Coming to Life Between Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy: A Candidate's Journey - American Psychoanalytic Association
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
FA L L 2021
Volume 55, No. 3
M a g a z i n e o f Th e A m e r i c a n
Psychoanalytic Association
Coming to Life Between INSIDE
THIS
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy: ISSUE
A Candidate’s Journey
Eli Diamond
Candidates are not a homogenous orthodoxy furnishes a raft in a chaotic
group, and each has a very different, and stormy sea. However, orthodoxies Dear Candidate
idiosyncratic hero’s journey and struggle. risk becoming stale, overly concrete, and Fred Busch
According to the writer Joseph Campbell, deadening in their efforts to keep
myths—and perhaps biblical narratives everything safe and well understood.
—are not stories that never happened At Columbia University, I fell in love Reflections in the Wake of
but are, in fact, stories that always with astronomy: the celestial, the the Atlanta Shootings and
happen. My psychoanalytic birth story ineffable, the numinous, the mysterious, a Year of Anti-Asian American
and its associated labor pains speak to the wondrous, all bounded by Pacific Islander Hate
something more universal as well. calculations, measurements, and
I attended a religious high school,
Meredith J. Wong
attempts to engage with amazing
which was progressive in some ways. For unanswered questions and discover
instance, we learned Greek mythology, new frontiers. Astronomy strives toward
took Advanced Placement courses, and The Intersection of Gender,
that which is not yet conscious. I was
were academically well prepared for assured that the department was
Sexuality, and Our Current Crises
university. However, we did not learn exclusively populated with atheists. No Paula L. Ellman
“heretical” subjects such as evolutionary one was so silly as to believe in God. I Margarita Cereijido
biology, other than a cursory explanation wasn’t quite sure what to do with that Hilli Dagony-Clark
to satisfy state requirements, paired with as an Orthodox Jewish girl still trying
theological apologetics. The primacy of to hold on to my Orthodox values as I
the Orthodox perspective was obvious ventured further into the world. I APsaA 2021–22 Elections:
and, in some ways, comforting. I was discovered astronomy as an upper Campaign Statements
swaddled within a community that junior, too late to pursue it as either a
provided a manual to life, cradle to
minor or major. But I’m also not sure
grave, a place to belong, and a clear
what I would have done in that world Psychoanalysis and
blueprint for thinking and approaching
that had clearly no use for a god that I Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy:
the unknown. Identification with an
had been raised to believe was What’s the Difference?
omnipresent, omniscient, and
Elizabeth Diamond, Ph.D., is a Ralph H. Beaumont
omnipotent. It was the first time but
perpetual scholar and explorer trained on certainly not the last that I found myself
both the East and West Coasts. She is inhabiting two worlds that had very little
currently a child and adult psychoanalytic
Six Hard-Won Lessons
use for each other. Two realms that
candidate in Los Angeles. Eli treats David E. Scharff
dismiss and deny the power of each other.
children, adolescents, adults, and couples While in graduate school, I availed
in her private practice. myself of the inexpensive day passes
Continued on page 4
T H E A M E R I CA N PSYCH OA N ALYST • Vol um e 55, N o. 3 • Fa l l 2021 1CO N T E N TS: FA L L 2021
THE AMERICAN
PSYCHOANALYTIC ASSOCIATION
President: Bill Glover
1
Education: Coming to Life Between Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy: President-Elect:
Secretary:
Kerry Sulkowicz
Bonnie Buchele
A Candidate’s Journey Eli Diamond
Treasurer: Julio G. Calderon
Executive Director: Thomas H. Newman
3
From the Presidents: Local Discussions
Bill Glover and Kerry Sulkowicz
THE AMERICAN PSYCHOANALYST
Magazine of The
5
Dear Candidate: Analysts from Around the World Offer Personal American Psychoanalytic Association
Reflections on Psychoanalytic Training, Education, and the Profession Editor
Lyn Yonack
Fred Busch
Book Review Editors
Arlene Kramer Richards
9 Reflections in the Wake of the Atlanta Shootings and Arnold Richards
a Year of Anti-Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Hate Candidate Editor
Sheryl Silverstein
Meredith J. Wong
Child and Adolescent Editor
Leon Hoffman
14 The Intersection of Gender, Sexuality, and Our Current Crises: Diversity Editor
The Psychological Impact of Race, Politics, Economics, and Covid Justin Shubert
Paula L. Ellman, Margarita Cereijido, and Hilli Dagony-Clark Education Editor
Alan Sugarman
Psychotherapy Editor
17
Poem: On a Freudian Path Lucille Spira Ann H. Dart
Science Editor
18 APsaA 2021–22 Elections: Campaign Statements
Robert Galatzer-Levy
Editorial Board
23 APsaA’s 110th (Virtual) Annual Meeting Phillip Freeman, Peter Loewenberg,
Judith Logue, Julie Jaffee Nagel,
Thomas H. Newman, ex officio
24
Psychotherapy Corner: Psychoanalysis and Psychoanalytic Manuscript and Production Editor
Sarah Fuss Kessler
Psychotherapy: What’s the Difference? Ralph H. Beaumont
The American Psychoanalyst is published three times a year.
25 Psychotherapist Spotlight: Meet Jonathan Kersun Subscriptions are provided automatically to members of The
American Psychoanalytic Association. For non-members,
domestic and Canadian subscription rates are $36 for
26 Candidates’ Couch: Transformation and Resistance in the
individuals and $80 for institutions. Outside the U.S. and
Canada, rates are $56 for individuals and $100 for institutions.
To subscribe to The American Psychoanalyst, visit https://
Community of Psychoanalysis Monica Samelson www.apsa.org/product/american-psychoanalyst-domestic-
and-canadian-individuals, or write TAP Subscriptions, The
28
American Psychoanalytic Association, 309 East 49th Street,
Education: How to Become a Published Author: New York, New York 10017; call 212-752-0450 x 18 or
The DPE’s Commitment to Scholarship Richard Tuch e-mail info@apsa.org.
Copyright © 2021 The American Psychoanalytic Association.
29
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
Education: Six Hard-Won Lessons: Teaching Psychoanalysis Online reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means without the written permission of The
David E. Scharff
American Psychoanalytic Association, 309 East 49th Street,
New York, New York 10017.
31 Learning from Experience: Supervision in the Covid World ISSN 1052-7958
Daniel W. Prezant The American Psychoanalytic Association does not hold
itself responsible for statements made in The American
Psychoanalyst by contributors or advertisers. Unless
otherwise stated, material in The American Psychoanalyst
does not reflect the endorsement, official attitude, or
Correspondence and letters to the editor should be sent to TAP editor position of The American Psychoanalytic Association or The
Lyn Yonack at lyn.yonack@gmail.com. American Psychoanalyst.
