Embodied

Reckoning With The Asian Fetish


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Kaila Yu spent years as an Asian American pinup model, singer and actress, leaning into a hypersexualized image of Asian femininity and burying her doubts about it. But after the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings, she started reckoning with how fetishization can lead to violence — and interrogating her own role in perpetuating harmful stereotypes. She talks with Anita about her new memoir. Plus, a sociologist breaks down how history and Hollywood built the stereotypes in the first place and what we can do to break free. 

Meet the guests:

- Kaila Yu is a culture writer and the author of "Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism and Beauty"

- Nancy Wang Yuen is a sociologist and a professor in the department of ethnic studies at Crafton Hills College and the author of “Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism”  

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