The Asian men's rights movement, often shortened as MRAsians, is an anti-feminist subculture among Asian-American men. [1] [2] The movement has been linked to harassment of Asian-American women, feminists, and public figures, [2] [3] and associated communities are characterized by misogyny, anti-blackness, and Asian-supremacist views. [4]
The MRAsian movement emerged as a response to the historical emasculation of Asian-American men produced by racist laws and stereotypes found in media depictions. [5] According to researcher Angela Liu (pseudonym), the "hypermasculine ethnonationalism" found in the works of Asian-American author Frank Chin has had an important influence on MRAsian ideology. [6]
According to Angela Liu, MRAsians desire visibility for Asian-American men and seek to be perceived as ultramasculine. [7] They believe that emasculating stereotypes of Asian-American men are linked to disenfranchisement from political power [7] and difficulties in heterosexual dating for Asian-American men. [8] They argue that as a result of this disempowerment, Asian-American men do not enjoy male privilege. [7]
According to Liu, MRAsians believe that societal stereotypes of Asian-American women as sexually desirable grant them political power and an ability to gain societal privilege through white-adjacency. [9] MRAsians see Asian-American women who date white men as being complicit in white supremacy or engaging in "white worshipping". [10] Women that MRAsians deem to be undermining Asian-American interests are labelled as "Lu" or "Aunt Lu", by analogy to Uncle Tom. [11]
Liu notes that MRAsians view Asian-American feminists' criticism of misogyny within Asian communities as malicious. [11] "Progressive Asian activists" and "boba liberals" are viewed unfavorably. [2] In the context of the MRAsian community, the term "boba liberal", originally a leftist term, has evolved to mean those who are seen to have betrayed Asian interests. [12]
MRAsians believe that mainstream social justice advocates in the United States have ignored Asians in favor of Black people and have failed to respond adequately to violence against Asian Americans committed by Black people. [2] They have harassed critics of anti-blackness and cultural appropriation within the Asian American community. [2]
The MRAsian community has previously been reported to have been active on the website Reddit, with the subreddit r/aznidentity reported to have contained many such members. [2] According to Chinese-American writer Celeste Ng, several Asian American woman public figures have received harassment after being criticized on the subreddit. [13] It has also been reported that subreddit encouraged the use of fake Twitter accounts with an attractive looking Asian man as a profile picture to amplify their viewpoints. [2] [14]
Members of the MRAsian community have harassed Asian Americans that they deem to be race traitors or to have harmed the interests of Asian-American men. [2]
MRAsians have criticized and harassed various Asian American public figures, including author Celeste Ng and actors Constance Wu and Ken Jeong; the former two for dating white men and the latter for participating in what they perceive to be negative on-screen portrayals of Asian Americans. [2] Harassment from MRAsians has caused some Asian American public figures to become reluctant to engage in public discourse on sensitive issues. [13] [3]
One Yale student received online harassment and threats from MRAsians after she criticized anti-Black racism in the Asian American community. [2]
Researcher Angela Liu indicates that MRAsians' opposition to feminism is an "incoherent solution" to Asian American men's issues. [15] Liu notes that much of the academic research into discrimination against Asian American men is rooted in feminism, [15] and that the cultural emasculation of Asian American men is a result of White supremacy and not feminism. [16] She also argues that MRAsians who see Asian women as privileged confuse sexual desirability and societal privilege, noting that non-white groups stereotyped as desirable are subjugated and fetishized, rather than privileged. [17]
Street harassment is a form of harassment, primarily sexual harassment that consists of unwanted sexualised comments, provocative gestures, honking, wolf whistles, indecent exposures, stalking, persistent sexual advances, and touching by strangers, in public areas such as streets, shopping malls and public transportation. Besides actions or comments that contain a sexual connotation, it often includes homophobic and transphobic slurs, and hateful comments referencing race, religion, class, ethnicity and disability. The practice is rooted in power and control and is often a reflection of societal discrimination, and has been argued to sometimes result from a lack of opportunities for expression of interest or affection.
