This document summarizes research on gender identities of LGBT Asian Americans. It discusses struggles such as invisibility and stereotypes. It describes experiences of gay Asian American men around masculinity norms and religion. It also discusses lesbians navigating femininity norms and bisexuals' higher suicide rates. For transgender Asian Americans, it outlines greater acceptance in Asia compared to the West.
3. Struggles
● Invisibility
● Racialized stereotypes
● Genderized biases
– Nadal, K. L., & Corpus, M. H. (2012)
4. Gay Asian American Men
● For gay Filiipino Americans, religion acts as a major
hindrance to coming out.
● Many reported that their parents believe
homosexuality is morally wrong according to their
interpretation of the Catholic teachings.
5. ● Many also stated conflicting relationships with
religious family members
● Putting family first before their feelings
6. Gender Norms
● Males need to be masculine and dominant.
● Males reported families often reprimanded them for
gender variant mannerisms or style of dress. Male
members frequently talked about how their parents
corrected their body movement.
7. Gender Norms
● Straight acting vs Femme
● Asian men are emasculated as "asexual" or
"feminine"
● Althought stigmatized, Asian men are often
expected to continue acting feminine.
8. Gender Norms
● Gay Asian American men perceived as being
submissive and mostly viewed as "bottoms."
● Any displays of feminine mannerisms on television
by gay characters would be laughed at, as their roles
are generally comical and frivilous.
9. Femininity
● Asian American women with curvy bodies
associated more with white women than with Asian
American women.
● Asian American women's bodies are perceived as
non-shapely and less desirable.
● Desirability of white femininity.
10. Asian Lesbian
● Chinese lesbians are called lalas – many of which
live a "dual lives."
● A woman in a same-sex relationship may not
identify as lesbian or aim for egalitarianism in
gender roles as commonly seen in Western lesbian
relationships (Wieringa et al., 2007).
11. Bisexuals
● Findings from the National Latino and Asian
American Survey (NLAAS) indicated that bisexual
men were more likely than heterosexual men to
report a recent suicide attempt.
● Among women, lesbian/bisexual women were more
likely than heterosexual women to evidence positive
1-year and lifetime histories of depressive disorders.
12. Transgender
● Gender Identity Variant
● Many Asian trans individuals begin cross-gender
presentation and physical transition around their
teens or even before.
– (Winter, 2009)
13. Statistics
● There are may be between 50,000 and 100,000
Malaysian transwomen. (Jamaludin, 2001; Kaur,
2007)
● In India there are an estimated 500,000 Indian
transwomen (Nanda, 1990)
● In Thailand there are perhaps 300,000 transwomen
around 1:300; (Winter, 2002)
14. Adaptive factors
● Trans individuals living in Asia face are more
accepted than ones in Western cultures.
● Growing up in cultures of gender pluralism
● Traditions of transpeople performing highly valued
social roles (e.g. spirit mediums and healers)
15. ● The number of transpeople living in many
communities means that young persons transitioning
can usually find a ready source of emotional and
social support, as well as practical information
(including on medical matters) to guide them in their
transition.
16. References
● Nadal, K. L., & Corpus, M. H. (2012). “Tomboys” and “Baklas”:
Experiences of Lesbian and Gay Filipino Americans. Asian American
Journal Of Psychology.
● Jamaludin, F. (2001, January 21). Transsexuals: Declare us as women. The
Star. Retrieved November 29, 2012, from
http://ai.eees.umich.org/TS/MalaysianTS.html
● Kaur, J. (2007, June 15). Mak Nyah Cry for Compassion. Bernama.
Retrieved Oct 29, 2012, from http: / / sgbutterfly.org/ index.php?
Name=News&file=article&sid=218.
● Kim, H. (2006). Asianized Asians, Twinkies, and North Face Puffy Jackets:
Constructing Racialized Gender Identities among Second Generation Korean
American College Women. Conference Papers -- American Sociological
Association, 1.
● Nanda, S. (1990). Neither man nor woman: The Hijras of India. Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth.
● Winter, S. (2002). Counting kathoey. Retrieved September 7, 2005, from
http://web.hku.hk/∼sjwinter/TransgenderASIA/paper counting kathoey.htm
● Winter, S. (2006). Thai transgenders in focus: Demographics, transitions and
identities. International Journal of Transgenderism, 9(1), 15–27.