Week 9: Tsang - "Notes on Queer 'N' Asian Virtual Sex" (Ang, Adrian)

In Daniel C. Tsang's "Notes on Queer 'N' Asian Virtual Sex", Tsang discusses queer Asian men who congregate on an online forum and analyzes how their identities are displayed to other users on this virtual space. In doing so, he notes a couple different things: some Asians hide their racial identity, in hopes of receiving more messages, while others explicitly say they're Asian, and receive messages from non-Asians out of objectification and fetishization. Since this article analyzed forums, I assume that this article is quite outdated, since most virtual intimate activity occurs on smartphone apps, but the observations and research presented is still noticeable today, particularly on smartphone apps like Grindr. Grindr has been heavily criticized for its user community, which has racist users who say "No Asians" on their profiles as well. In this example, as well as the example in Tsang's article, we can see the desexualization of Asian men. Furthermore, the "rice queens" that Tsang talks about also contribute to desexualization since they only pursue Asians since they perceive Asians to be submissive and innocent. Because all of this interaction is occurring over a digital landscape, it becomes easier for users to be discriminatory, since said users can simply ignore a received message or actually block them online, unlike in-person interaction. In reading this article, expressing these thoughts, and analyzing how these queer Asian social networks function, I pose this question for the class: do these virtual spaces, like forums and Grindr, make it easier or harder for queer Asian men to network and build meaningful relationships with other queer men, Asian and non-Asian?

An example of a profile on Grindr that discriminates against Asians.

Sources:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBd1uq2-HyG7ll3YueTlxLi_Rf8-0Ht-yvEgU2LcTBXwlljU35NorLDxvlT98FH81GzeBbnog4NTu0egjSYa79fQPzlTwpYxgc2VXIqhmz4eE-sEPFX8RKCm4ZngxTSCr9CORt04qCM6Xp/s1600/racist-gay-grindr.jpg
Daniel Tsang. “Notes on Queer ‘N’ Asian Virtual Sex.”