The men's liberation movement is a social movement critical of the restraints which society imposes on men. Men's liberation activists are generally sympathetic to feminist standpoints.
Hypermasculinity is a psychological and sociological term for the exaggeration of male stereotypical behavior, such as an emphasis on physical strength, aggression, and human male sexuality. In the field of clinical psychology, this term has been used ever since the publication of research by Donald L. Mosher and Mark Sirkin in 1984. Mosher and Sirkin operationally define hypermasculinity or the "macho personality" as consisting of three variables:
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Stereotypes of African Americans are misleading beliefs about the culture of people with partial or total ancestry from any black racial groups of Africa whose ancestors resided in the United States since before 1865. These stereotypes are largely connected to the racism and the discrimination faced by African Americans. These beliefs date back to the slavery of black people during the colonial era and they have evolved within American society over time.
Sexual capital or erotic capital or sexual market value is the social power an individual or group accrues as a result of their sexual attractiveness and social charm. It enables social mobility independent of class origin because sexual capital is convertible, and may be useful in acquiring other forms of capital, including social capital and economic capital.
We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity is a 2004 book about masculinity by feminist author bell hooks. It collects ten essays on black men. The title alludes to Gwendolyn Brooks' 1959 poem "We Real Cool". The essays are intended to provide cultural criticism and solutions to the problems she identifies.
Black women generally refers to women of sub-Saharan African, Aboriginal Australian, and Melanesian descent.
Feminism in China refers to the collection of historical movements and ideologies in time aimed at redefining the role and status of women in China. Feminism in China began in the 20th century in tandem with the Chinese Revolution. Feminism in modern China is closely linked with socialism and class issues. Some commentators believe that this close association is damaging to Chinese feminism and argue that the interests of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are placed before those of women. Under the Xi Jinping administration, feminist groups have been subject to increased scrutiny by the country's system of mass surveillance.
An Asian fetish is a strong sexual or romantic preference for people of Asian descent or heritage. The term usually refers to women specifically of East or Southeast Asian descent, though may also include those of South Asian descent.
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A variety of movements of feminist ideology have developed over the years. They vary in goals, strategies, and affiliations. They often overlap, and some feminists identify themselves with several branches of feminist thought.
Buddhist feminism is a movement that seeks to improve the religious, legal, and social status of women within Buddhism. It is an aspect of feminist theology which seeks to advance and understand the equality of men and women morally, socially, spiritually, and in leadership from a Buddhist perspective. The Buddhist feminist Rita Gross describes Buddhist feminism as "the radical practice of the co-humanity of women and men."
On the social news site Reddit, some communities are devoted to explicit, violent, propagandist, or hateful material. These subreddits have been the topic of controversy, at times receiving significant media coverage. Journalists, attorneys, media researchers, and others have commented that such communities shape and promote biased views of international politics, the veracity of medical evidence, misogynistic rhetoric, and other disruptive concepts.
Gender plays a role in mass media and is represented within media platforms. These platforms are not limited to film, radio, television, advertisement, social media, and video games. Initiatives and resources exist to promote gender equality and reinforce women's empowerment in the media industry and representations. For example, UNESCO, in cooperation with the International Federation of Journalists, elaborated the Gender-sensitive Indicators for Media contributing to gender equality and women's empowerment in all forms of media.
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Fourth-wave feminism is a feminist movement that began around the early 2010s and is characterized by a focus on the empowerment of women, the use of internet tools, and intersectionality. The fourth wave seeks greater gender equality by focusing on gendered norms and the marginalization of women in society.
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r/Feminism is a feminist political subreddit discussing women's issues. As of June 2020, it has 179,000 members. The subreddit discusses issues that impact women and minorities, including workplace abuse and harassment, rape, domestic abuse, pink tax, cultural appropriation, and representation. Users of r/feminism are similar to the users of r/MensLib, a men's liberation subreddit; and r/againstmensrights, a subreddit against r/MensRights. The subreddit sends people wanting to talk about men's issues to r/Masculism, which has been described as a "a comparably essentialist approach to feminism". About 54% of posts on r/Feminism are predominantly negative.