Racial fetishism

White women

Fetishism of white women in China

Slavoj Zizek (2009)

Following the globalization of China, the perception of Westerners changed drastically. As China opened up to the outside world, representations of Westerners shifted from enemies of China to individuals of great power, money and pleasure.^[11] The white woman, according to Slavoj Žižek, Slovenian psychoanalytic philosopher and researcher at the University of Ljubljana, has become fetishized in modern Chinese society as a result of her perceived role in the globalized commodity culture.^[12] In a study of Chinese advertisements from 1990 to 1995, marketed solely to the Chinese people, it was concluded that in China, white women are symbols of strength and sexuality. The body language expressed by Chinese models demonstrate subordination, defined by the covering of faces and the tilting of heads. On the contrary, Chinese advertisements depict white women as powerful and uninhibited. They stare straight into the camera, do not cover their mouths while laughing, and hold their heads high.^[11]

According to Rey Chow, cultural critic and professor at Duke University, the fetishism of white women in Chinese media does not have to do with sex; instead Chow describes it as a type of commodity fetishism. White women are seen as a representation of what China does not have: an image of a woman as something more than the heterosexual opposite to man.^[13] On the contrary, Perry Johansson, author of the Postcolonial Studies Journal article, "Consuming the other: The fetish of the western woman in Chinese advertising and popular culture," argues that the racial fetish of white women in Chinese culture does have something to do with sex. White women represent a shift in the power dynamics between women and men. As a result, white women are a source of fear.^[11]

Asian women

According to an article from the Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice, the "Asian fetish" syndrome is born out of the male desire for dominance and the stereotype of Asian women as individuals open to domination.^[14] For example, following the 1970s and a peak in the American feminist movement, many white men turned to mail-order bride companies in search of a loyal, understanding, and subservient partner. They saw women of their own race as too career-oriented and strong-willed. Asian women were the antithesis to their perception of white women.^[14] While white women resisted powerlessness and subjugation to the white man, Asian women were seen as open to the subjugation, even depicted as enjoying it.^[14]

The song "Yellow Fever" by The Bloodhound Gang includes lyrics such as, "She's an oriental rug cause I lay her where I please," and "Then I blindfold her with dental floss and get down on her knees."^[15] Both of these instances exemplify the stereotype of Asians as submissive.^[16] Margaret Cho has labeled Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Girls as a "minstrel show" because they represent fetishized East Asian stereotypes.^[17] The girls follow Stefani around on tour and are contractually obligated not to speak English in public.^[18] The performer had "renamed" them corresponding to her album title and clothing brand, L.A.M.B.: Love, Angel, Music, and Baby.^[18]

Furthermore, there have been many cases of Asian fetishism leading to criminal activity. In one case in 2000, two men, David Dailey and Edmund Ball, abducted and blindfolded two Japanese girls in Washington, one who was eighteen and the other who was nineteen.^[19] Ball specifically targeted these Asian students because he thought that they were submissive and were less likely to report sexual abuse.^[20] In another case, in 2005, Michael Lohman, a doctoral student at Princeton University, was charged by the state of New Jersey for reckless endangerment, theft, harassment as well as tampering with a food product. Michael had cut locks of hair off at least nine Asian women. He also poured his semen and urine into the drinks of Asian Princeton students more than fifty times. In his apartment, Michael also had mittens filled with hairs of Asian women.^[21]

Black women and men

After the Civil War, black men were more commonly falsely accused for the rape of white women compared to white men. Sexual relationships between black men and white women were frowned upon.^[22]

In 1986, Robert Mapplethorpe had a photographic art show titled Black Males, showing photographs of naked black men exclusively. This work has been highly criticized for fetishizing the black male body, notably by Kobena Mercer in his aforementioned essay. Though it was not necessarily the artist's intention to portray these men as fetishized objects, they have been perceived that way by many audiences, especially in relation to some of his other works concerning gay male BDSM practices. The latter works examine an actual subculture of sexuality that is enacted by the photographic subjects: the men in the photos are wearing/using their own gear and clothing, putting their fetish(es) on display.^[13] However, in Mapplethorpe's photos of black men, the subjects are not doing anything but existing as nude bodies, they are hyper-sexualized by the camera, therefore they become the fetish objects.^[3]

The fetishization of black women expanded during the Colonial Era, as some white male slave owners raped their black, female slaves. They justified their actions by labeling the women as hyper-sexual property. These labels solidified into what is commonly referred to as the "Jezebel" stereotype.^[23]

Charmaine Nelson discusses the way black females are presented in paintings, with an emphasis on nude paintings. Nelson argues that every nude painting feeds into the voyeuristic male gaze, but the way black women are painted has even more undertones." The black female body defies the white male subject's desire for a single subject of 'pure' origin in two ways: firstly, through a sexual 'otherness' as woman, and secondly through a racial and colour 'otherness' as black. It is the combined power of these two markers of social location which has enabled western artists to represent black women at the margins of societal boundaries of propriety." The black woman is considered a fetish in these paintings and she is only viewed in a sexual lens.^[3]

One of the more recent popular discourses around the fetishization of black women surrounds the release of Nicki Minaj's popular song, "Anaconda" in 2014. The entire song and music video revolves around the largeness of black women's bottoms. While some praise Minaj's work for its embrace of female sexuality, many believe that this song continues to reduce black women to be the focus of the male gaze.^[24]

Mestizo Latinos and Latinas

Mestizo Latina women face racial fetishism much more than their male counterparts. They are seen as something that is tropical. Through media they are portrayed to always be in bright colors, having long brown hair, red lips, curvaceous figure, and revealing clothing. Unlike Latino/Chicano men, Latina/Chicana women have hypersexualized bodies.  A perfect example of how Latina women are depicted is Jennifer Lopez. When she is on a magazine cover or in a photo shoot, her butt is what is emphasized in the picture. Her butt is seemingly abnormal, because it exceeds the standards for a "normal" white butt. This hyper-buttocks places Jennifer Lopez in the category of the other. It is interesting though, because the fact that Latina/Chicanas are in the category of the other, it makes them more desirable. They are perceived as an exotic race that is hypersexual. This tradition excludes Latina/Chicanas from being a part of the norm and they are forever to be viewed as foreigners and a threat to "true" American culture.^[25]

According to work of George Gerbner, through extended exposure to the very consistent and persistent ideas expressed on television, people tend to view what is being broadcast as a reality with no regard for it veracity. Supposedly the more television someone watches, the more likely they are to see the world in the same lens as the televised world. This means that any ideals in regards to certain races, can influence the way people perceive said races. The way that Latino/a men and women have been portrayed in the media has created a racial fetish on their bodies and culture.^[26]