Diet Street Vendors: Body Shaming Harassment

IT isn’t enough that I can’t ride the subway, walk down the street, turn on the TV or read printed material without an onslaught of advertisements for diet, cosmetic surgery or encounter body shaming. Now, diet companies are taking to the streets to do one-on-one diet promotions in Seoul.

YESTERDAY at about 3PM, I was walking down the street and passed a promotion table set in the middle of the sidewalk in front of a new diet shop. Four employees (3 male, 1 female) sat at the table with pitchers of some kind of diet drink. A male employee approached me and blocked my path.

Employee: 다이어트! 다이어트! (= Diet! Diet!)
Me: 관심이 없습니다. (= I’m not interested.)
Employee: [He makes hand gestures for the hourglass body shape and repeats] 다이어트!
Me: 관심이 없다고 했어요. 다이어트 필요없어요. [= I said I'm not interested. I don't need to diet.] (I try to step around him)
Employee: (He dodges back into my path) Make Good Body. 다이어트! Make Good Shape! (He keeps making the exaggerated hand gestures for tracing an hourglass figure in the air in front of me as if he were TRACING on my body as a blank canvas)
Me: 가는 길이 막히고 있어요. 필요없다고 했어요!  (= You’re blocking my road, I said I don’t need it!)

(Meanwhile the other 3 employees are laughing hysterically)
I picked up my pace, got past him and walked about 10 meters further down the street. Then I stopped. I was angry. I returned to the table and confronted the member who seemed to be in charge.

Me: 왜 재미있어요? 왜 무례한말 하면서 웃었어요? (= Why is it funny? Why do you laugh while saying rude things?)
Team Leader: 죄송한데요. 다이어트 프로모션하고 있어요. (= I’m sorry, we are doing a diet promotion)
Me: 그렇게 잘 팔라요? 가는 길 막히고 무례한말하고 손으로 너무 성차별적인 행동이 안 돼요! (Do you sell well that way? Blocking the road, saying rude things and making a sexist hand gesture is not ok!)

THAT was all I could say. What I wanted to say was that it was harassment, body shaming, that this company had no right to follow and bother customers. I wanted to say that after I said I was not interested in the diet products, his employee further insisted that I should “make good body shape” and that there should be some sort of consequence for inappropriate behavior.But what consequence would there be?

WHAT if I do call the company? They are probably glad that their sales team is being aggressive.
WHAT if I reported (to someone) feeling harassed? It’s pretty minor, really.

WHAT if I told that employee how he made me feel? Would he be able to consider me enough of a person to care that I had to fight off the internalization of the shaming he was putting my body through, the way he was objectifying me, tracing symbols over my body as he looked on it.

Image Credit deviantart 

I am not a picture, I am not a canvas, and I am not a drawing board, sculpture or object that you can sketch over with your eyes or your hands!

Asian Girlz Apologies: On Sincerity and Slut Shaming – 2 of 3

Asian Girlz music video Director Michael Steinberg is getting very little response to his visual interpretation of the song. As the director, he is responsible for the scenes, editing, camera angles, etc. He is responsible in one way or another for everything except the lyrics of the song. So, any response to actress Levy Tran, for instance, should also have been a question or a critique to Steinberg.

Worse, while Levy Tran has made an apology, and the band has made some insufficient apologies for their racist and sexist lyrics, in the Twitter conversations below, director Steinberg comes off as completely unwilling to reconsider his video scripting and his objectifying camera angles.

It would be better for the director to answer criticism with a bit of self-reflection. How much being called out does it take before an ‘artist’ will really think it through instead of coming up with lame reasons to pass on their own responsibility for using their "art" platform for racist or sexist ideas?

Steinberg is absolutely responsible for the concept of the music video. His Tweet back in February shares this concept:

 As far back as… uh… January, he was preparing for the project:

This is how Steinberg has decided to deal with audience criticism. He merely asserts that his work is ‘Art’ without intention to be racist or sexist. Please Note *underlining added for emphasis, you know, because I am EDITING and taking CREATIVE CONTROL over how to explain my INTENT and TELL a story:

  

 By writing the above responses, Steinberg denies that his own work could also be exploitative. The director is defensive and asserts his work is great. Rather than reflect, he turns responsibility back on the audience to define for him 'the line.' At best, he asks 'should we take it down' but his exchanges with audience members refuse to acknowledge his role as as director and the impact his work has had on the audience. 

