Asian Bitches Down Under

This week, we discuss the action and feeling of SHAME, what's your memory of feeling ashamed as a child? And the multiple layers around feeling shame as an Asian.  Jessie's appearance on Equality Talks - Taking Action on Sexual Harassment (12 August 2020)   Anti-binge drinking ad shaming girls and women who drink | 2000 The ‘Pinky Ad” - Anti-speeding campaign shaming men who speed on the...

How should BIPOC represented in a teen-movie in the 2020? This week we critic the film WORK IT, discuss the continuation of stereotyping BIPOC and white protagonist taking advantage of those characters.  Have you experienced BENEVOLENT SEXISM? How do you deal with it?  Work It   Benevolent sexism: a feminist comic explains how it holds women back   Asian Bitches Down Under Inst...

What's your understanding of cultural appropriation? Is it a good thing? Is it taking up further space by the people with power or is it an ambassadorship?  The Cultural Appropriation of Food   The Feminist Guide to Being a Foodie Without Being Culturally Appropriative   A White Restaurateur Advertised ‘Clean’ Chinese Food. Chinese-Americans Had Something to Say About It.   Unc...

What more could you do as a feminist besides doing a hashtag? Is a hashtag simply enough? We discuss the controversy around #challengeaccepted, and our response to the hashtag.  Books  Asymmetry - Lisa Halliday   Fleishman is in Trouble - Taffy Brodesser-Akner   Articles  The complicated origin of Instagram’s #ChallengeAccepted   ‘Challenge Accepted’: Why Women Are Po...

Cheese company COON is finally renaming/rebranding (?) the so-call iconic (uniconic) name, but why has it taken so long? This week we discuss how society is perfunctory with tackling racism, and the exhaustion we face in explaining the history of racism.  Film: GF*BF   Film: Taipei Exchange   Film: Where’d you go Bernadette?   Film: The King of Staten Island   Book: Dark E...

Should women still feel shame for not conforming to social and familial expectation? Why do Asian culture (conservative/traditional cultures) blame women of choosing a partner according their own metrics?  This week, we talk about how Leftover Women has been used as a term to shame women who choose not to get married.  Garth Greenwell   Metalhead Politicas Podcast   Only Yester...

We dive into our love for films this week.  With COVID19 this year, Taiwan Film Festival is online this year, Helen and Jessie talk about some movies from the Festival, particularly focusing on two stand-out documentaries "The Good Daughter" and "Run for Dream".  We also look back at one of our favourite childhood action movie DEMOLITION MAN and how differently we perceive the movie now...

No, we’re not talking about emotional labour. We’re talking about something more subtle. Something invisible. Shrouded. So innocuous, and perpetual. Sometimes you get an idea, and you can’t take time out to write it down. Why’s that? What does it look like for mothers? What does it look like for young women? This week, we chat about gendered roles, unpaid decision making jobs in the home, and hot...

Is it biological? Social? Why are some men only attracted to very young women? Is it true girls mature faster? Is it true men take longer to mature? Or is this all patriarchal bullshit? This week, we talk about age and love between the sexes. Also discussed: Articles: Unconventional Wisdom: Are men really hard-wired to desire younger women? (Rebecca Stoner The Outline, 2018) Is this the real reaso...

Dyson Heydon has spent more than half his life with the banner of “brilliant legal mind.” What are the perks of being labeled a “brilliant legal mind”? In Australia, it apparently means you can harass and violate young women without any accountability. This week, we chat about male judges like Heydon and Brett Kavanaugh and Alex Kozinski, and their criminal behaviour. In this country’s most powerf...

Did you know in Taiwan, you can be locked up for up to a year if you're caught cheating on your spouse? Last month, the country's adultery laws were abolished. We talk this week about these laws, extramarital affairs, and touch on our feelings about polyamory.  Articles Taiwan grand justices rule adultery no longer a crime (Taiwan Times, May 2020)  Taiwan Court Strikes Down Law Criminali...

