The other day, while perusing AngryAsianMan.com, I found a Web site called yellowfeverclothing.com. I winced at the name of that Web site. Too often do I, as an Asian American woman, hear the terms “yellow fever” or “yellow plague,” signifying a strong sexual obsession or preference for Asian women by an individual who is not Asian or Asian American. (BTW: Yellow fever is actually a severe viral disease that is often fatal.) While it may also signify an obsession with anything “Asian,” such as manga or anime, or an obsession with Asian men, these terms hit home hardest for Asian and Asian American women.

Going with my natural instinct, I decided to enter this Web site with the smallest amount of hope that this Web site was not what I assumed it to be. I was, of course, 100% correct.

This Web site is the home to dozens of grossly overpriced, dehumanizing T-shirts that not only reduce Asian women to an object but profit from stereotypical images and sexual innuendos.

Instantly, mental images and repressed emotions spewed forth into my mind, reminding me of experiences when I was objectified: walking to the local mall and someone screaming, “Me love you long time,” out of a car window; toting groceries home when a truck honks and whistles at me; feeling like I can’t wear a tank top and shorts on a 100-degree day for fear of getting mentally undressed by the individual behind the store counter; taking mail to the post office when a passing individual makes a kissy face at you. How did I react? I didn’t.

Needless to say, it surprises me that people can sleep at night knowing that the bed they sleep on was purchased with profits from products that further strips a group of individuals of their human characteristics and reduces them to sexual objects. These items go on to influence the greater public, which then affects us as individuals.

But isn’t that why such baffling things continue to occur? Because the perpetrators don’t think they are doing anything wrong?

While the extra burden is unfair, part of the responsibility then lies with the individuals who are continually victimized. How do we educate these individuals? How do we even respond to these events? Do we even respond?

A discussion I lead during college hate crimes workshops was about how to respond to the daily ambiguous incidences that often leave us standing still with our mouths on the floor in shock.

What do you do when the car drives by? How do you react when the individual walks away? What can you say when the perpetrator is an online clothing store?

Sadly, there is no correct answer. But I implore you to be proactive, not reactive, when thinking about these ambiguous situations. Next time that greasy man says, “Me love you long time,” you know immediately if you want to walk away, flip him off, or give him a strongly worded lesson on manners. Whatever you decide to do, you are no longer left standing in shock, but you are now an active participant in this cutthroat game called “media.”