I'm not sure that Michael Steinberg's writing can demonstrate the nuanced understanding of race that would be required for him to claim that he is producing 'Art' about racial stereotypes. His own writing is full of intentionally used cliches, particularly evident in his publicly accessible writing sample for a TV Pilot titled ICE that he describes as a "procedural about Immigration and Customs Enforcement."

  

Note how non-white characters are introduced by name, followed immediately by race, then a character motive description (sometimes playing into stereotype). Meanwhile, characters he intends to be white are not given any racial description at all. It is pretty clear that as a writer, he writes from the perspective of, and for white audiences. Why is it hard to understand that his 'Art' could be received differently by non-white or racially-conscious audiences? Probably because Steinberg lacks sufficient self-reflection about his role as an ‘Artist’ and that his writing, creative control and direction of pieces portray people of color.   

The song and its music video are totally unclear and ineffective if their intent is to mock Orientalizing fetishism or racist attitudes. In filming the music video, a couple of smarter choices might go further to establish its cred as a critique. One example, Steinberg’s decision to shoot the striptease scene from this angle puts Levy Tran on display as an object of The Male Gaze. Perhaps simply shooting from a level angle could make a difference by shifting emphasis from objectification of her body and toward her performance. This is a fundamental concept in cinematography that even I, with no background in film, can grasp and am aware of.

Steinberg didn't want to respond to our critique or explain his creative decisions as director of the music video: 

If Steinberg’s intent was to poke fun at guys who fetishize, he fails big. A director/artist is supposed to think about audience. Even commentators who are sympathetic to the claim that the video was intended to make fun of racists point out it’s utter failure. For example, GangnamBoy writes, “I’m sure most of the intended audience will be too stupid to even understand the "message." They’ll just stare at the hot girl. The problem is that they just aren’t clever enough to make a satire. Whatever message they’re trying to say is just going to be lost in internet comment wars.”

Furthermore, a good critique doesn't need to be EXPLAINED in an interview or post or Tweet. An ‘artist’ shouldn’t need to inform the audience at large that "no no I totally meant to make fun of racists... I just failed, but this is ‘Art’ with a capital A so I am absolved of your critique." These excuses really don’t work if your project just regurgitates racist words/ideas.

To wrap this up, I love that rather than promote Steinberg’s video, some groups have started to make alternate play lists, such as Feed The People Playlist: APIAFemale-Identified Musicians by Sean Miura.

Read our other posts in this series on Asian Girlz Apologies:
Part 1 critiques the problematic racism and sexism in Day Above Ground's lyrics and apology
Part 3 addresses the online and media community and the slut-shaming of Levy Tran

  

For Discussion:

I enjoyed a chat about the Asian Girlz MV with my good friend Taylor Bradley, parts of which I’d like to share here in the hope that others will join our conversation (in the comments section below). We discussed what we though the band and director might have ‘expected’ and we touch on an ongoing debate about cultural appropriation in the music industry. We end by addressing the ‘Art’ of the Asian Girlz music video.

[Chelle B. Mille] http://m.complex.com/music/2013/07/day-above-ground-asian-girlz-racist-song

[Chelle B. Mille] want to contribute a reaction for my blog?

[Chelle B. Mille] calling for your solidarity~

[Taylor Bradley] god thats painful

[Taylor Bradley] lyrics music the fucking faces

 [Taylor Bradley] *their

…

[Taylor Bradley] i wonder what the reception they were expecting

[Chelle B. Mille] yeah... the part of the video that they shot IN China Town or KTown was confusing... I wonder, did they just tell people they were shooting a video, or were those folks fans, had they heard the song?

[Chelle B. Mille] As for Levy Tran, just because one individual who is a woman and Asian consents to the song with participation... doesn't mean it is a good idea or is gonna fly... but maybe it made them think there would be a positive reception to the song?

