Feminized Asians and Masculinized Blacks: The Construction of Gendered Races in the United States

This study attempts to clarify how race and gender are both socially constructed categories, and mutually constituted in ways that promote White, heterosexual, patriarchal standards of masculinity and femininity. I argue throughout this paper that Black women are deemed less marriageable due in part to the fact that they have been masculinized throughout the history of the United States. Similarly, Asian men are deemed less marriageable due in part to the fact they have been feminized throughout the history of the United States. Through my research I hope to clarify the role that certain historical events played in the dual gendering of Asians as feminine and Blacks as masculine. I will also examine more contemporary media influences such as film and music, which continue to gender and marginalize Asian and Black bodies by perpetuating old myths and stereotypes today