Introduction and Overview

• Published in: Culturally Responsive Counseling with Asian American Men pp. 23 - 40
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2010
• Subjects: Racial Identity Status; Asian Men; Persona; Asian American Men; Asian American Masculinity; Contemporary Society; Asian American Male Clients; Interethnic Relationships; Asian American; Majority Group Member; Resistance Subscale; Asian Ethnic Group; Gender Role Conflict; Topless; Asian American Stereotypes; Asian American Fathers; Mira Sorvino; Racial Identity Theory; Chattel; Restructuring Cognitions; Model Minority; Internalization Scale; Census; Romantic Scenes; Asian American Women
• ISBN: 9780415800075; 0415800072
• DOI: 10.4324/9780203879870-7

In describing this book to another colleague, I (Liu) noticed that my colleague was not quite sure why a book of this nature was important. Why focus a book about mental health issues on Asian American men? More importantly, I almost thought my colleague was going to ask me, “Do Asian American men have mental health issues?” The reason for such questions, I believe, is due in part to the stereotype of Asian American men as the model minority. An assumption of the model minority is that Asian American men are economically and educationally successful, but this faulty assumption has a severe cost to these men. The economic and educational success essentially relegates Asian American men to unidimensional caricatures-hard workers, smart but asexual or not sexual beings. That is, Asian American men have no time and energy for romantic and sexual relationships when their focus is on becoming the successful and quiet minority (S. L. Wong, 1993).