…

[Taylor Bradley] im not sure how bad appropriation is. I mean GDragon wears his hat sideways....

[Chelle B. Mille] are you thinking about the blackface image where he mimics other celebrities that wear a hoodie in solidarity for Trayvon Martin... but in blackface?

[Taylor Bradley] no. just wearing his hat sideways

[Chelle B. Mille] I don't think that in and of itself upsets anybody... its when someone then tries to put on a 'performance' of another culture... like separating an unknowing performance from its history or context. If an American woman performs as aegyo... what does that performance mean?

[Chelle B. Mille] likewise when Hyuna sings about having dark ‘chocolate’ skin in a kpop MV ‘ghetto’ in her Ice Cream MV... the appropriation of cultural history, music, fashion, etc. do come across problematically in my opinion. It ties into racialized consumption or use of anothers culture while also taking over control of its interpretation.

[Taylor Bradley] i dont know.  i feel the problem is only when you appropriate the bad symbols.

[Chelle B. Mille] hmm

[Taylor Bradley] like if kanye wanted to wear a kimono that would be fine

[Taylor Bradley] but if he wore a [Japanese] imperial officers uniform

[Taylor Bradley] that wouldnt be fine

[Chelle B. Mille] what examples show good/bad appropriation? or is there a distinction to draw between appreciation vs. appropriation?

[Taylor Bradley] second question: i dont think so

[Chelle B. Mille] I think it matters what he does in the kimono, too. And the original use of the kimono. That is why the "headdress Indian" costume is offensive to some... the headdress is a sacred religious artifact being disrespected at a kegger party.

[Taylor Bradley] yeah that makes senses

[Taylor Bradley] be careful with bad symbols, and be respectful with good ones

[Taylor Bradley] maybe thats the rule

[Chelle B. Mille] but I can't figure out a method to distinguish clearly and instructively how to evaluate appropriation. seems the logical first step is to be knowledgeable about the culture... but then we still have to be careful about not perceiving a right to appropriate based on being 'in the field' as so so so many anthropologists have done in the past.

[Taylor Bradley] i like my morality simple

[Taylor Bradley] rule one: dont be a dick

[Chelle B. Mille] yeah... it ought to be common sense like the guideline you mention, but wow, we are capable of such stupidity

[Taylor Bradley] rule two: follow rule one

[Chelle B. Mille] lol

[Taylor Bradley] i think that if you are showing respect to another person culture your fine

[Taylor Bradley] its usually not hard to tell

[Taylor Bradley] with the days above ground guys though

[Taylor Bradley] they werent trying to be disrespectful, just fucking clueless

[Chelle B. Mille] hmmm... I think they were trying to 'push boundaries'

second line about butt fucking... they weren't being respectful for sure... they wanted shock value... they wanted to use sex to sell records... they just vomited up every cliche they could think of

[Taylor Bradley] haha

[Taylor Bradley] but their response seemed so naive

[Taylor Bradley] youre right they may be savvier than im giving them credit for

[Chelle B. Mille] hahaha... I may assume everyone is devious until proven dumb

---

Michael Steinberg's Tweets from https://twitter.com/cine_fix

Michael Steinberg's writing sample was posted to his website at http://michaelsteinbergfilms.com/writing

Asian Girlz Apologies: On Sincerity and Slut Shaming – 3 of 3

 Just STOP slut-shaming Levy Tran!

Levy Tran, at work.

IT is counter-productive, at best, to accuse the band Day Above Ground of sexism and racism and then go on to criticize Levy Tran for her choices about he own body, dress and behavior. What was her choice in this context? By dressing and performing in the music video she pursues her career as an actress and model. Did she contribute to writing the lyrics? No. Did she choose the camera angles or edit the film? No. Is she responsible for her own participation? Yes, and she has offered the most sincere apologies for Asian Girlz despite having the least creative control over the entire racist sexist mess that is this song and music video.

IT is no doubt challenging to have an ethical career as an actress or model, and accountabilty for mistakes is important, but let's not reinforce sexism by going after the actress and letting the director slide. Let’s re-examine the goals the band and director pursued:

 "They said they want to push the boundaries, but by pushing theboundaries there are going to be thousands, if not more around the nation whoare going to say it's okay for me to push the boundaries." 

according to an interview with Rabiah Khalid, who serves as the Avocacy Manager for AsianAmericans for Community Involvement. 

