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ladyjax: My Rights as a Straight White Woman in Fandom: A Manifesto.
Take with a grain of hyperbole, but contains a few grains of truth in some of the reactions I've seen - and occasions a few defensive reactions in myself that I'll have to think about and examine.
--
And a thought: I'm of Chinese descent, born and brought up in Australia (a white country). Most of my childhood friends were the same: Chinese-descent, born in Australia.
Are we white?
Is raciality or cultural identification to do with skin colour or culture or the way of thinking? And if so, how much?
Australian racial tensions aren't the same as US racial tensions, and the Chinese don't seem to have the same issues that people of other racial types do. (Although it would be nice to see more Asians in pop culture TV shows - Hiro, Ando, and George Takei notwithstanding.) As far as I know, most people pick on our appearance to begin with, but after a generation when the local Chinese have generally worked hard and gotten their kids educated in western systems, no-one seems to think twice about it. At least, I've never noticed it that much in Sydney.
Right now - at least in the Australian cities, and particularly in Sydney as the primary melting-pot of Australian multi-culture - the media focuses on people of Middle Eastern Appearance with the focus on Islam, muslims, and the concept of communities of Sharia law within realms of western governance.
Presently, I'm living in a small town outside of Sydney. The population is primarily white anglo or mediterranean Euro, with a greater incident of Aboriginal Australians around than you find in Sydney, and almost no Chinese or Indians. The daughter of the man in whose house I'm staying asked about my eyes being slanty because I was Chinese. She's five and it was a question put to her by one of her schoolmates upon discovering that she'd met a Chinese person. It wasn't intended as offensive - at least, not by Lil - so I didn't take it as such, but it made me think all the same.
I don't know what I think of myself as. I mean, there's a joke in Australian Chinese culture: we're bananas - yellow on the outside, white on the inside. And I know there are some seminal differences in the thought processes between Chinese from China, and Chinese from Western society - as well as some key similarities. It all sorta blends together though - in the end, I'm just "me". They could flay me and put a different skin colour on me (shades of Anne McCaffrey's Restoree) but I'd still be "me" - but how much of that "me" is due to my racial appearance and type?
I've noticed that I tend to notice people of Aboriginal descent more - that might be because the rest of the population is largely white or Euro around here, or it might be a racial prejudice in myself. I'm not sure; the only Aboriginal person I've met was the woman who used to live in this house - and she was only part - one-eighth Aboriginal. And she looked...well...white/Euro. We had some interesting chats in the week before she moved out, though - about race and culture and where it fit into her life.
Truthfully, I haven't encountered too many people of Aboriginal descent - at least, not that they admitted to me. I don't know. Maybe that's my "coloured people" issue: people of a racial background with which I have no experience, and for whom a strong stereotype is in operation in my mind. (Substance abuse, domestic and child abuse, welfare dependance, and a strong history of governmental abuse of their rights as human beings - all of which are commonly in the media related to the Australian Aboriginal people.)
Not exactly turning night to noon, perhaps, or comfortable self-examination, but some stuff for me to ponder on and to think about how to change my perceptions and reactions.
ladyjax: My Rights as a Straight White Woman in Fandom: A Manifesto.Take with a grain of hyperbole, but contains a few grains of truth in some of the reactions I've seen - and occasions a few defensive reactions in myself that I'll have to think about and examine.
--
And a thought: I'm of Chinese descent, born and brought up in Australia (a white country). Most of my childhood friends were the same: Chinese-descent, born in Australia.
Are we white?
Is raciality or cultural identification to do with skin colour or culture or the way of thinking? And if so, how much?
Australian racial tensions aren't the same as US racial tensions, and the Chinese don't seem to have the same issues that people of other racial types do. (Although it would be nice to see more Asians in pop culture TV shows - Hiro, Ando, and George Takei notwithstanding.) As far as I know, most people pick on our appearance to begin with, but after a generation when the local Chinese have generally worked hard and gotten their kids educated in western systems, no-one seems to think twice about it. At least, I've never noticed it that much in Sydney.
Right now - at least in the Australian cities, and particularly in Sydney as the primary melting-pot of Australian multi-culture - the media focuses on people of Middle Eastern Appearance with the focus on Islam, muslims, and the concept of communities of Sharia law within realms of western governance.
Presently, I'm living in a small town outside of Sydney. The population is primarily white anglo or mediterranean Euro, with a greater incident of Aboriginal Australians around than you find in Sydney, and almost no Chinese or Indians. The daughter of the man in whose house I'm staying asked about my eyes being slanty because I was Chinese. She's five and it was a question put to her by one of her schoolmates upon discovering that she'd met a Chinese person. It wasn't intended as offensive - at least, not by Lil - so I didn't take it as such, but it made me think all the same.
I don't know what I think of myself as. I mean, there's a joke in Australian Chinese culture: we're bananas - yellow on the outside, white on the inside. And I know there are some seminal differences in the thought processes between Chinese from China, and Chinese from Western society - as well as some key similarities. It all sorta blends together though - in the end, I'm just "me". They could flay me and put a different skin colour on me (shades of Anne McCaffrey's Restoree) but I'd still be "me" - but how much of that "me" is due to my racial appearance and type?
I've noticed that I tend to notice people of Aboriginal descent more - that might be because the rest of the population is largely white or Euro around here, or it might be a racial prejudice in myself. I'm not sure; the only Aboriginal person I've met was the woman who used to live in this house - and she was only part - one-eighth Aboriginal. And she looked...well...white/Euro. We had some interesting chats in the week before she moved out, though - about race and culture and where it fit into her life.
Truthfully, I haven't encountered too many people of Aboriginal descent - at least, not that they admitted to me. I don't know. Maybe that's my "coloured people" issue: people of a racial background with which I have no experience, and for whom a strong stereotype is in operation in my mind. (Substance abuse, domestic and child abuse, welfare dependance, and a strong history of governmental abuse of their rights as human beings - all of which are commonly in the media related to the Australian Aboriginal people.)
Not exactly turning night to noon, perhaps, or comfortable self-examination, but some stuff for me to ponder on and to think about how to change my perceptions and reactions.
no subject