The Asian Mystique: Dragon Ladies, Geisha Girls, and Our Fantasies of the Exotic Orient

"[A] persuasive, timely book.... Prasso makes clear the destructive nature of stereotypes about Asia and the social, cultural, and political ramifications of allowing them to fester unchallenged." (Boston Globe)

Few Westerners escape the images, expectations and misperceptions that lead us to see Asia as exotic, sensual, decadent, dangerous, and mysterious-from the tea-pouring, sexually available geisha girl to the Dragon Lady dominatrix and the effeminate or asexual Asian male. The Asian Mystique lays out a provocative challenge to see Asia and Asians as they really are, with unclouded, de-eroticized eyes. It traces the origins of Western stereotypes in history and in Hollywood, examines the phenomenon of 'yellow fever,' then goes on a reality tour of Asia's go-go bars, middle-class homes, college campuses, and corridors of power. It is required reading for anyone with interest in Asia or Asian-origin people, as well as any serious student or practitioner of East-West relations.