AAM posted a link to this interview with blogger Jen Wang from Disgrasian and Aileen Duldulao, who recently authored a paper on Asian American female suicide. US-born Asian American women, according to the report, have higher rates of suicide and higher rates of contemplation of suicide compared with other groups. In the interview, available in both text and audio, Jen talks about her dealings with depression and thoughts of suicide. It’s a good interview.
The topic of Asian female mental health for Asian women is like the topic of the interracial dating disparity for Asian men–people can discuss it over and over, and because people need to rant, and because people are suffering, no matter how many times you discuss it, it never gets old. When we used to have the Thymos debates four years ago, we broke an attendance record with the topic of Asian American female mental health. It’s a discussion that can go on for a very long time.
I really liked the interview. One thing I will add (and this has nothing to do with the interview) is that the next logical step is action. Asian American women suffer from problems of image, self-worth, depression, and hypersexualization, so how do you solve these problems? If you’ve got the power, brains, and motivation to fix it, why not fix it?
This is why I’m involved with Miss Asian Oregon. By redefining beauty and creating a space that allows young Asian American women to raise awareness of issues and promote a healthy image of Asian American women, Miss Asian Oregon supports Asian American women. Among American women, Asian American women between the ages of 15 and 24 have the highest suicide rates of all ethnic groups, and our organization focuses specifically on women from 18-26. If people want to fight hypersexualization, if they want to get Asian women to rise, if they want social change for Asian women, then they should support institutions like Miss Asian Oregon which support Asian women. Reflection and discussion are good, but we also need to take action.
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But here is an...
I agree with everything you said. About #1…I think...
Ok, I’ll bite.
“Almost 16 percent of all U.S.-born Asian-American women have contemplated suicide in their lifetimes — compared to 13 percent of all Americans — according to new findings by the University of Washington. The study also finds that U.S. born Asian-American women are more likely to attempt suicide than other groups. Aileen Duldulao, lead author of the research and blogger Jen Wang, offer insight into the disturbing findings.”
16% compared with 13%, albeit at first glance, doesn’t appear to imply that depression is an especially large problem that is localized to AA women. With some quick googling, I also found these statistics:
http://www.sprc.org/library/asian.pi.facts.pdf
They don’t appear to imply a strong trend either unless I’m reading it incorrectly. Can you provide some links to other resources with hard numbers that will clarify things? That CNN article doesn’t quite do it.
I’m not saying suicide in general isn’t a problem. It is. But is it a localized problem that deserves more attention?
I agree with you that AA women suffer from all those self-esteem problems you listed, but they don’t lead to suicide that much more often than the general population. Right?
I’m professing ignorance and just want to look for some answers/hard statistics. Thanks.
Good point, hyhy.
Yes, I don’t know how significant that 13 vs 16% is, so you definitely raise a good point. You know, since a few years ago, I’ve always focused more on the lack of positive movement (lack of AA writers) rather than the abundance of negative movement (suicide). I just know that when I mention the negative movements, people tend to get more fired up! It’s the same reason why the guy who lied about being victimized by a hate crime got all the media attention. So the rates are higher–I just don’t know, as you say, whether or not they are significantly higher.
So I think you’re right to question this. I just don’t have the answers.
Asian women are cute and good mannered. they are very caring too.~~-
So is your Mama.
Zachary Graham,
Your mama is high on fish oil.