Khalid spoke to the issue of sexual assault and harassment of Asian Americans in the U.S.

“People have groped them and it’s okay, because you’re an Asian women,we’ve been told this stuff,” Khalid said. “It would have been different if itwas another ethnic group,” she said. “I feel like media and everyone would havebeen on it right away.”

I appreciate Khalid's excellent points demonstrating the link between this video and everyday harassment of women.

ON the other hand, some commentators are inappropriately slut-shaming Levy Tran out of concern for Asian women. Some are concerned about the representation of Asian women because of violence against Asian women. Isn't it obvious that to prevent violence against Asian women, we need to focus on the behavior of violent offenders? In that vein, I am far more concerned with the creative entitlement that the band Day Above Ground and Director Michael Steinberg think they are at liberty to direct at Asian women. By 'creatively' treating Asian women as objects lyrically and visually, they justify the same misogyny and orientalist behaviors they claimed to 'make fun of.' Violence against women is an incredibly important issue to address, but by slut-shaming Levy Tran we are enacting some violence against her.

SO far Levy Tran has offered a few apologies and there is likely more information about her opinion to come. In the meantime, here is an account of model Paige Morgan's decision-making and limited creative and editorial control over Vice Magazine spread shot by Annabel Mehran and editedby Annette Lamothe-Ramos and its' problematic portrayal of women authors who committed suicide. 

For example, Morgan says,

"You pose how you're told to pose, you wear what you're told to wear, you pose with who you're told to pose with — even in situations where someone is physically unsafe, or enduring sexual harassment, if you say, 'Stop, this is unsafe,' most often the person who bears the brunt of that is the model. The model is the person who has the least amount of power in the situation."

"Unfortunately, in this industry, any sort of objection to a job is seen as you being 'difficult,' or you just purposefully creating 'drama.' No, I'm not 15. I don't have an agent. But there are other factors at work. And it's extremely easy to say, 'You should just walk, and find some other way to make money.' But I don't think we'd necessarily say that to anyone in a more regular job, faced with that sort of decision."

WHAT did Levy Tran do? She danced, she took a bath, she acted and undressed. Are these actions that women are not entitled to take? Are we not allowed to perform? Are we not allowed to make decisions about how to look, how to dress? Aren't we allowed to be sexy? Let's not confuse Levy Tran's creative choices with those made by the band and director - they are absolutely different.

SO let's take a broader look at Levy Tran, her (limited, so far) body of work shows quite a lot of positive messages. From her Tumblr over the past several months you can see a lot of positive messages to promote body acceptance and confidence:

 “Remember- nobody’s perfect. Work hard and strive to be better than youwere yesterday. Study hard. Be kind. Tip the barista at your coffee shop. Opena door for a stranger. Let someone into your lane. Don’t speed in a residentialarea. Floss. Read a book. And please stop hating on other people. It only makesyou look bad. Say one positive thing about yourself in the mirror. Repeat “I amworthy!!!" 

“I’m not perfect. I make mistakes. All I know is that I’m a good daughter. I’m a good person who is kind to people. I work hard. I keep reminding myself to not listen to the negative comments people say about me. No one will ever really know who I am unless I let them in. Just because I have a few provocative photos does not make me any less of a person. I’m a woman. I am ok with my sexuality. Most of my post have to do with food and fitness. Which is what I’m about. It’s taken a long time to build confidence and I’m not giving it up. To those of you who are still struggling to block out the negativity- stay strong. People say the meanest things sometime.”

  “I am so excited. So grateful for a job. I am grateful for all thesupport from my family, friends, and followers. I am grateful for the food inmy belly, for the roof over my head, for the air in my lungs. I am happy. I amcontent. I don’t need much. I work to excel, not to be rich or famous. “Thebest way out is through"- Robert Frost. We all must go through our ups anddowns to appreciate the ups. Work hard. Be honest. And don’t be an asshole. :)” 

 “Love your body. Don’t hate it and wish it looked like someone else’sbody.” 

