could be in reference to david bowie song?

Can’t agree more. So freaking offensive. I’m not just saying this because I’m Chinese. I love fashion and art, and I support lesbianism, yet the way some people objectify Asian women into a pleasure is really disgusting. It has nothing to do with pushing the envelope, this kind of work is just racist and disturbing.

I believe this to be a beautiful tribute to the exotic beauty of Anna May Wong – the first Chinese American movie star and the first Asian-American to star in a television show. I don’t find this racist at all. The 1920′s were a different time – Dietrich wearing tuxedos, Anna May Wong as the exotic stereotypical “Dragon Lady”, cigarettes, bisexuality, mirrors, and smoke-filled nightclubs were an integral part of the scene – I argue these two women empowered women and they were not “Madonna/Whores.” In fact “Piccadilly”and “Shanghai Express” are two of my favorite films of all time.

Scene from Shanghai Express:

Orthodox Old Lady: “I only take the most respectable people”
Marlene Dietrich: “Don’t you find respectable people terribly… dull?”
Orthodox Old Lady: “You’re joking aren’t you? I only know the most respectable people. You see I keep a boarding house.”
Marlene Dietrich: “What kind of a house did you say?”
Orthodox Old Lady: “A boarding house.”
Marlene Dietrich: “Oh…”
Orthodox Old Lady: “I’m sure your very respectable madame. (to Anna May Wong)”
Anna May Wong: “I must confess I don’t quit know the standard of respectability that you demand in your boarding house”
Orthodox Old Lady: “I made a terrible mistake. I better look after me dog.”

Perhaps you should go look after your dog. How should the fashion industry portray Chinese-Americans? You imply that essence precedes existence. What is a natural, universal, “standard of acceptability” that Chinese women should adhere to? The power of being a woman lies in being indefinite, free to create and look how you want to look. I don’t believe these fashion models are pressured by society to conform. Besides if modelling isn’t for you due to losing the genetic lottery then there are many other Chinese role-models to choose from. Why not Tu Wei-Ming? Vera Wang? Bruce Lee? Elaine Chao? Steven Chu? If you don’t like Anna May Wong or the roaring 20′s of Weimar Berlin and the Ziegfeld Girls like Doris Eaton that’s fine. This is a free society. Women of colour are doing quite fine in the fashion industry. Your rant is eerily similar to something Savonarola would have said in Florence to justify the Bonfire of the Vanities.

Wong reflected on China and her career in Hollywood: “I am convinced that I could never play in the Chinese Theatre. I have no feeling for it. It’s a pretty sad situation to be rejected by Chinese because I’m ‘too American’ and by American producers because they prefer other races to act Chinese parts.”

Wong’s image and career have left a lasting legacy. Through her films, public appearances, and prominent magazine features, she helped to “humanize” Asian-Americans to white audiences during a period of overt racism and discrimination. Asian-Americans, especially the Chinese, had been viewed as perpetually foreign in U.S. society, but Wong’s films and public image established her firmly as an Asian-American citizen at a time when laws specifically discriminated against Asian immigration and citizenship. Wong’s hybrid image dispelled contemporary notions that the East and West were inherently different.

Wong remained popular with the gay community who often claimed her as one of their own, and for whom her marginalization by the mainstream became a symbol. Although the Chinese Nationalist criticism of her portrayals of the “Dragon Lady” and “Butterfly” stereotypes lingered, Wong herself was forgotten in China. Nevertheless, the importance of Wong’s legacy within the Asian-American film community can be seen in the Anna May Wong Award of Excellence which is given out yearly at the Asian-American Arts Awards; the annual award given out by the Asian Fashion Designers was also named after Wong in 1973.

If you believe this to “objectify homosexuality” please enlighten us with your thoughts about David Bowie, Lady Gaga, and Grace Jones and their androgynous art.