Meghan Markle Calls Out “Poisonous” Stereotypes Towards Asian Ladies

Additionally throughout her podcast, Meghan discusses the stereotype of the “Dragon Woman” on display screen. “The East Asian temptress, whose mysterious international attract is scripted as each tantalizing and lethal,” the duchess says on the episode. “That is seeped into a whole lot of our leisure. However this poisonous stereotyping of ladies of Asian descent, it would not simply finish as soon as the credit roll.”

The episode additionally options a clip from the 2003 movie Kill Invoice: Vol. 1, which stars Lucy Liu as antagonist O-Ren Ishii. A 2021 Teen Vogue essay titled “Hollywood Performed a Position in Hypersexualizing Asian Ladies” alleges that the character constitutes a “modern instance” of the “Dragon Woman” trope, one who’s “crafty and deceitful” and “makes use of her sexuality as a strong device of manipulation, however usually is emotionally and sexually chilly and threatens masculinity.”

However Liu challenged this notion in a Washington Submit op-ed. “Kill Invoice options three different feminine skilled killers along with Ishii,” she wrote. “Why not name Uma Thurman, Vivica A. Fox or Daryl Hannah a dragon woman? I can solely conclude that it is as a result of they aren’t Asian.”

The actress continued, “If I am unable to play sure roles as a result of mainstream People nonetheless see me as Different, and I do not wish to be solid solely in ‘sometimes Asian’ roles as a result of they reinforce stereotypes, I begin to really feel the partitions of the metaphorical field we AAPI ladies stand in.”