2 THE AMERI CAN P SYCHOAN ALYSTFROM THE PRESIDENTS
Local Discussions
Bill Glover and Kerry Sulkowicz
developments “inside the beltway” of the basic didactic curriculum of
APsaA. Although our new structures— psychoanalytic training.
the Department of Education (DPE) and
·L
ocal governance structures vary
the Board of Directors—are working
effectively, they are still growing into greatly, from the traditional Society
their roles and uncertainty exists. The & Institute to the newer model of
tensions at the national level are manifest psychoanalytic centers. Some
in local groups. There is anxiety about societies and institutes are well
Bill Glover Kerry Sulkowicz
APsaA becoming either too radical or integrated, while others function
not radical enough. The national quite separately.
Following the February 2021 National organization has an important function
Meeting, Bill and Kerry have been to contain and provide a model for · There is enthusiasm for expanding
holding local discussions over Zoom addressing and resolving these tensions. membership but also concern about
with APsaA centers, institutes, and We will share some observations from the potential loss of analytic identity
societies to listen to their views on these discussions: and professional legitimacy.
current issues: Covid; diversity;
· We can be proud of how APsaA and ·T
here is general agreement that
expanded membership; the TA function;
its local groups have met the analyzing, supervising, and teaching
advocacy; our listservs; and the future
of APsaA. We describe current initiatives challenges of the past year in candidates should be functions of
but mainly listen to what’s most adapting psychoanalytic education
psychoanalytic education rather
important to local groups. New during Covid and providing
than markers of status. Our local
technology enables us to meet with resources to their members and
groups vary in their TA/SA
members on their home ground and the public. The resources provided
by our Covid Advisory Team, the appointment procedures, but all
include many who don’t attend our
Town Halls, peer consultation value local option. We find that this
meet ings. We’ve made ourselves
available to join whatever forum works groups, and DPE support for virtual feedback correlates with the findings
for them, including Town Halls, learning have been invaluable. of the TA survey.
meetings with faculty and boards, etc. · Each local group is addressing r ac ia l · W hile the Members List is a valuable
As of this writing, Bill, Kerry, and i ne qu a l it y, a nd t he y appreciate means of communication, many
other APsaA Board members have met the leadership of APsaA and the
members complain about the
with 15 local groups: Atlanta, Boston, Holmes Commission.
Contemporary Freudians in APsaA, contentious exchanges, and tune out
· Local members were enthusiastic
Dallas, Denver, Florida, Houston, Kansas or unsubscribe.
about enhancing advocacy and
City, Oregon, PANY (Psychoanalytic · S ome groups have existential issues
branding efforts to support analytic
Association of New York), St. Louis, San that include difficulty filling
practice, particularly for candidates
Diego, San Francisco, Tampa Bay, and
and recent graduates. Extending leadership, faculty, and TA/SA roles.
Wisconsin. More visits are planned and
legality and insurance coverage for
will continue through the fall. The world is in a time of momentous
telehealth is a priority.
It has been an eye-opening and
· Many groups have psychotherapy change. As the pandemic passes, we will
inspiring experience to learn firsthand
about the dedication and creativity of members with voting rights who all be assessing its impact on our
our local groups, how widely we vary are active participants, some in societies and on ourselves. APsaA’s
yet how much we have in common. leadership roles. In many places, future is cast in a new light as we grapple
We’ve also been struck by how little these members are vital to the with the challenges and welcome the
these groups know about each other. success of the local institution.
opportunities of a changed world. The
For most of our members, their primary Psychotherapy training programs
ways we have met the crises bode well
affiliation is with their local group, and abound and are found to support,
not dilute, the psychoanalytic for our ability to adapt and advance
they don’t closely follow national
mission. Several local groups are psychoanalytic thought and practice.
Bill Glover, Ph.D., is president of APsaA. successfully integrating We look forward to working together to
Kerry Sulkowicz, M.D., is president-elect. psychotherapists and academics in build our future.
Vo l u m e 5 5 , N o . 3 • F a l l 2 0 21 3EDUCATION
Between Orthodoxy belong. You’re my people, you’re not my between an orthodoxy
people. Stimulated by my internal inherited from my
and Heterodoxy orthodoxy, I split faculty and potential family and a self-
Continued from page 1 supervisors into buckets: my kind of generated heterodoxy.
offered to students to attend APsaA’s analyst…or not. My father is prone to I brought this into
winter meetings. At a discussion group saying that anyone to the right of him my training, and it
on eating disorders, Dr. Kathryn Zerbe is a zealot and anyone to the left of him guided how I
spoke about navigating two worlds that is an apostate. Internally, I established ap p r o a c he d a nd
rejected each other: the analytic world, my psychoanalytic camp and started interacted with my Eli Diamond
which used to dismiss patients with inviting some to my tent and dismissing personal struggles
such concrete somatic symptoms as others. I disowned my internal zealots and the Institute. I unconsciously
eating disorders, and the eating disorder and apostates as well as the profound safeguarded my family; that’s been my
world, which dismissed psychoanalysis concomitant struggle that needed to be role. Orthodoxies and families provide
as an inappropriate form of treatment, articulated rather than banished and a place to belong. Yet, we must belong
preferring instead such “evidence- denied. By not informing my family to ourselves before we can belong to
based” treatments as DBT and the about my training, I protected my anyone or anything else.
Maudsley method. I was drawn to the internal families from each other for I used to jest that I had three major
way Dr. Zerbe lived on the bridge reasons I’m still trying to fully inabilities: I couldn’t hail a cab in New
between two worlds that had little understand. I also sheltered the ideal York City, crochet a yarmulke (the
regard for each other. I came to believe
that we might nimbly navigate different
worlds or models, and in so doing, Psychoanalysis belongs to the in-between, on the bridge,
create new worlds and new models. in the emergent. To that which is growing and not deadened
Perhaps I could shift from a domain of
established rules to a domain guided by or stale. To that which is alive and enervating.
negotiations. However, new models
often cling to the orthodoxies of each
from my ambivalence, thereby creating traditional head covering worn by
contributing tradition. I craved the
a hole inside. What can’t be known Orthodox Jewish men), or see the
security of a mainstream approach even
creates an abyss. We can fall into these hidden picture in a Magic Eye poster. I
as I chafed against it. Tenets provide a
chasms or be blinded as we attempt to couldn’t relax my eyes and attention
tether, an anchor, but can also quickly
repudiate them. enough to discern the floating shape. I
become a straitjacket and a bind. Ties
In analytic training, we play out our wonder whether five years into analysis,
that contain also constrain.
