The Asian Mystique by Sheridan Prasso

April 27, 2005 4:03 PM

A 400-plus page look at the way Western men — and history — have treated or regarded “Asian” women.
Prasso is really on to something when she attacks the stereotyping and the obsessions of Western men for “Asian” women. A newcomer to the subject, or to the region, will learn a lot, and others, I suspect, will find a lot that is already familiar.
I’ve put Asian in quotations because Asian womanhood is a totally artificial construct, and this gets back to one of the book’s problems. It is trying to lecture knowledgeably on the whole content, and this inevitably leads to a good deal of surface-skimming, and a good bit of repetition.
I also find it interesting that the cover bears an alluring picture of a geisha, one of the most fetishized images of “Asian” women around.

Learn more about "The Asian Mystique"

Posted at 4:03 PM

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)