Tribute to Ms. Tamlyn Tomita

[joe_alternatibo7]

Kamusta na mga kaibigan! Matagal akong nawala dito sa FNETS at gusto ko lang talagang sabihin na na-miss ko kayong lahat.  Pero sa wikang ingles ko ilalathala ang sanaysay na ito.

This essay is titled "Tribute to Tamlyn Tomita".

Recently, Asians have been becoming more and more popular. In today's media Asians are making and leaving their mark where Koreans have become known for their romantic and sometimes brilliantly made comedy movies; a great number that made international recognition. Thailand - for their action movies and horror movies that surpassed even those of the Japanese. China - for being the host country for the Olympics, The Philippines with its flourishing number of nationals that can be seen anywhere on the globe responsible for promoting the vibrant and colourful Filipino culture. Long story short, Asians are making themselves known throughout.

Unfortunately, the media can portray you in a negative way and Asian women have been negatively emphasized by the media as well. Asian women, unlike their Caucasian counterparts fully enjoy their femininity; they love attention as well as tender loving affection. Media portrays Asian women as being submissive to the whims of men. As much as this is a grave misconception sadly enough that is how things are shown in the media and what's worse is that people buy it, embracing it fully without even thinking. To start there are quite a number of Asian actresses who promote the idea that Asian women are submissive and s*x-starved. The recent scandal regarding Edison Chen; the women involved only adds to the wrong notion that Asian women are but objects of pleasure (I wouldn't mention them since people probably know them already) Aside from the scandalous acts committed by these actress, it is not, however, the only thing that help vindicate such a misconception. Foreign-born Asian women or simply foreign-educated have started a stereotype of Asian women "itching" to marry the Caucasian male. These I would like to specify quite a few, to start off, there is Michelle Yeoh who was previously married to a rich Singapore (?) businessman but for some reason divorced and is now engaged to this French Ferrari/F1 racing CEO. Nicolas Cage's wife (?), a Korean girl, a girl who is 20 or so years younger than him. May Pang, former personal assistant to the late John Lennon, who also had a brief relationship with him but is now married to an Italian. Woody Allen's adopted Korean daughter who he then marries  :sad: To add to all that, the many Asian women who are seen married with non-Asian men.

What makes them contributive to the negative image I have mentioned in this essay? When an Asian woman marries a non-Asian man, one cannot help but wonder "why isn't she with an Asian man?” Of course a lot of us would simply answer with a simple "perhaps they are in love" or to some extent "it is none of my business". Well, this is exactly why Asian women fall into the category of being submissive, s*x-starved and irrelevant; since a lot of us, and mostly Asians, does not consider it as our "business". When I say "business" it does not at all mean to come up to the Asian woman in question and persuade her to leave her non-Asian partner, but more of not being so excited about it. The problem with some people nowadays, for instance some Asian mothers, is that the idea of their daughter marrying a non-Asian man is so popular and given so much support. This very idea constitutes much to the ever growing misconception about Asian women. These mothers, some due to not having given their daughters a good life "assume" that marriage with a non-Asian (mostly Caucasian) man would guarantee her a financially secured life. This might be true for some - again, for some. Some may not be so lucky as to be given a secure and happy life. Some are simply made into little objects of fulfilling carnal desires. Sure enough we can consider them as having made this choice all by themselves, but if you think about it, was this choice made only because there aren,t any other options left? Asian men can also provide for their wives, and yet we see Asian women marrying non-Asians so there has to be more than just love, money and financial stability playing a role in such interracial marriages. It is called s*x. People believe Asian men are not much “endowed” and that they could not satisfy any woman – yet another grave misconception. Unfortunately this idea is also taken so readily by Asian women and so they marry non-Asian men and this is exactly what puts them under such bad light; that they marry non-Asians to fulfill that “desire” for something “big”.  Then again, a great majority of Asian women do not believe in this, they marry Asian men and they are happy about it. These women are not mislead or brought up into the idea that the Caucasian race is the way to go for Asian women. When they marry non-Asians, they make a bold statement that their kids will be educated and brought up with little or no knowledge of their Asian heritage, except maybe for the fact that they are Asian and nothing more, without any awareness of the struggles of Asian people, what an Asian or what being an Asian stands for. However, no, their kids will not be taught that. What makes it even worse is that some of these ½ Asian deny their Asian heritage, claiming themselves to be something else when it is evident in their physical appearance that they are not. That is the saddest thing of all, that those Asian women marrying non-Asians are helping to raise a generation of Asians who will find no acceptance in the ever growing world of racism and discrimination; not belonging into the group they claim to be and not accepted in the group they really belong to. You do the math with the future generations.

Now the title is “Tribute to Tamlyn Tomita”, I researched Tamlyn Tomita on the net worrying she might be yet another respectable Asian woman who grew up in a foreign land and married a non-Asian man. Fortunately I was proven wrong. She is married to Greg Watanabe (who grew up in America). But the point is he is by ethnicity Asian. Just when I thought all Asian women were hell-bent on marrying non-Asians, here I see Ms. Tomita being one of the few who did not (so far she is the only one I know next to Gong Li). This is not a racist essay, all I am saying that Asian women who marry non-Asians are being considered by others as submissive and “little”, objects of pleasure and had no money so they married non-Asians. Tamlyn Tomita earned my full respect. She is a role-model for all Asians particularly Asian women. Here we see an intelligent Asian woman who takes pride in her Asian heritage by marrying an Asian man therefore continuing that Asian heritage in their children. We will not see this continuing heritage in any of those Asian women who married non-Asians. Although I hope Ms. Tomita stay happily married with Greg Watanabe, I really think she could help in ending such a negative stereotype for Asian women.