current issue that is affecting Asian American Women in our society today, English homework help
write a discussion, you will be addressing a current issue that is affecting Asian American Women in our society today. You may include any relevant articles, news/scholarly article, video, movies, etc. to the issue. You will need to include the following:
- Provide a summary of the issue that should include a link to the article
- Explain how this issue affects Asian American Women
- Address how this issue is different or similar to women of other race or ethnicity in America
- Include examples from the reading ( the readings for the question you did for me previously )
- Conclusion: what are you personal thoughts about this issue? How can we move forward to resolve or change this issue?
- Reference at the bottom of the post
and Reply to these two discussions.
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1.
I decided to shed light on the underutilization of mental health resources by Asian American women. The article that I read was “No More Saving Face: Empowering Asian American Women to Seek Mental Health Treatment” by Thomas Le of the Pulitzer Center. In this article, Le talks about different organizations (AWSHIP and AWARE) working to combat this issue and supporting Asian American women in seeking the proper help they need. AWSHIP is a 5 year study of mental health of Asian American women. AWARE is targeting the mental health of Chinese American, Korean American, and Vietnamese American women by offering culturally-specific group psychotherapy. He mentioned about a study done on 700 Asian American women and 43% of those women were suffering from mild to severe depression with 80% not receiving adequate mental health care.
This is something that is greatly affecting the lives of Asian American girls and women. Depression is real and rarely talked about in the Asian community. There are so much pressure that one deals with and it’s hard to deal with one thing after another. I agree with Le as he bought up the different factors that contributes to not using mental health resources like stigma from their families, stigma from their communities, and a lack of culturally appropriate treatments. Family plays a huge role as they feel that they have a say in anything and everything. Asian women have been raised to not speak of anything that happens in the family that might shame or bring dishonor even if this means they’re getting hurt in the process. It’s all about saving face and appearing to be okay because you don’t want others to see it as weakness or trouble at home. Although there are access to these resources, a lot of times they are unable to help because of cultural challenges. Le mentions the lack of bilingual and bicultural therapists which decreases the chance of women obtaining help. These are some of the reasons why women are afraid to ask for help unfortunately.
Mental health issues are worldwide and affects all races. Compared to other races though, Asian American women have the 2nd highest suicide rate in the U.S. According to a 2012 National Center for Health Statistics report, the suicide rate of Asian American women rose by 96.3 percent from 2000 to 2009. With these high percentage, one would assume that help is being sought but measured up to the general public at 18% getting help, only 8.6% of Asian American women seek help for their mental health issues. These numbers are certainly surprising and heart breaking to know that even asking for help is shamed upon.
I know a good amount of Asian American women who are suffering from mental health issues and while some are seeking the help they need, it’s hard to see that there are still many I know that aren’t doing it. From fear, shame and other stigmas that goes along with it. The ones that I know who are and have received help are so grateful for it because they feel at ease now and know they’re not alone in this. I believe this is a big problem in the Asian community and will continue to be if we don’t support each other and tell each other that it’s okay to get help. Getting help because of depression, suicidal thoughts or any other mental and emotional damage does not make you lesser than anyone else. It means you are brave enough to inquire aid and comfort. The best way to move forward with this is a lot of support, love and resources. Let the people you know that they’re going to be okay and that there is help out there.
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2. In the article “Asian Americans and eating disorders: A silent struggle”, it is common for us to connect it to Caucasian women. However, a recent research shows the rapid rise of eating disorders in Asian and Asian American women. The topic has been ignored for a while because of the lack of research on this topic among different races.
One of the main causes is the pursuit of Western beauty standard, such as the slim body, deep facial contour and blonde hair. Social psychologist Christine Iijima Hal said that Asian American women who integrated into Western culture more likely struggle with eating disorders, because they grow up with this “ideal beauty” concept. Because of the physical difference, many Asian American girls felt dissatisfied with their bodies and looks. They began to change their hair color and did some cosmetic surgery to make their looks more western. The other reason is about pressure. Asian American women attempt to cast off the stereotypes of Asian women, which is submissive, obedient and thin, so they live under huge pressure for many aspects. As we know, eating disorders is kind of mental illness due to stress. Asian American women tend to underreport mental illness, and some of them may not choose to see a psychologist because they have to protect their family image. Some of traditional Asian parents may think it is a stigma to see a psychologist.
I am very interested in this topic, because many of my friends struggled with eating disorders a few years ago. Most of them felt dissatisfied with their look and body, so they did cosmetic surgery to create the double eyelid, and lost weight in an inappropriate way. Finally, they got a slim body and satisfied look, but also suffered eating disorders. I thought the main reason that they wanted to fit the ideal beauty so badly was lack of self-confidence. They were pretending someone else but not doing themselves. For dealing with this issue, people need to talk about it but not hide it. Basically, the mental illness is caused by negative emotions and stress. Parents, who had a traditional mind about psychologist, also need to face the issue by using a correct attitude for helping the girls struggling with eating disorders.
Kim, Ellen. ” Asian Americans and eating disorders: A silent struggle “. seattlepi.com. N.p., 2003. Web. 14 June 2017.
Reference link: http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/article/Asian-A…
