The uproar over the fetishization of Asian and Asian American women in the song Asian Girlz isn’t ending with its removal from You Tube, reports the podcast, Rabble.
AF3IRM or the Association of Filipinas, Feminists Fighting Imperialism, Re-feudalization, and Marginalization is vowing to protest at every venue within its reach at which the group appears until Day Above Ground formally apologizes.
The group continues to defend the song as satire and says it only removed the video so that someone would not get hurt. It did not elaborate on what that meant and has refused so far to get into specifics.
Appearing on the podcast Rabble. Jollene Levid, national chairperson for AF3IRM said “They made a video that basically attempted to jam pack all racist and sexist stereotypes of Asian and Asian American women in less than four minutes. The song’s lyrics were sexually violent, they were outright racist and they talked about the hyper sexualization of Asian and Asian American women.
“It makes it dangerous for Asian and Asian American women when people just see us as objects of sexual desire for men. It’s not funny because it literally dehumanizes and puts us at risk. When those stereotypes play out in real life in leads to things like rape, sexual assault and even the killing of women because the media makes light of the fact we are just objects.”
Levid says the Asian American model who appears in the video, Levy Tran, acknowledged that she made a “poor judgment” by working on the video. She never meant any disrespect to her Asian heritage and hopes people will forgive her. Levid said Tran signed the group’s petition asking You Tube to remove the video.
You can hear the interview with Levid in its entirety on Rabble.