own family dynamics in spaces that and after three years of training, I might
During my psychoanaly tic
psychotherapy post-doctoral training at have their own existing familial be more successful. Have I begun to
the Wright Institute, Los Angeles, a dynamics. We, candidates and faculty, develop more of a capacity for Keats’s
classmate inquired about the place of the assume roles that we are accustomed to negative capability or Bion’s maternal
soul in psychoanalysis. I immediately from our family systems. We recapitulate reverie? Will I meet an emergent bud
responded that it was the unconscious. I well-known battles, even as we come to with the gentle and insatiable
needed psychoanalysis to be able to hold training in search of new families and inquisitiveness a curious child brings to
everything, and I needed to step in and hope that, within our new families, we the wild rather than the zeal of a
defend it from any perceived deficiencies can do things differently. If we are Japanese Ikebana master curating the
or attacks. It was imperative that it retain loathe to assert ourselves within our perfect floral arrangement? Shall I
its prestige and myth of exceptionalism, families of origin, we will likely have embrace the tendrils of incipient growth
even as it was clearly in decline. I had similar troubles in our institutes. We with compassion and interest as I watch
been bred on a steady diet of Jewish m ay bla me t he institute for not them break through the concrete? Shall
exceptionalism, even though religious being dissimilar enough to our I inculcate a willingness to let the
observance was hardly in fashion. families, but perhaps we have not grown solidity of orthodoxy crumble and
A s I n av i g ate d p s yc ho a n a l y t ic enough—yet. If we needed to rebel to break so that new life can germinate?
training, I began to suspect that I had differentiate in our family, that might be I have been wildly compelled by
traded one orthodoxy for another. I left the template we adhere to within assertions that analysis can save lives.
one beloved, well-respected but institute life. Or perhaps we lean the My husband insists that vaccines save
problematic family for another one. other way—compelled to try on a role lives; but analysis saves souls. But what
Orthodoxies delineate in-groups and that was denied within our original does that mean? In what ways does
out-groups. You belong, you don’t family. I carried an internal conflict analysis conserve and regenerate? How
Continued on page 35
4 T H E A M E R I C A N P S YC H OA N A LY S TDear Candidate: Analysts from Around the
World Offer Personal Reflections on
Psychoanalytic Training, Education,
and the Profession
Fred Busch
Candidates have always been our future. profession. Although the difficulties of tolerate that “not knowing.” Not
They are our legacy. However, there is their training have not been forgotten, knowing what your analyst really thinks
little in our literature that might h e l p these senior analysts have, for the most of you. Not knowing how you will pay
y o u n g e r clinicians reflect u p o n part, worked through these issues without off your educational loans. Not knowing
what it means to be a losing their enthusiasm for being analysts. whether you will have an analytic
psychoanalytic candidate and its role in They offer ways of thinking about training practice after so much effort, an effort
the professional life they are about to to help candidates deal with their own that leaves you wondering if you should
enter. In a first-of-kind book, I attempted experiences. For most, the conclusion is: be at home with your family instead of at
to speak to these issues by inviting senior It was worth it. seminars. Uncertainty is the rule of
psychoanalysts from around the world to candidacy. Competing psychoanalytic
Arthur Leonoff (Canada)
write personal letters to candidates that theories can also confuse as much as they
As much as I have felt the need at
include memories of their own training, clarify. And how about the lack of clarity
various points to reflect on my analytic
what it was like to become a psychoanalyst, as a beginner in how to analyze? How
training, to revisit its valuable teachings,
and what they would like most to convey does one even get to do analysis, find a
I have also had to work through
to the candidate of today.
experiences of disillusionment. patient who is willing to undergo
The request to write something for this
I also understand better now why intensive treatment?
book was met with great enthusiasm, and
analysts work well into their old age and
it shows. In these rich letters one finds Heribert Blass (Germany)
sometimes through it. There is the
insights that can help analysts in training This leads me to the question of anxiety
excitement in being an analyst—the
and those recently entering the profession in psychoanalytic education. I think
capacity to help people deeply, to inch
reflect upon what it means to be a anxiety is unavoidable. Of course, I was
them toward deeper change, to learn what
psychoanalytic candidate and what it’s also anxious about how I and my
has been previously unknowable, all the
like to begin a life as a psychoanalyst. psychoanalytic work would be assessed by
while further refining one’s analytic
Sharing their own experiences, these my supervisors and my fellow candidates.
capacity that continues to grow. It is hard
analysts demonstrate a vital commitment And I was also worried if I could
for me to imagine giving this up as long as
to psychoanalysis and give lively understand my patients well enough. I
there are patients willing and eager to
descriptions of how each became and still have this worry every day. But I would
work with me and profit from what we as
remained a psychoanalyst. They write
a group of committed clinicians have like to distinguish between anxiety as a
candidly about the enduring satisfactions
to offer. helpful signal of never being too sure and
of being an analyst and about the
anxiety as a fear of disapproval and
anxieties, ambiguities, and the Claudio Eizirik (Brazil)
exclusion. The latter paralyzes one’s own
complications they faced in training and A suggestion to you: Try to participate
in the meetings of your institute and feelings and thoughts. So, I would like to
entering the profession. Many offer ways
society, dare to ask questions and make encourage you to be anxious in a caring
to think about dealing with these hurdles.
comments at the seminars, don’t accept sense but not anxious in the form of
Some suggest it is useful to realize one is
always in the process of becoming a anything without raising your doubts submission. Be open to your teachers but
psychoanalyst. To do so is to be open to a when it’s the case. If you think a concept do not follow them blindly. Rather, dare
life-long process of learning and testing is strange, unjustifiable, or even ridiculous, to discuss difficult analytical processes
one’s ideas. share your ideas and ask for clarification. with them and hopefully find common
Below are edited excerpts from these solutions instead of either submitting or
letters that give an idea of the authors’ Daniel Jacobs (U.S.) superficially agreeing and then doing
joys and disappointments they’ve Your analytic education is an exercise something else. This includes dealing
experienced in analytic training and the in uncertainty—and in learning to with mistakes.
Vo l u m e 5 5 , N o . 3 • F a l l 2 0 21 5DEAR CANDIDATE
Roosevelt Cassorla (Brazil) sentence in “Creative Writers and Day- conflicts and
The other day, you told me euphorically Dreaming” about phantasy, or daydreams, beliefs that are at
that one of the assessors of your clinical and the function of a child’s play. “Thus its root will
report said: “Your text is perfect. I have no past, present and future are strung enlighten both of
questions to ask and nothing to add.” You together, as it were,” Freud writes, “on the you with pleasure.
were proud, and I know that you wanted thread of the wish that runs through And not to forget:
to share your happiness with me. You them” (1908). Which other
found it strange that I didn’t seem pleased, profession would
Otto Kernberg (U.S.)
and since we have a close relationship you
Not knowing you only permits me to allow you to
asked me, “What was the matter?” I am Fred Busch
answer some of the many questions you linger on dreams,
initiating this dialogue in writing, but I
may have at this point and to be cautious to look at their intricate layers of meaning,
am sure that we will address this in greater
about unsolicited advice. To begin: It is and enjoy the beauty, wit, and even the
depth when we meet.
well worth it to become a psychoanalyst archaic bluntness of their imagery? Since
Your perception was correct. I felt
at this time when psychoanalysis is widely this complexity is what makes
affected and ill-at-ease and was unable,
being questioned and criticized— psychoanalysis such an intriguing
at that point in time, to put my
sometimes with good reason. profession, it is obviously a daunting task
thoughts into words. I shall explain: A
Psychoanalysis, I believe is the most to study it.