IN an interview a few years ago she emphasized messages of confidence and definitely shows she is critical of degrading ideas: 

(asked) What is one feature you wish you had more of?

“Man, are you sure you want to ask a girl this question?! This list could go on forever, but if I were to choose…I would have to say confidence. I wish I had more confidence in front of the camera.

(asked) In fire what would you save makeup/shoes/purses (only choose one & why)?

“This question is degrading.”

OTHERS are concerned about the image of Asian women. These commentators really play into slut-shaming because they deny the basic right of women to choose what to wear and how to behave. These attitudes are just as sexist as the stereotypes and objectification in the song and music video itself.

AS a footnote to his post, blogger Angry Asian Man tells us: 

“The scantily clad actress in the video, by the way, is Levy Tran.” 

It is unclear what the purpose of this footnote was, but the tone itself can come across as pretty sexist in slut-shaming Levy Tran. It is not clear enough whether AAM is critiquing the clothing in the context of the music video (which would be an art decision by the director) or whether he is criticizing Levy Tran for wearing this outfit. It seems more likely that the emphasis is a criticism of Levy Tran herself, since AAM is identifying her, and never identified the director of the video. With this choice, AAM moves from criticizing the song and video and starts off a round of slut-shaming Levy Tran. 

THESE disturbing comments from Facebook and Twitter exemplify slut-shaming:

 

*KGC cut out other comments responding to this apology to save space

Levy Tran's self-respect is pretty evident in her Tumblr and interviews, but @somebadideas jumps on the bandwagon to slut-shame her. @biostudentgirl's comment shows us some strong moralizing rhetoric and emphasizes 'disgrace.' @dansuyume points out the creative control element of this debate. 

@NamPhanMMA puts too much responsibility on Levy Tran by propping her up as accountable for representing all Asian Females and socially policing her representation. But @dansuyume is also insulting and condescending Tran as a 'poor misguide video hoe' while in reality Tran publicly apologizes and take accountability for her actions because she demonstrates the capacity (absent in the Band and Director) to reflect on her decisions. It generally troubles me that we are so quick to dismiss our fellow women as morally inferior, stupid or slutty when it serves our own arguments or sense of ethical superiority. 

 *Twitter is public and open to all, but I removed names from this FB post bc privacy settings were not public. 

This statement by *F___ shocked me because of it's direct and unapologetic slut-shaming.

I think the debate here between @steviegell and @dansuyume starts to point out the problematic position occupied by some netizens who call out the music video as sexist, but then deploy sexist rhetoric and attitudes against Tran. 

TO conclude, while the director is unwilling to reconsider his video scripting and his objectifying camera angles, the band is unwilling to do the work of reflecting on their mistakes. In contrast, Levy Tran's apology is the most sincere, and at the same time the most upsetting. Her apology upsets me because it reflects the sexist attacks of the online and media communities. Why is there such harsh shaming? It is clear from her work that she wants to promote body acceptance and self-love, these are both great messages. So she picked a project that is out of step with those messages, she has apologized and accepted responsibility for her role. At the same time, have WE been held accountable for slut-shaming her? 

BY slut-shaming Levy Tran, we take up a role reinforcing racist and sexist views about Asian women. We participate in socially policing her behavior, appearance, clothing and body. We say that while the band and the director don't have a right to 'use' her body or make racist and sexist statements, WE do have the right to say that her body should be covered up, her apologies are not enough, she has shamed us all by not conforming to the role WE give her and the behavior WE demand. It is enough to challenge her to rethink the meaning and significance of the project.

Read our other posts in this series on Asian Girlz Apologies:
Part 1 critiques the problematic racism and sexism in Day Above Ground's lyrics and apology
Part 2 takes on the creative decisions by Director Michael Steinberg visualizing racism and sexism and calling it 'Art'

Asian Girlz Apologies: On Sincerity and Slut Shaming – 1 of 3

Let's talk about how we react when we are called on our racism and sexism. It happens to us all at some point(s) in our lives, and we go through a process of accountability and learning.

