Markup View

Author: NimmerStill

Oct 23rd 2012 at 2:01:39 PM

^You're right, you didn't. And you're right, the description doesn't *directly* say that the origins of the China Doll stereotype lie in the native YamatoNadeshiko equivalent. But it is *implied* that China Doll is a misunderstanding of YamatoNadeshiko, since it says a) they're similar, b) China Doll lacks a detail that YamatoNadeshiko has, c) they're both about Asian women, and d) it doesn't mention that they may have completely different origins.

Couple that with the obvious assumption that since YamatoNadeshiko is native, it's likely to be older, and you have the idea that China Doll is a perception of that. So all I really want is a mention that they may have different origins. And if you're not disputing that it was an invention of the West, why not say that?

I'm not even sold on the idea that the two stereotypes are meaningfully similar, except that they are both about submissive(-ish) Asian women. Because Western culture has its own stereotypes about submissive women; all China Doll adds is that Asian women are more so. And YamatoNadeshiko never said that Asian women are *more* submissive than those of other cultures, since it's not *about* other cultures after all.