3. Struggles
● Invisibility
● Racialized stereotypes
● Genderized biases
– Nadal, K. L., & Corpus, M. H. (2012)
4. Struggles
● Asian and Pacific Islander gays, lesbians, and
transgender individuals share problems of
invisibility. Many of them are under-represented in
the media or the literature.
● To compound on this situation, racialized and
gendered stereotypes in hetero-centric communities
make representation of Asian/Pacific LGBT
communities even more difficult.
5. 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.
6. ● Many also stated conflicting relationships with
religious family members
● Putting family first before their feelings
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
● Many desire white femininity.
11. Asian Lesbian
● Chinese lesbians are called lalas – many of which
live "dual lives." They may be married to a man, but
are only attracted to women sexually.
● 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).
12. 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.
13. Transgender
● Many are comfortable with the label Gender Identity
Variant.
● Many Asian trans individuals begin cross-gender
presentation and physical transition around their
teens or even before.
– (Winter, 2009)
14. Statistics
● There are approximately 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)
15. 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)
16. ● Family of choice is a significant factor in their
transition.
● Many transpeople chooses to live in communities
where they can usually find a ready source of
emotional and social support, as well as practical
information (including on medical matters) to guide
them through their transition process.
17. 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.