“perfect” work of psychoanalysis, one
profound and comprehensive theory about
which doesn’t raise any questions or Stefano Bolognini (Italy)
the functions, structure, development, and
problems, cannot be good work. Flawless In short, if I compare my early situation
pathology of the human mind. It also
analytical sessions and texts do not exist. I as a candidate with yours, I would say we
provides a spectrum of psychoanalytically
have encountered situations before when I had probably more grandiose, idealizing
based psychotherapies, including the
have thought that the presenter has glossed illusions (such as being somehow
classical or standard psychoanalytic
over their own interventions. This gloss “pioneers,” easily recruiting needy
treatment and several derived,
conceals, yet it also reveals. The patients asking to be rescued via
empirically validated psychotherapies.
psychoanalytically trained listener doubts classical treatment, dealing with a
And it is a unique potential instrument for
the truthfulness of the account. univocal, indisputable, all-explaining
research on the mind.
Ellen Pinsky (U.S.)
When I was a candidate, my friends and
Which other profession would allow you to linger on dreams,
I used to play a game that goes like this:
Imagine that the entire psychoanalytic to look at their intricate layers of meaning, and enjoy the
l i t e r a t u r e i s d e s t r o y e d t o m o r r o w. beauty, wit, and even the archaic bluntness of their imagery?
Psychoanalysis vanishes, but you can bury
a time capsule to be dug up after a few
Cordelia Schmidt-Hellerau theory, etc.) to be progressively reduced
hundred years. Into that capsule you can
(U.S., Switzerland) and realistically proportioned by
put some papers—a handful of short
You’ve made a great choice when you experience; while you can have today
works, or excerpts from longer works, ten
decide to go for psychoanalytic training! more consistent and refined analytic
or twelve brief pieces at most that people
To work with the human mind is endlessly instruments, a more advanced professional
of the future might use to reconstruct
fascinating. No two patients are the same, community, and a different awareness of
psychoanalysis.
What do you put in the imaginary even if they carry the same diagnosis. To the contemporary psychoanalyst on how
capsule? trace the particular defense strategies of the human mentality uses interior
In the process of creating and re-creating your patient’s ego when faced with organization and availability to invest are
your capsule, you are not only tracking challenge and opportunity, and to rapidly changing in the relational attitude
your own development as a psychoanalyst, experience the emergence of their of the subject toward the object.
you are also preserving the discipline. unconscious fantasies and infantile What instead remains substantially
Perhaps most important, you are writing a theories, will always reward you with awe unchanged, in my opinion, is that analysts
letter you would send to future generations and amazement. As much suffering as a are, in fact, the only owners of the keys to
of aspiring psychoanalytic students, in patient may put on your couch or chair, to the door to the unconscious, and the only
this way connecting you to past and to eventually access and resolve possible guides for patients needing deep
future. I think here of Freud’s melodic together the unconscious core- and stable changes in their lives.
6 T H E A M E R I C A N P S YC H OA N A LY S TDEAR CANDIDATE
Isn’t this enough for motivating you to Eric Marcus (U.S.) your work, often in great inner solitude.
become such a specialist? Training is not easy. It is time intensive. Despite the intimacy within analytic space,
Jane Kite (U.S.) It is financially difficult. It is emotionally we are unutterably alone in the deepest
And then there’s the central importance demanding. It is self-confronting. It helps and most important aspects of our work.
of your own analysis in this process. I if you want it very badly, if your interest is Your solitude as an analyst must become
firmly believe, based on experience, that compelling, if you love patient care, if you an anchor where you can eventually find
in order to be deeply interested as an need to think deeply about the mind. In your way, often amid turbulent and
analyst in someone else’s story, someone training, you learn difficult theory, treat unfamiliar conditions that candidacy can
else has to have been deeply interested in challenging patients, are supervised in help you learn to accept and even bear
you. Some of us have had parents who
were interested in us, and others haven’t.
...to be an analyst, as I see it, is not to seek the best ways
For those of us who haven’t, in particular,
the analyst’s interest is crucial. And by
toward symptom relief but to be part of a search for the
“deeply interested,” I don’t mean just deepest integration of the patient’s unconscious mind,
liking; I mean being interested in raising of the truths with which at bottom he struggles.
the wreck—getting to the bottom of it.
This is the job description for being an uncomfortably personal ways, and read an with curiosity. One way of maintaining its
analyst. It is a form of commitment unlike exciting but seemingly endless and dense vitality is, in my opinion, to encourage
any other. It is a process that is never literature. Because the study is so personally ourselves to rethink, to question each and
complete, but having some idea that it’s demanding, you meet many puffed up every one of its concepts in light of the
possible, and how to do it, is essential.
egos, one adaptation to the humbling of epochal changes as well as contributions
Your own experience in analysis is crucial
grandiosity. Ignore the ego aggrandizement. from other disciplines.
to becoming an analyst yourself, with
The field is riven theoretically, as all
supervision a close second. It has been Rachel Blass (Israel)
growing fields tend to be, and you see
said that every supervision is the chance While psychoanalysis offers an
many heated arguments. Enjoy the show
for another analysis. The presence of the understanding of the person that falls
and don’t confuse truth with the theoretical into the field of psychology and a practice
supervisor as a third term in your work
sturm und drang. Do not click on the that could be considered a form of therapy,
with patients, and often in your own
emotional click bait of pedagogy. Focus on the unique nature of the psychological
analysis, is vital.
