I’m conflicted about linking to that WSJ article or not, just like Marie Claire’s anti-fatty piece made me strip my analysis of any proper pingbacks to the original post. I’ve pasted it below the cut, but basically what you need to know is Amy Chua’s piece reaches histrionic heights of “hardass Asian mom” (in the words of Disgrasian) practices. It’s like she took the common value of “academic pressure” and amplified it as much as Mickey Rooney’s buckteeth in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. (I loathe Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and not just because of Rooney’s yellowface.)
If you know me, you’ve heard me say “Once an Ethnic Studies major, always an Ethnic Studies major.” It should come as no surprise that Amy Chua’s essay, “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior,” crept into one of my dozens of inboxes a few times over the weekend. But you know what? I didn’t read it. I got to scanning a couple of the bullshit bullet points about not attending sleepovers or it being passable to be shitty in gym. People kept sending it over, but I was reminded of one of the greatest revelations in all of my Ethnic Studies days, this is exhausting.
Chua’s Chinese mom superiority complex was wrong in so many ways, and there was no way for me to not react to it. I found it offensive on multiple emotional and moral levels. It passed a threshold of ridiculousness that meant I couldn’t even feign interest. I asked Bill, “As a White person, what is it like to read that?” His response “She just sounds crazy” was confirmation enough that after that second graf, Chua just wasn’t worth my time. I lumped Chua together with Michelle Malkin at that point, a minority hinging her entire career on the existence of a stereotype. (Malkin wouldn’t be where she is without being Asian. There are plenty of cute ultra-conservative female personalities, but Malkin remains the Asian one. She would say that’s unfair, and as a proponent of self identification, I agree. Still, she’s a bit of a token to those who haven’t heard her perspective on being Filipina.)
As expected, there’s been a healthy amount of discourse about the article within the Asian Pacific Islander editorial circle, but I’ve only been catching up on commentary, avoiding reading the original article. Even though Amanda picked it up, even though respected Asian American bloggers were calling foul saying the content of the article and content of the book weren’t matching up, I didn’t try. Finally, though, Jeff Yang of The San Francisco Chronicle’s Asian Pop column has taken Chua’s article on by actually engaging with Chua:
Apparently, it had been edited without her input, and by the time she saw the version they intended to run, she was limited in what she could do to alter it.
“I was very surprised,” she says. “The Journal basically strung together the most controversial sections of the book. And I had no idea they’d put that kind of a title on it. But the worst thing was, they didn’t even hint that the book is about a journey, and that the person at beginning of the book is different from the person at the end — that I get my comeuppance and retreat from this very strict Chinese parenting model.”
-Jeff Yang, “Mother, Superior?”
Apparently Chua’s book is a memoir of her mothering journey, and the WSJ piece was sickly manipulated publicity. Good for Chua’s sales, but it’s all still difficult for me to swallow. 1) I’m not ready to read a book about parenting. 2) WHAT THE FUCK, WSJ??
I suppose Chua has the Kanye West of book publicists, unafraid to make good money out of bad publicity.
Y’know, as dysfunctional as my own family is, I’m grateful that my mom was a hippie, that my parents loved my dancing, and that my main regret is they didn’t make me go to Chinese school. Amy Chua, or whoever edited Amy Chua’s piece for the Journal, does make it a point to clarify that not all Chinese moms act this one way and not all non-Chinese moms act in the diametric opposite, but perhaps everyone is missing the point. A good mother is a good mother is a good mother. Ethnic background doesn’t guarantee that. Love and preparation do.
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