Day Above Ground Facebook Cover Art

IN the past few days criticism of Day Above Ground’s lyrics and Director Michael Steinberg’s music video for Asian Girlz has gone viral with a petition calling for the band and their sponsor On-Stage Stands to drop the video and apologize. There has been inspired discussion calling for accountability from the band Day Above Ground and their sponsor.

DAG's apologies to date have been problematic on a number of levels. Early apologies and statements ranged from the group basically claiming they ‘can’t be racist because we have an Asian guy in the group’ to ‘we meant it as a joke’ to ‘we are making fun of ourselves or white dudes that DO fetishize Asian women’ etc. One more problem is that the group replaces their past statements with new ones but doesn't leave all of it up on YouTube, which would be more transparent. Simply put, they don't come across as sincere in their dialog with fans or critics.

NOW, their latest statement (clipped below) opens with another problematic refusal to process and accept accountability for their work:

Published on Jul 29, 2013
DAG's STATEMENT
This video is intended to be a satirical, provocative, absurd, & even silly work of art. The lyrics, story, and visuals are so completely over-the-top and ridiculous that we thought it'd be impossible to miss the point.
But some very vocal groups, especially the blog, "Angry Asian Men," attacked it right out of the gate very aggressively. Their fury was soon amplified by the blog/news cycle. Shortly after, the views and craziness began climbing by the second.
Angry Asian Men, to you we say - all's fair so well done! We salute you. Seriously. No satire intended this time.
So due to the overwhelming misunderstanding of this video & the anger it has incited - especially the bizarre and horrible personal attacks on actress Levy Tran - we're pulling the video down within the next 48 hours.
But we'll leave it up until then to give anyone who cares a chance to see for themselves what it's really about before it disappears from our channel and website forever.
So just step back, take a breath, and relax.
We thank those who've watched the video & understood it in the spirit it was intended. We loved your thoughtful comments. You are heroic souls, indeed. We will be posting some of your comments (along with the funnier negative ones) on our website. Here are just a few of the hundreds that caught our eye...
mishisoup 58 minutes ago
: I think the video is amusing (and really weirrrd, haha). My view as a 26 year old Asian American woman is that I'm not offended because I know the difference between someone seriously trying to be demeaning and someone who's joking around. This is obviously the latter. The age thing was funny. Com'on guys, relax.
LordAkaneon 9 minutes ago: 
Day Above Ground = a fake band created by the NSA so that you don't notice that Edward Snowden was granted Asylum in Russia
Bob Smith 3 minutes ago: How does it perpetuate ignorance? The band is intentionally being ignorant. They're ridiculing ignorance. They're also getting a laugh at the expense of white men who are made small and caged by their affection for Asian women. They're making fun of white guys who only see the most basic stereotypes and who are the most basic stereotypes
18dot7 9 minutes ago: 
i dont get all the yellers ... they only cater to the cliches already sunk in most westeners mind ... from what i get, they are exposing the stereotype thinking of most people ... and it looks to me as if they hit the nail to the head ... MOST think its racist - and THAT is prolly what they intended ... think thrice ...
We think it's a shame that a music video aimed at entertaining was shouted down. But, as the curse goes, we live in "interesting times."
"It's only Rock n' Roll. (But I like it.)" - The Rolling Stones

"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable." - Banksy

Let’s unpack that, the group was “attacked” “aggressively” and the “craziness began climbing by the second?”

Wow, that sounds so very similar to how I felt with each passing second when I watched the video! Lyrically and visually, Asian women and cultures were attacked aggressively and with racist appropriation alongside delusional refusal to accept responsibility for the band’s capitalization on racist and sexist tropes and/or absolute failure at satire which in turn escalated over the past 24 hours.

I do agree with their point about the attacks on actress Levy Tran, which we will also address here at Korean Gender Cafe.

The group praises as "heroic souls" those that "understood it in the spirit it was intended" but as LimaLimonArt points out in RE: "Asian Girlz" || Vlog Response || (Petition Link in Description), there is no other spirit BUT making fun of Asian cultures (see LimaLimonArt’s critique at 01:43) and female objectification (see LimaLimonArt’s critique at 02:38).