The combination of analysis and your learning. Learn from all. understanding and therapeutic practice
Integrating theory and developing that it offers also shapes a profound
supervision offers (or should offer) infinite
your clinical working style are lifelong ethical vision. We can and should, in my
ways of refracting your own experience of
developments. view, be motivated by this vision. I
being a person and an analyst, something
consider this vision to be one regarding
that just doesn’t happen in “real life.” If Michael Diamond (U.S.)
the power of truth and of love. It proposes
you read the psychoanalytic literature What begins in candidacy will hopefully that failure to know oneself, one’s inner
carefully, you’ll find that the trajectory of grow into a career-long project to develop truths, is what lies at the foundation of
any one analyst’s writing—in addition to
your capacity to work with unconscious psychic disorder, and analytic cure is to
its subject—maps the course of that
material and appreciate the life of the allow the patient to come to know these
analyst’s personal development. It is also
psyche. Yet, this will invariably test your previously unknown, unconscious truths.
helpful to go back into analysis with Coming to know truth in this context is
ability to tolerate uncertainty, confusion,
another as needed. You are never done, not simply an intellectual matter but
insecurity, and intense feelings, often in
and there is always more to learn. I’ve rather involves the integration of parts of
ways that entail considerable vulnerability.
always found this point to be uniquely ourselves; it means a lived experience of
reassuring. I think it’s safe to say that my Additionally, particularly through helpful
these parts. And it is also a motivated act,
interest in psychoanalysis could be supervisory experiences and your personal as is the failure to come to know. That is,
described as a love affair. It has to start analysis, you must reckon with your ability we in a sense “choose” to know and
with an other but, with luck, it will to tolerate disappointment, responsibility, “choose” to deny, and in this sense we
continue privately for the rest of your life. and manage narcissistic investment in are also responsible for our psychic
Vo l u m e 5 5 , N o . 3 • F a l l 2 0 21 7DEAR CANDIDATE
suffering and the suffering we cause Virginia Ungar (Argentina) and openness to new thinking and
others as a result. Just one personal point: I started to attend willingness to face challenges without
In other words, what I’m emphasizing local, regional, and international scientific excessive fear.
here is that psychoanalysis provides the meetings early on, and this opened up my Dear Candidate, we need your help in
person with a way to know and be mind in a way that only recently, in the exploring the pros and cons of flexibility
position that I now occupy in the IPA, I in the goals and standards for analytic
oneself—to choose to live truthfully, to
realize was the start of the journey that training. Please be an active participant in
take responsibility for who one is and
brought me to where I am today. the conversations at your institute while
what one does. This is an ethical aim, and
I don’t want to give an idealized picture you live through the process! Also,
to become an analyst is to embrace it. of my training, however. Again, I say that participate in the national and
Therapeutic relief through analysis, in there was a lot of effort and dedication in international conversations, now so much
this context, is only a derivative of striving those years, and time scraped from easier thanks to communication
toward this analytic aim—one of its wherever possible, especially family life. I technology. An open and transparent
important benefits. That is, to be an had excellent teachers, and some not so. I educational system promises to allow
analyst, as I see it, is not to seek the best had wonderful supervisors who were as greater emphasis on scholarship, research,
ways toward symptom relief but to be part generous as they were demanding. My and collaborative thinking, all good for
of a search for the deepest integration of colleagues said that I chose the most the future of psychoanalysis.
the patient’s unconscious mind, of the difficult ones, but from them I learned
Alan Sugarman (U.S.)
truths with which at bottom he struggles. during my clinical experience so much
It is important that you find an analyst
about psychoanalysis. Above all, however,
with whom you feel comfortable being
and being faithful to Bion, I learned
brutally honest about the workings of
through experience what it is to be
your mind as well as the ways you work
Contacting the dedicated to a task and to have a passion
for psychoanalysis.
with your patients. Unfortunately, this
National Office Harriet Wolfe (U.S.)
does not always happen in one’s training
analysis. If it doesn’t, seek another analysis
The American Psychoanalysis is an approach to when you can. For me, my third analysis,
thinking and education that emphasizes when I was already an established analyst,
Psychoanalytic reflection and understanding. It becomes is the one that truly helped me to know
Association a contradiction in terms when rules and master my deepest conflicts. As
309 East 49th Street regarding the psychoanalytic training expected, my clinical work improved
New York, NY 10017 model take on an absolutist quality. The remarkably. For this reason, my parting
preservation of a certain model rather words will be to remember Freud’s
Phone: 212-752-0450
than the establishment of policies and suggestion that we all be reanalyzed
Fax: 212-593-0571 procedures that reflect attention to periodically. Do not shy away from
info@apsa.org | apsa.org individual training and clinical needs is another analysis if you find you are getting
inconsistent with fundamental in your own way at any point in your
psychoanalytic principles. analytic career.
Taylor Beidler | beidler@apsa.org
The allure of rules is that they offer a
Chris Broughton | cbroughton@apsa.org sense of security and stability, especially
While this book is geared toward
during times of rapid change. At best,
Brian Canty | bcanty@apsa.org candidates and those entering the
rules promote healthy functioning and
profession, analysts at all levels might be
Scott Dillon | meetadmin@apsa.org improve output. They make us better. At
inspired to think, once again, about this
worst, rules become a bastion against
Sherkima Edwards | sedwards@apsa.org
impossible but fascinating profession.
important new thinking like an orthodoxy
Dear Candidate: Analysts from Around the
that can only perpetuate itself. Somewhere
Tina Faison | tfaison@apsa.org World Offer Personal Reflections on
in between seems right. Quality control is
Psychoanalytic Training, Education and the
Carolyn Gatto | cgatto@apsa.org essential, but we have a potent, well-
Profession was published by Routledge,
tested analytic method and ways of
Claire Meyerhoff | cmeyerhoff@apsa.org November 2020.
understanding human nature that merit
Tom Newman | tnewman@apsa.org organizational confidence. In my view,
Fred Busch, Ph.D., is a Training and
flexibility in the face of shifting
Nerissa Steele | nsteele@apsa.org Supervising Analyst at the Boston
technological and cultural change is not a
specific risk to psychoanalysis or a Psychoanalytic Institute. He has published
Debbie Steinke | dsteinke@apsa.org
harbinger of a slippery slope. Flexibility, over 70 articles in the psychoanalytic
Bronwyn Zevallos | membadmin@apsa.org as I see it, is an approach reflecting an literature and five books, primarily on the
overall attitude of curiosity, discovery, method and theory of treatment.
8 T H E A M E R I C A N P S YC H OA N A LY S TReflections in the Wake of the Atlanta
Shootings and a Year of Anti-Asian
American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Hate
Meredith J. Wong
It is late May as I am writing this piece for A 75-year-old Chinese American woman, revelation that
TAP—my heartfelt reflections on racism, Xiao Zhen Xie—who was beaten, fought AAPI people are
anti-Asian racism, and the shared and var- back, and cried out in shock afterward in minorities that suf- Meredith J. Wong
ied experiences of Asian American Pacific Cantonese, her voice cracking in anguish— fer at all. It shocked
Islanders (AAPIs) in the United States reminded me of my grandmother. A into awareness some AAPIs, as well, that
through the lens of my lived experience as a 65-year-old Filipina American woman, racism does indeed affect them as much as
Chinese American woman, a person of Vilma Kari, was brutally kicked and they wou ld l i ke to believe it d o e s n ’ t .
color, and a psychiatrist/psychoanalyst dur- stomped on in front of a Manhattan build- O t h e r AAPIs are much l e s s s u r p r i s e d ,
ing this time of Covid, violence, and racial ing a couple miles south of my office after aware that to some degree racism has pre-
reckoning. the attacker shouted, “You don’t belong vented them from being fully seen, known,
May is Asian American and Native here!” The silent response of the building and included their entire lives.
