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University of Oregon psychology professor, Dr. Gordon Nagayama Hall.
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‘Loss of Face’ Plays Role in APA Men Being Sexually Aggressive
New study compares APAs and European Americans
By Ethen Lieser
AsianWeek Staff Writer
At a recent three-day New York Academy of Science conference, “Understanding and Managing Sexually Coercive Behavior” in Washington, D.C., University of Oregon psychology professor Dr. Gordon Nagayama Hall made an intriguing discovery: “Loss of face” is an important factor in why Asian Pacific American men are or aren’t sexually aggressive.
The study proposed a three-level theoretical model that implemented general constructs that have been used to predict anti-social behavior, a construct more specific to predicting sexually aggressive behavior, and a culture-specific model that takes into account cultural influences on behavior.
Hall said the research could “help us develop interventions to prevent problem behavior, such as sexual aggression.” Aside from Hall’s study, the conference also revealed the latest research on etiology and treatment of sex offenders.
According to the study, Hall and a team of researchers found that sexual coercion, which refers to forcible rape and other forms of pressure that push women to engage in sex against their will, was more apparent in European Americans than APAs when confronted with “loss of face.” But the rates of sexual coercion for both groups were about the same in people who shared misogynistic beliefs — a risk factor for sexual coercion.
Hall said that APA men “tended to endorse higher levels of misogynous beliefs than European Americans did. However, APAs were not at greater risk for committing sexually aggressive acts.”
Hall, however, noted that if APA men can “gain face” or “save face” by being coercive, those factors would increase their risk in engaging in sexually coercive behavior.
“European American men are less concerned about ‘loss of face’ and more concerned about their personal beliefs when it comes to being sexually aggressive,” said Hall, who also had teaching stints at Kent State University and Pennsylvania State University.
The study believed APAs were bicultural and strongly influenced by traditional Asian culture. Hall said that despite APA men’s effort to assimilate, many still behave in accordance with the Asian idea of “collectivism,” as opposed to the European penchant for "individualism.”
“Asians exhibit a higher likelihood to identify themselves as one with the community rather than being independent of it,” he said. “In the West, the saying is ‘The squeaky wheel gets the grease.’ In Eastern cultures, such as Japan, the saying is ‘The nail that sticks out gets hammered.’ ”
However, Agnes Chang, the outreach director of Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence in Boston, says she wants to steer away from generalizations among ethnicities when coordinating outreach programs.
“It’s very easy to agree with general statements that say APA men are more aware of saving one’s social reputation,” she said. “But we don’t want to stereotype any APA group. Not all APA men fall under this category.”
One of Hall’s surprise findings was that European Americans were “also somewhat concerned about sexual aggression resulting in ‘loss of face,’ although less so than APAs were.”
Hall also stated that racism prevents APAs from being fully assimilated.
“APA males tend to be marginalized in American society,” he said. “Racism may prevent many APAs from fully assimilating into mainstream American society. However, assimilation is not necessarily the most adaptive goal, as cultural values — such as ‘loss of face’ and APA ethnic identification — may prevent antisocial behavior, including sexual aggression.
“These findings suggest that APA men should be encouraged to retain pro-social cultural values rather than to assimilate.”
Jill Tregor, the executive director of Intergroup Clearinghouse, a nonprofit organization that contends with hate violence, said social notions of what it means to be “manly” needs to change. She suggested the study might further play into the stereotypes that APA men are “effeminate and ineffectual.”
“One possible way to reduce male perpetrated violence would be to change the public’s attitudes about the inherent ‘manliness’ of being a perpetrator of violence,” Tregor said.
Though the study only included European Americans and APAs, Hall admitted that focusing the study on Asians would produce different results.
“It would be difficult to study Asians because of extreme prohibitions in many Asian cultures against discussing sexual and sexually aggressive behavior,” he said. “These prohibitions would make it difficult to get an accurate picture of Asian behavior.”
Hall, however, said it was important to do more studies on people of color in the United States — especially APAs.
“There is a lack of attention to APAs in psychology,” he said. “The assumption is that information on European Americans applies to all other groups … there is a dearth of information on sexual aggression in ethnic minority populations. Culture has often been ignored by studies examining sexual aggression.”
Reach Ethen Lieser at elieser@asianweek.com.
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