Social issues are found within all communities. While everyone deals with some form of discrimination, it is more prevalent to see minorities stereotyped and faced with unjust discrimination. Asians are underrepresented and when they do appear in movies or television shows, they are often portrayed as successful professionals like doctors. However, throughout history, Asian women have been portrayed as submissive, oriental, or cunning gold diggers. Although racist stereotypes and discrimination have subsided over the years, it still occurs today. As an Asian American woman, I have faced discrimination because of my ethnicity and my gender. Growing up as an Asian American, it has been difficult to convey myself to others without coming off
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If I went to China or Hong Kong, people would see me as a foreigner, but in America, some also looked at me like a foreigner. My family would belittle me for being “too American” and some of my friends would think I behaved “too Asian.” I could not speak Cantonese or Mandarin to my family in front of my former classmates without them telling me to go back to China. Growing up, my pride in my culture was shattered. It was a constant struggle since I never felt like I belonged to either culture. In order to fit in, I was forced to choose one and reject the other.
Minorities face discrimination on a daily basis and my family and I were no exception to that. I remember walking through Ralphs with my dad sophomore year of high school when an elderly white woman walked by, stopped, and said to my dad, “Get out of here. This is a place for only white people. You can’t speak English. You don’t belong here.” This infuriated me, but I did nothing about it. America is a country built by immigrants, but media portrayed Caucasians and Europeans as superior and I believed that growing up. It significantly impacted the way I valued myself; I was very self-cautious and lacked …show more content…
Though women have gained more rights and equality over the years, the values and beliefs of women’s role in society deeply impacted me growing up. I was told by strangers and former teachers that it did not matter how hard I worked because I would only take care of children and my husband in the future. My former Physics teacher, in particular, constantly degraded the females in the class. Whenever I asked him questions about the class lectures and assignments, he would tell me that my questions were pointless as I would never pursue anything in science because I was a girl. Minority women are rarely portrayed as having a respectable and successful career. Former teachers saw the value of an education, but still encouraged gender stereotypes on how girls would grow up to stay at home to take care of the children. Women were depicted in history, media, and within society as nurturers and caretakers while boys would grow up to be successful breadwinners for the family. Movies like Cinderella showed me that it did not matter how poor a woman was since they would marry a wealthy man in the future. While these stereotypes are challenged today, the idea that regardless of what a girl aspires to achieve, she would give that all up when she started a family deeply impacted the way I viewed myself as a female. This belief further impacted me because there were few Asian American woman who I saw
If I went to China or Hong Kong, people would see me as a foreigner, but in America, some also looked at me like a foreigner. My family would belittle me for being “too American” and some of my friends would think I behaved “too Asian.” I could not speak Cantonese or Mandarin to my family in front of my former classmates without them telling me to go back to China. Growing up, my pride in my culture was shattered. It was a constant struggle since I never felt like I belonged to either culture. In order to fit in, I was forced to choose one and reject the other.
Minorities face discrimination on a daily basis and my family and I were no exception to that. I remember walking through Ralphs with my dad sophomore year of high school when an elderly white woman walked by, stopped, and said to my dad, “Get out of here. This is a place for only white people. You can’t speak English. You don’t belong here.” This infuriated me, but I did nothing about it. America is a country built by immigrants, but media portrayed Caucasians and Europeans as superior and I believed that growing up. It significantly impacted the way I valued myself; I was very self-cautious and lacked …show more content…
Though women have gained more rights and equality over the years, the values and beliefs of women’s role in society deeply impacted me growing up. I was told by strangers and former teachers that it did not matter how hard I worked because I would only take care of children and my husband in the future. My former Physics teacher, in particular, constantly degraded the females in the class. Whenever I asked him questions about the class lectures and assignments, he would tell me that my questions were pointless as I would never pursue anything in science because I was a girl. Minority women are rarely portrayed as having a respectable and successful career. Former teachers saw the value of an education, but still encouraged gender stereotypes on how girls would grow up to stay at home to take care of the children. Women were depicted in history, media, and within society as nurturers and caretakers while boys would grow up to be successful breadwinners for the family. Movies like Cinderella showed me that it did not matter how poor a woman was since they would marry a wealthy man in the future. While these stereotypes are challenged today, the idea that regardless of what a girl aspires to achieve, she would give that all up when she started a family deeply impacted the way I viewed myself as a female. This belief further impacted me because there were few Asian American woman who I saw