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage staff was to close the door. The website Stop I’d like to take this opportunity to
Month, a time to acknowledge and cele- AAPI Hate totaled over 6,600 anti-AAPI explore the ways and historical context in
brate the history, contributions, and cul- hate crimes or hate incidents between which AAPIs in America have been
tures of AAPIs in this country. It is also a March 2020 and March 2021, notably impacted by racism, including how we
celebration of diversity, representing toward women, youth, and the elderly. have been stereotyped, erased or less seen,
progress beyond the ideals I heard grow- I want to acknowledge that the struggles and subject to discrimination and violence.
ing up of “color-blindness” and America of Asian American Pacific Islanders differ I will direct particular attention to the
as a “melting pot.” This month, history is from other groups’ struggles. In contrast experiences of AAPI women and relate
being made. The alleged gunman in the with Black or Indigenous people of color, some of my own experiences growing up
Atlanta spa shootings in March—in AAPIs are mostly immigrants or descen- and living in this country. I will examine
which eight people were murdered, dants of immigrants who came to the U.S. how the Atlanta shootings occurred within
including six women of Asian descent— by choice. While we have suffered from a clear context—at the intersection of rac-
was indicted on murder charges. The Ful- racism and, at times, racialized violence, ism, misogyny, anti-immigrant sentiment,
ton County prosecutor announced her we have never existed in this country in and religious prohibitions against sex—and
intention to pursue hate crimes charges if the context of our ancestors having been also comment on psychoanalysis and its
he is convicted, which would be the first forced here as slaves, driven from our approach to race.
application of Georgia’s new hate crimes homelands, systematically brutalized, or
unequivocally seen (then and by some still Children, Race, and Racism:
law. On May 20, President Biden signed
now) as less than fully human, based just Growing Up AAPI
into law the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act
that fights anti-AAPI violence. on the color of our skin. This is the first I am invisible, understand, simply because
These advancements are welcome, but time many AAPIs have experienced mortal people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless
danger due to racism, in sharp contrast to heads you see sometimes in circus side-
we are still in the midst of a precipitous rise
the reality for so many Black and brown shows, it is as though I have been sur-
in killings, beatings, and harassment of
people in our country. rounded by mirrors of hard, distorting
AAPI people. Racialized hatred and blame
for the “China virus” and “kung flu” were But even so, the collective traumas of glass. When they approach me they see
fomented at the highest levels of govern- people of color are intertwined and not only my surroundings, themselves or fig-
ment last year. Violent incidents have con- mutually exclusive. The complex story of ments of their imagination, indeed, every-
tinued to mount since the Atlanta murders. race in America tends to be collapsed into a thing and anything except me.
Black and white binary that renders other
—Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)
races/ethnicities less seen. Despite number-
Meredith J. Wong, M.D., is a psychiatrist As we psychoanalysts know, blueprints
ing about 23 million and being the fastest-
and member of the New York Psychoanalytic growing minority group in the U.S., AAPIs for how we see ourselves and others are laid
Society & Institute. She serves on NYPSI’s are often invisible in the discourse and in down at a young age. These beliefs are built
Committee on Racial Consciousness & the statistics and polls; we are left out or merely upon or changed as we grow, have more
Diversities and APsaA’s Committee on listed as “other.” For some white Ameri- experiences, and move into the larger
Gender & Sexuality. cans, the shootings brought the startling world. People also do see color from a
Vo l u m e 5 5 , N o . 3 • F a l l 2 0 21 9In the Wake of the color, have been fully seen in America—or myself, a kid of Asian descent who was also
American, reflected anywhere.
in the white space of psychoanalysis—his-
Atlanta Shootings torically and to this day. Children are quite straightforward in
young age, even if they protest this fact. As My first encounter with racism was in what they say. Then racism goes more
social creatures, we are evolutionarily hard- nursery school. I had not seen myself as underground with age. Violent acts of rac-
wired to see differences of all kinds. What Other until I was excluded from playing ism make the news—as they should—but
becomes problematic are the relative values with some kids based on appearance. It was racism and discrimination can be so much
placed on certain characteristics versus upsetting and confusing. I was then bullied more casual. People of color experience rac-
others, and the resultant license to discrim- throughout elementary school for my race. ism in many small but stressful ways—
inate as a result. The famous and heart- When I was 7 years old, a common racist microaggressions or quiet assumptions
breaking doll studies by Black psychologists taunt was a song that went: —that don’t get talked about as much but
Mamie and Kenneth Clark—“Racial Identi- that white people participate in and may
fication and Preference in Negro Children” “Chinese”—kids pulled up the corners of not be aware of. The values and behaviors
(1947)—and subsequent studies over the their eyes. inherent in this casual racism contribute to
years have shown that both white children “Japanese”—kids pulled down the corners the systemic racism that keeps minorities
and children of color display pro-white of their eyes. down, Others them, and provides fertile
implicit bias from a very early age, and ground for more violent acts, especially
“Dirty
knees. / Look at these /
value or devalue themselves and their peers against Black people. Black people have
boobies!”—kids pulled out the front of
accordingly. long been perceived as more dangerous,
their shirts.
People also locate themselves in the sexual, and immoral; less intelligent and
world in relation to others—through simi-
larities and differences, who is like me and
who is not. Yet psychoanalysis tradition- It took years for me to realize, consciously, how rarely people
ally privileges the individual, with the
“social,” including race and racism, seen as
who look like me, or any people of color, have been fully seen
external. Psychoanalysis may attribute in America—or in the white space of psychoanalysis—
racialized self-image, perceptions of others, historically and to this day.
and transferences solely to a patient’s inter-
nally-generated conflicts, such as around
sex and aggression, or to relational attach-
Then they laughed, self-satisfied or per- hard-working; and more responsible for
ments while dismissing the effects of the
plexed when I did not find it funny too. At their difficulties in life than white people.
very real racial, ethnic, and cultural sur-
times, I would walk by and people would It’s been shown that Black boys are viewed
round on the intrapsychic lives of the
just yell “ching chong ching chong ching as older and more threatening than white
patient and analyst and everything the
chong!” at me. Even if not as malicious, peo- boys of the same age, which leads to deadly
dyad constructs in the analytic space.
