hawaiian Nationalism", the perseverance of her people's identity. She believed in the ideas of feminist. However, the idea's of white feminist could not help her Hawaiian natives. Her people are struggling to get out of poverty and their struggles of being a minority group.
In order to understand our inequalities, our oppression, our struggles, and our goals you must embrace yourself. Using the ideas of others will always help, but if you leave your identity out of your decisions, you'll get no where.
That's why I learned to embrace the idea of being a triple threat. It gets annoying at times, but in the end, I'm satisfied with who I am.
I understand your situation Mariel. I encounter the stereotypes too when it comes to playing basketball. Every time I go in a basketball courts, other players does not want to pick me because I am Asians. Society view Asians as smart and does not play sports. I always get overlooked because of the false point of view. When I started showcasing my talent, the other basketball players were really surprised. They have that confused facial expression because they never though that Asians can play basketball. I used the false perception of Asians as my motivation to show them my skills. It just feels good that most of the people in the courts that over looked me before are now the first one whos are asking me to play for their teams.
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