Nice work by LimaLimonArt for reclaiming a message from the awful original lyrics, and for challenging the video. Since the group plans to pull the video in the next 48 hours, and has revised their statement at least three times, a video like this holds the group accountable and means that the video can't just be dropped and forgotten.

Day Above Ground says they plan to post some of "the funnier negative" comments so that they can continue to ridicule audiences, people of color and their allies.

Finally, the group concludes, "We think it's a shame that a music video aimed at entertaining was shouted down. But, as the curse goes, we live in "interesting times." The inexperience and immaturity is too obvious to warrant further comment. Their online presence speaks for itself, afterall the only other images they post on their Facebook page that are not of the band are both sexually objectifying images, including one that doesn't even include Levy Tran's face! The group never even makes any attempt to address whether or not their work is sexist! Their latest statement itself is addressed to Angry Asian MEN [emphasis mine]. As a process, when it is pointed out to you that you are racist/sexist... DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT... listen to someone outside your narrow entitled social position, read a book, reflect and rethink your actions. Don't think saying "I'm not racist/sexist" matters when you haven't processed your problematic behavior.

 

Next up, let's take a look at the least apologetic player, Director Michael Steinberg in part two of Asian Girlz Apologies: On Sincerity and Slut Shaming – 2 of 3

Read our other posts in this series on Asian Girlz Apologies:
Part 2 takes on the creative decisions by Director Michael Steinberg visualizing racism and sexism and calling it 'Art'
Part 3 addresses the online and media community and the slut-shaming of Levy Tran

--
Images pulled from Day Above Ground Facebook Photos 

Korea Times 'Fashionista' piece on Park's 'enraged' and 'resentful' color palette

In Park the fashionista the Korea Times joins other news outlets in ascribing emotional significance to President Park Geun-hye's color palette. This is the SECOND time this quarter that the Korea Times felt Park's fashion was newsworthy, please see our first post at "Park Geun-Hye & Skirts: HATE this Double Standard." Korean Gender Café also discussed, analyzed and critiqued this trend in previous posts: Part 2 "Still HATE this Double Standard," and Part 3 "A Late-comer to the Race to Ascribe Stereotypes to the President."

Quite unfortunately, with each new iteration, this "news" trend grows more offensive. This latest article ramps up the sexist rhetoric by characterizing Park's fashion choices as indicative of her 'enraged' and 'resentful' attitude. These are word choices frequently ascribed to sexist depiction of women political leaders and their use here in the context of fashion adds to the gendered rhetoric describing President Park. Article quotation and our running commentary below:

PGH Still President in Any Color

"Now, the first Korean woman head of state is changing her style but not baring more." [CBM: Is it necessary to discuss womens' fashion in terms of bared skin, or is this alluding to the recent ban on 'indecent exposure' that went viral a few weeks ago?]

"When Park met leaders of the governing and opposition parties just after the atomic test, she was dressed in a grey jacket with black lapel and looked solemn.

Park wore a dark-green outfit on March 4 when she issued a statement to urge the National Assembly to promptly pass the government reorganization bill so she would able to complete her Cabinet.

She was enraged back then because her nominee for the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning - former Bell Labs head Kim Jeong-hoon - stepped down a day earlier because of the parliamentary impasse. [CBM: Enraged is a quite objectionable word choice to describe a political leader because of the emotional and unhinged tone. Though, to be balanced we also find that South Korean media has criticized "Lee Myung-bak’s angry outbursts."]



As Park highly regarded Kim as the perfect fit to lead the science ministry, which she thinks is most important to achieve her goal of a “creative economy,” she strongly expressed her frustration and resentment [CBM: Again, pointing to resentment draws on gendered tropes that for so long have characterized women as "resentful" and threatening to patriarchal power]."

We have never read that a male politician expresses his inner rage and resentment through fashion choices or a color palette. This media coverage obviously fails the Name it Change it reversibility test and reveals a sexist tone. Journalists shouldn’t describe her clothes unless they would describe a male politicians. "If media coverage doesn’t mention a male candidate’s eye color, haircut, makeup, marital status, children or lack thereof—then it shouldn’t mention those things about a female candidate. When it does mention these things about a female candidate, it hurts her [politically]. That's why it's so important to respond."