ple might say a bunch of gibberish and ask consequences, like with Trayvon Martin
White is seen as normative, and not dis-
what that meant in Chinese. I spoke back (Phillip Atiba Goff et al., “The Essence of
cussing the actuality of race and racial dif-
when I could but still felt badly about Innocence: Consequences of Dehumaniz-
ference (i.e., focusing only on symbolic
myself. I felt ugly and alienated, and inter- ing Black Children,” 2014). Black men are
meanings) as neutral.
nalized the racism. also perceived as larger than similarly sized
For me, it has been a long, difficult jour-
white men (John Wilson et al., “Racial Bias
ney to stop seeing white as normative. I am The internalization of my Asian-ness as
in Judgments of Physical Size and Formida-
a third-generation Chinese American bad and Other stemmed not just from racist
bility,” 2017).
whose grandparents immigrated in the taunts. In elementary school, I sang “My
1930s and ’40s from Toisan in rural south- Country ‘Tis of Thee” every day with the AAPIs and the “Model Minority” Myth
ern China. Growing up in a small, conser- other kids but understood early on that the Asian American Pacific Islander people,
vative, extremely white, and racist town, I soaring lyrics did not include me or my fam- in contrast, are often stereotyped as a
had a deep yearning to belong. I did not ily. I saw stereotypical depictions of East monolithic, (over)compliant “model
realize at the time how much my wanting Asians with pointed hats and bucked teeth minority” who works hard, has few emo-
and striving for acceptance and approval in and wondered if my eyes were really mere tional needs, and has “made it” in America.
(white) others’ eyes involved a devaluation slits like that—unseen, unseeing, and This stereotype is highly problematic. Far
of my Asian American self and unwitting diminished, their expressiveness erased. from a homogenous group, AAPIs originate
participation in the devaluation of other Shame twisted in me as I read award-win- from over 20 countries across East, South-
people of color in the process. It took years ning faux-Chinese children’s tales by white east, and South Asia and the Pacific Islands.
for me to realize, consciously, how rarely authors, their foolish characters steeped in Each of these countries encompass a multi-
people who look like me, or any people of exoticism and played for laughs. I didn’t see tude of variations in ethnicity, culture, lan-
10 T H E A M E R I C A N P S YC H OA N A LY S Tguage, and religion. Some AAPIs, such as “A Dialogue on Racial Melancholia” (2000) building of the railroad, with a couple
the Hmong, live in deep poverty, and some and Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation: bumps in the Chinese Exclusion Act and
are hampered by intergenerational trauma, On the Social and Psychic Lives of Asian Amer- the Japanese American internment—of
such as Vietnamese and Cambodian icans (2019), describe a racial melancholia almost 120,000!—after Pearl Harbor. The
refugees. AAPIs have immigrated to this for AAPIs as they strive for an idealized U.S. is largely portrayed as a noble land of
country at different times; for different rea- American whiteness that can never be freedom, opportunity, and adventure, the
sons (seeking opportunity, fleeing from attained, while simultaneously their ethnic land of John Wayne, the shining city on a
trauma, or both); and in different ways heritages are lost and racialized selves hill. This glosses over American imperialist
(alone, with family, or to join family, as a devalued. Stereotypes may limit AAPIs in and racist attitudes and the toll they have
spouse, child, or adoptee—cross-racial or their sense of possibility—what they can be taken on people of color, who have put
not). They come from different socioeco- interested in, do, or accomplish—which untold work into building this country into
nomic, educational, and professional back- can contribute to poor self-esteem, depres- the prosperous nation it is today.
grounds. Wealth disparity is higher among sion, and anxiety, especially if they are I think Asian American Pacific Islanders
AAPIs than any other racial group. Not all unable, ambivalent about, or do not wish would be perceived as less faceless and for-
AAPIs prioritize education and, for those to quietly fit the model of what they are eign if the true and centuries-long Ameri-
who do, striving against racism is a com- “supposed” to be. can history in this country were taught
mon motivation. Shame due to internalization of the with the nuance it deserves, as dissonant as
Many AAPIs suffer from systemic inequali- “model minority” myth combines with a it may be to how (white) America wants to
ties as well, including access to quality educa- multitude of other reasons to make AAPIs in see itself. This necessarily includes the rac-
tion and to physical and mental healthcare need of mental healthcare less likely than the ism AAPI people have faced and fought
that meets their language and cultural needs. general population to get it. This is especially against. Prior to the Chinese Exclusion Act
Even AAPIs who appear on the surface to true of immigrants and the second genera- of 1882, the Page Act of 1875 had already
have “made it” may be suffering in less obvi- tion, and to a lesser degree the third genera- essentially banned “Oriental” women from
ous ways. For example, they may matriculate tion. These other reasons include cultural immigrating, based on a stereotype charac-
into elite schools—against the odds relative stigma, fear of “losing face,” favoring of other terizing them all as “lewd” and “immoral”
to similarly matched white people—but in support systems, a lack of culturally appro- prostitutes. In the 1870s and ’80s, Chinese
adulthood find themselves disproportion- priate care, access issues, and differences in Americans suffered from multiple massa-
ately unable to advance, like other people of mental health education and perception of cres, expulsions from their homes and
color. It is even harder for AAPI women, who benefit. These topics have been explored in towns, and lynchings due to growing fears
have to contend with both a “glass ceiling” the work of researchers such as Jennifer Abe- of “Yellow Peril,” a racist and xenophobic
and “bamboo ceiling.” Kim (2007), Oanh Le Meyer (2009), Sunmin positioning of Asians as “filthy yellow
Lee (2009), and Stanley Sue (2012). hordes” who represented a mortal, moral,
The “model minority” myth, while
seemingly complimentary on its face, com- Historical Context: “Perpetual and existential threat to the West by
forts white people who want to believe this Foreigners” and “Yellow Peril” spreading disease and supplanting white
country is a pure meritocracy—where suc- There is a strange duality in which AAPI Americans in “their” jobs and country.
