Lotus Blossom or Dragon Lady: A Content Analysis of “Asian Women” Online Pornography
AUTHOR(S)
PUBLISHED
2016 in Sexuality & Culture
KEY FINDINGS
- This study found that porn tends to use harmful racial stereotypes when portraying Asian women, displaying them as submissive and without agency.
ABSTRACT
A content analysis was undertaken to consider the depiction of sexual behaviors in a random sample of videos from the “Asian Women” category of content on Xvideos, which is the largest and most popularly visited free online pornography tube site in US. The study has shown that women in the Asian women category were depicted very differently from women in other categories of pornography. Women in Asian women category of pornography were treated less aggressively. In addition, women in Asian women category were less objectified... READ FULL ABSTRACT
EXCERPTS
- "Asian women were still depicted as sexually submissive and inactive. If that is the sexual script about Asian women people will learn from online pornography, it might lead to men’s special sexual fantasy towards Asian women, suppress Asian women’s motivation to actively explore their sexualities and lead to discrimination towards Asian women who are actively pursuing their own sexual desire and pleasure."
- "It is not clear why Asian women category has been significantly less aggressive. Mayall and Russell (1993) have argued that, although both have been objectified in pornographic materials, black women were depicted as animals while Asian women were depicted as human dolls. Therefore, one possible explanation is that, Asian women were usually depicted as docile and submissive dolls. Thus, male characters will treat dolls nice and they also do not need to act aggressively to force a doll into sexual activities."