The Neighbor's Window won an Academy Award. That means someone (those people, probably men, in power) thought that the film was good, and that it espoused a good message. What do we think? We think it's racist, conventional, and deeply, jarringly moralistic.  Watch it now here.   Facebook | Asian Bitches Down Under Instagram | Asian Bitches Down Under 
 

In 2014, at 25, Jessie travelled to Yemen as a budding photojournalist. This week, she chats to Helen about her conflicting feelings about the dominance of white men in photojournalism.  Topics discussed include: commencement speeches, World Press Contest, Tim Hetherington and Phillip Montgomery    Videos Steve Jobs Commencement Speech at Stanford (Youtube, 2005)  Dear Class of...

This week, we chat about the viral Op Ed from Matthew Fray who counsels men in ways to save their marriages. Is it good for a white man to step up and raises these issues that have been historically dominated by women? What should the role of a husband be in 2020? Why are gender roles in heterosexual marriages still so segregated?  We share our thoughts on Australia’s response to the protests...

Is it wrong that Jack Black voices a Panda? Is The Half of It any good? And why are the Asian mother’s always dead in these stories?  This week, we chat about Hollywood’s problem with whitewashing. Discussed this week: Kate & Leopold (2001)  The Half of It (2020)  To all the boys I’ve ever loved (2018)  To all the boys I’ve ever loved Part 2 (2020)  Crazy Rich Asians (...

What is the phenomena of white worshipping and why does it exist?  This week, we explore the prevalence of this condition in Asian countries and talk about how white people seem to get away with more.  Helen speaks of her experiences in Taiwan as an English teacher, and Jessie confronts her own shame about exhibiting this trait.  Facebook | Asian Bitches Down Under Instagram | Asian...

Should Mother’s Day still even be a thing? Why are we so against celebrating a day, just once a year, for mothers? Why do some people become mothers? What makes a good mother? Should we just erase that term ‘mother’?    We talk about the performance of motherhood, women who regret motherhood, why Helen is still trying to figure out why she became one, why Jessie probably won’t ever be on...

They hold the greatest powers in society. They make laws, talk to the press, address the public and perform the 'good citizen'. They're sometimes corrupt, sometimes stupid, sometimes greedy, always performative.  In mid-2020, we're still cataloging the daily, harmfully innocuous remarks male politicians make against women; be it their peers or women across society. Why are so many of them so...

In October 2016, Kim Ji-young, Born in 1982 was published in South Korea, and has since sold more than a million copies. It has been translated it into eighteen languages and a film adaptation was released last year. It's been on the bestseller list in Japan, Taiwan, China and South Korea.  Why has it become so popular? We chat this week about the powerful story of an 'ordinary' woman's life,...

Mental health is rarely openly discussed among Asian societies. Why? Does shame and conservative gender roles contribute to this hidden struggle? Jessie and Helen unpack their own experiences and highlight other factors that may be exacerbating this often invisible condition, especially among Asian communities.  Mental health research and evaluation in multicultural Australia: developing a cu...

Alan Yang's film Tigertail takes his father's story, a Taiwanese immigrant, to the big screen (aka Netflix in 2020). Jessie and Helen's discussions about the film broaden to conversations about shame, masculinity, what true love looks like, and food.  Facebook | Asian Bitches Down Under Instagram | Asian Bitches Down Under 
 

Some Asian women only date white guys. I am guilty. This is a somewhat unsavoury thing to admit. But why? Jessie and Helen discuss the possible reasons.  Facebook | Asian Bitches Down Under   Instagram | Asian Bitches Down Under   
 

It’s an old tactic that’s as old as the hills; the use of women’s bodies to sell things. You’d think that in today’s increasing ‘progressive’ society, we’re no longer side-lined so easily. And yet, Trade Show Models are still being used notoriously (and with a degree of success) in places like Taiwan and China. What's the social and ethical 'appropriateness' when it comes to using dolled-up-manneq...