cess is attained merely by bootstrapping— people are lauded as succeeding in the Some AAPIs, far from being passive, fought
rather than a place that bestows white American Dream yet are seen as “perpetual back against racism in the courts: The parents
people at birth with unearned privileges foreigners.” I can’t remember how many of 8-year-old Chinese American Mamie Tape,
that then accumulate over the years. These times I have been asked in inappropriate set- for example, attempted to desegregate San
false beliefs most egregiously hurt non- tings by random people, “Where are you Francisco schools in 1885. Store owners Yick
Asian people of color by suggesting that from?” When I answer, “New York”—know- Wo and Wo Lee fought for nondiscrimination
Black people and others are at fault for not ing full well what they are looking for but in the enforcement of laws in 1886. In 1898,
doing the “right” things to succeed in the wanting to see if they will catch themselves Wong Kim Ark asserted his birthright citizen-
traditional sense, and therefore no changes or dare ask again—they say, sometimes with ship. Almost 70 years later in 1965, Patsy
need to be made to address inequalities. irritation, “No, where are you really from?” Mink, a third generation Japanese American,
The “model minority” myth also relies If I then try to explain how my family has became the first woman of color and first
on silent complicity: When AAPIs do speak been in this country for over 80 years and I Asian American woman elected to Congress—
out, the illusion of near-whiteness shatters. don’t speak Chinese, they are shocked and the same year that stringent U.S. immigration
Like other people of color, AAPIs may in disbelief. regulations based on race and national origin
quickly become objects of projected aggres- The “perpetual foreigner” stereotype loosened through an addition to the Immi-
sion if they are perceived as a threat to and relative invisibility of AAPIs in Ameri- gration and Nationality Act of 1952. This
white power and superiority. Anne Anlin can history are reinforced in our schools. opened the door to new waves of AAPI immi-
Cheng, in The Melancholy of Race: Psycho- The AAPI experience may be conveyed to grants from across the Asian continent.
analysis, Assimilation, and Hidden Grief children in the barest sketch, mostly as a One hundred years after the anti-Asian
(2001), and David Eng and Shinhee Han, in romanticized story of immigration and the violence of the late 1800s, a redux of the
Vo l u m e 5 5 , N o . 3 • F a l l 2 0 21 11In the Wake of the tailed with an American fascination with,
but lack of genuine exposure to, Chinese
such as Crazy Rich Asians (2018), The Farewell
(2019), and Minari (2020).
Atlanta Shootings culture. The U.S. then brutally colonized So when I heard about the Atlanta
fear of white job loss led to the murder of the Philippines at the turn of the 20th cen- shootings, it was immediately apparent
Vincent Chin. In 1982, two white Ameri- tury and, during the mid-20th century, that they had occurred at the intersection
can autoworkers in Detroit, thinking Chin fought imperialistically in the Korean and of racism, misogyny, anti-immig r a n t
was Japanese, used racial slurs and beat Vietnam Wars. Sexual imperialism s e n t i m e n t , a n d r e l i g i o u s prohibi-
him to death yet received only probation occurred in parallel, in which the promise tions against sex, whether the white per-
and a fine of $3,000 plus court fees. Chin’s of willing, unassertive native women was petrator was conscious of it or not. After
death was a turning point in the develop- specifically used to recruit American G.I.s. all, six female body workers of Asian
ment of a unified Asian American—and During the Vietnam War era, the contin- descent were murdered in Georgia, where
later, Asian American Pacific Islander— ued availability of native women’s bodies at the end of an election rife with racial
identity, as AAPIs of different ethnicities was officially sanctioned and arranged by hatred and white fear of replacement,
and national origins recognized the need the U.S. military via “Rest and Recreation Black and AAPI voters had rallied to swing
to work together in the fight against rac- Stations” through agreements with local the state and entire election blue. But
ism. East Asian AAPI groups are certainly governments. Less talked about, then and when the shooter insisted it was about
not the only ones who have been targeted.
In 1989, a white man in Stockton, Calif.
stated, “the damn Hindus and boat people
So when I heard about the Atlanta shootings, it was
own everything” two weeks before open-
ing fire in a schoolyard, killing five chil- immediately apparent that they had occurred at the
dren and wounding 29 more and one intersection of racism, misogyny, anti-immigrant sentiment,
teacher, the majority of them Southeast
and religious prohibitions against sex, whether the
Asian. South Asian AAPIs, especially Mus-
lims and Sikhs, have suffered from racial- white perpetrator was conscious of it or not.
ized harassment and violence in the
aftermath of 9/11.
We can then see that anti-Asian scape- now, is how many Asian and Pacific sexual “temptation” and the sheriff said
goating for the Covid-19 pandemic, with Islander women were dehumanized, sexu- the shooter just had “a really bad day,”
the Atlanta shootings occurring amid that, ally exploited, and violated, with mixed- many white Americans were quick to dis-
is only the latest iteration of “Yellow Peril.” race children abandoned in the process. avow, with a palpable sense of relief and
This topic is explored in depth by Sunny even scoffing laughs, that the attacks had
Stereotypes of Asian and Pacific Islander
Woan, an attorney, in her paper “White anything to do with race.
Women and the Atlanta Shootings:
Sexual Imperialism: A Theory of Asian This derisive response impacted me
Racism and Misogyny
Feminist Jurisprudence” (2008). deeply. The world feels less safe if some
The Atlanta shootings are also a contem-
porary example of how racism, violence, Meanwhile, 20th century American film white person can just have a “bad day” or
gender, and sexuality in this country are and theater amplified the hypersexualized be frustrated with Covid and then some-
inextricably linked. Sexual repression and view of Asian women while minimizing the one who looks like me ends up punched or
disavowal in Western culture, with a par- violence done to them. Asian women are dead, after which people may say, “Oh,
ticular Puritanical and now evangelical often portrayed as simple, exotic, submissive well.” I was struck acutely with the pain of
bent in the United States, mean that soci- China Dolls/Lotus Blossoms or devious, erasure and simultaneously brought to a
ety often places responsibility for men’s entrapping Dragon Ladies, as in the musical new level of understanding of what Black
sexual behavior on women (who “tempt” Miss Saigon (premiered 1989, set in the 1970s) and brown people contend with.
them) and projects sexual feelings, desires, and the film Full Metal Jacket (1987), in which My lived experience tells me that the
and anxieties into racial Others, who are its 1960s Vietnamese sex worker famously phrase “racially motivated” need not per-
then experienced as both thrilling and said, “Me love you long time.” In pornogra- tain only to cases where race is the sole
frightening. phy, the depiction of Asian women in these motive. Over the years, I’ve been catcalled
The stereotype of Asian women as hyper- kinds of roles and as victims of sexual vio- or hit on countless times with the words
sexual and submissive also has deep roots. lence flourished and continues to flourish. In “Ni hao” or “Konichiwa” paired with an
Asia was seen as a feminized land to be cinema, The Joy Luck Club (1993) and Saving attempted accent or bowing. Sometimes
plundered and conquered when the first Face (2004)—the latter about AAPI queer the person becomes angry if I ignore them
European explorers arrived in the Ameri- female characters—for years stood nearly or respond negatively. Sometimes they call
cas, originally in search of Asia. In the alone in portraying AAPI women in varied, me a “chink.” On dating sites, some would
1800s, limited American exposure to Asian complex, and non-stereotypical ways. It is see me as simple, exotic, and willingly sub-
women, further exacerbated by their sexu- only very recently that these textured por- missive right off the bat, simply because I
alized banning under the Page Act, dove- trayals have become more common in films am an Asian-appearing woman.
12 T H E A M E R I C A N P S YC H OA N A LY S TYou can also read
