Black Woman Asian Man Relationship, Desexualization, hypersexualization
sparksbet asked: Are there some stereotypical aspects of a relationship between a black woman and an Asian man that I should be aware of/try to avoid? Racial inequality still exists in this [story’s] universe, so what specific microagressions and assumptions would they experience? I tried looking through the tags for interracial relationships but there wasn’t a ton on this situation specifically, and I want to know for sure what to avoid. Another related question - I was considering making one of the above characters asexual (but obviously not aromantic). However, I know that desexualization is a problematic stereotype of Asian men and that both desexualization and oversexualization are problematic stereotypes of black women. Would it be too problematic for me to make one of them asexual, and if not, how would you suggest to do it right?
We clipped your ask because of its extensive length.
Would it be too problematic for me to make one of them asexual, and if not, how would you suggest to do it right?
Asexuality vs. desexualization in relation to both Asian men and Black women has already been discussed here.
Aromanticism does not immediately mean that someone does not want a relationship. There are different types of attraction, love and relationships and they are all equally worthwhile. I’m not aromantic so I can’t really say that much about it but reading up and becoming more aware is advised.
Then there is a difference between desexualizing a person and having a person who is ace. Desexualization is when you erase the sexual sides of a character, while someone who is ace does not experience sexual attraction (there are more ways people can identify as ace though but this is the most popular one used at the moment as far as I know).
Desexualization of Black women and Asian men is very problematic, but I very much want to have people know that there are ace Black women and ace Asian men. Poc often get erased from groups and it would be wrong to erase their experiences.
If you chose to make one or both ace, do your research and don’t forget to focus on intersectionality as well. Especially with characters where these stereotypes are prevalent. Treat them as human beings with depth and have their sexuality not be a cause of their race.
Because of of low amounts of awareness and a lot of misinformation it would perhaps be better to have these characters be written by someone who is at least ace and/or have beta readers who identify the same as your characters.
Also read up on the stereotypes and tropes on aces, Black women, Asian men, their relationships and intersectionality.
As for your other questions:
Are there some stereotypical aspects of a relationship between a black woman and an Asian man that I should be aware of/try to avoid?
People tend to place Black and (East) Asian people on opposing sides of the “BiPoC-spectrum”, so folks may be being surprised by their being in a relationship in the first place or in turn assume the Black woman is brazen and “dominating” in the relationship while the East Asian man in contrast is quiet and conservative.
Outsiders may also hypersexualize the Black woman while desexualizing the Asian man. So that whole “is he, ya know, enough for you, given what you’re used to with Black men?” mess that hypersexualizes Black men into the process as well.
Racial inequality still exists in this universe too, so what specific microagressions and assumptions would they experience?
Do your research on the sort of stereotypes and micro aggressions Black and Asian people have to face. We have discussions on both in the micro aggressions tag, and particularly a masterpost in terms of Black people + micro aggressions.
~Mods Alice and Colette