qingcongdick | 1 points | May 12 2022 00:53:46

With the rising popularity of Asian pop culture in America (as seen by critical praise for Pixar's "Turning Red" and Netflix's "Squid Game"), people seem more open-minded and appreciative. But not everyone has good intentions.

"In my experience, the people who give these comments (fixated on race) aren't actually interested in (me)," Chan says. "They just want to flirt with an Asian woman. It's the feeling that you're being treated like a body to be conquered that makes this kind of attention so repulsive."

What's so complex about fetishization is it's often mistaken for appreciation or attraction. But the fundamental difference is that fetishization is objectification. It's oversimplification. It's a tactic to portray Asian women as objects and strip them of individuality, sociologists say. 

"Appreciation for a culture should not mean you assume that someone fits into your ideas of that culture, or that someone will share your passion for the culture because they're that race," Yuen says.