Rui Machida is a 29-year-old female Japanese basketball player. She started her professional playing career in 2011 playing for the Fujitsu Red Wave in the Women’s Japan Basketball League. She has represented her home nation of Japan and has won five medals, a bronze at the Asian Games, three golds at the FIBA Asia Cup and was a part of Japan’s silver medal winning team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, she set the Olympic record for assists in one game, with 18 total assists in Japan’s 87-71 win against France in the semifinals. Machida was named to the tournament’s All-Star five.
Rui Machida signed a contract with the Washington Mystics in the Women’s National Basketball Association earlier this year and became the fourth Japanese player to play in the WNBA.
“I’m very happy for such a wonderful opportunity and I am looking forward to it. I’ll do my best to show my playing style in the United States and contribute to the team,” Machida said.
“very exciting” for the franchise and called Machida one of the most dynamic point guards in the world.
Mystics General Manager and Head Coach Mike Thibault while describing the signing
Machida did not dominate in the WNBA as she did in the Olympics, only averaging 1.8 points and 2.6 assists in almost 13 minutes per game, while shooting 31% overall from the field and 20.6% from behind the three-point line. As the WNBA is now in the offseason, Machida will return to the Fujitsu Red Wave for their upcoming season. Machida’s first season in the WNBA was more of a trial to see how her game translates into the WNBA, and she hopes that her trial will be extended and play another season in the WNBA.
Model Minority
The term Model-minority is the belief and stereotype that Asian American, through their hard work, intelligence and empathies on education and achievement, have been successful in American society (McGowen & Lindgren, 2006). This term was made in the 1960’s following the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 which allowed a greater number of Asians to immigrate and obtain citizenship within the United States (Ponzio, 2022). The act however had a tier system that gave preference to “skilled” immigrants to help boost their economy, which led to the creation of the model minority mode due to the socioeconomic success of these Asian immigrants. Asian Americans went from being seen as a cultural, economic, political and military threat to being the standard that other minority groups should seek to be. This idea of a model citizens places Asian Americans in tensions with other minority groups because they have in a sense achieved the elusive American Dream (Chan, 2020). Asian Americans are almost seen as honorary whites, within the racial hierarchy, and are looked as not to face similar challenges as other races (Nemoto, 2006; Chan, 2020; Museus & Kiang, 2009). This causes a problem as when Asian Americans seek a better future within North America, the model minority causes individuals to begin to place blame on themselves if they are unable to achieve the expected levels of success (Noh, 2018). Mental health becomes a main issue because of this expected level of success, along with within the model minority myth, is the lack of attention to mental health and available resources for the population (Ponzio, 2022). Research suggests that Asian Americans have higher rates of mental illnesses than previously suspected (Miller et al., 2011). Data also suggest that some Asian Americans have worse psychological well-being than their non-Asian peers (Hwang & Ting, 2008). On top of all of this only 8.6 percent of Asian-Americans reached out to mental health services or resources compared to 18 percent of the general population nationwide (Spencer et al., 2010). Within sports, there are ideas that to make it to the top, to reach your dream, you need the mentality to push yourself to reach your full potential and to have the drive to reach the top. However, those who fall short are looked down upon, like in society and the ways in which class hierarchy determines the dominant narrative and the ideal citizen (Ponzio, 2022). If Asian Americans are seen as having a hard work ethic, intelligence and empathies on education and achievement, then why are there not more in sports? The reason for this is a term called Asian-ness, which puts a stereotype on Asian Americans that hinders opportunity in sports.
Asian-ness
Asian-ness is a term to describe a stereotype that Asians are seen to be weaker, passive, less aggressive, frail, and nonathletic (Ponzio, 2022). In many cases, Asian Americans are not associated with being athletic due to Asian-ness, especially women, as they are seen as quiet, passive, and submissive (Chow, 1987; Nemoto, 2006). This can be brought back to Rui Machida who is 5 ft 4 in tall, she has probably been labeled weak, small and fragile before she even steps on the court by coaches, scouts and opponents. The idea of an ideal athlete excludes Asian athletes like Rui Machida because of Asian-ness. The ideas surrounding Asian American women in sports are viewed negatively because these stereotypes behind their physical capabilities cause them to be discredited and underestimated (Ponzio, 2022). This is drastically different than how black female athletes are seen. Black female bodies are seen as excessively masculine/violent, naturally athletic, less intellectual, instinctual, animalistic, overly sexualized. This leads to misogynoir, which is a term coined by Moya Bailey to describe the unique form of anti-Black sexism faced by Black women. Serena Williams is a great example, as her body defies the typical white idea of a woman’s body. This can be seen throughout her career where because of her body and race she is treated differently. Some examples of this are in 2018 when the French Tennis Federation deemed her black catsuit at the French open “unacceptable”. But compare this to Anne White in 1985, who wore a white cat suit. Anne White catsuit was also banned but she received praise for being able to pull off the look, as long and lean body made it acceptable. Her body has also been mocked by journalists and fellow tennis players and coaches, head of the Russia Tennis Federation, Shamil Tarpischev referred to her and her sisters as “Williams brothers”. Serena Williams also faces media backlash that a white tennis player wouldn’t have received. As also in 2018 after getting into an altercation with umpire Carlos Ramos, Serena was portrayed in a cartoon being ill-mannered and angry, which has been used to cast black women.
The stereotypes about Asian Americans’ physical abilities are highlighted through ideas of submissiveness, weakness, and fragility. In this way, Asian American women are racialized, gendered, and sexualized differently than other minority groups (Ponzio, 2022). This causes a lack of Asian representation in sports at the professional and collegiate level. Rui Machida is only the 4th Asian to play in the WNBA and only 0.4% of NBA players are from Asian descent. When looking at the colligate level we see a similar trend with only 5.9% of student athletes in the United States are Asian. The stereotypes associated with Asian Americans being weaker, passive, less aggressive, and nonathletic has affected individuals’ chances at collegiate sports because it causes initial perceptions of their athletic ability before they even steps foot on the court, field, or pool. They are not given a chance to prove their abilities because they are discredited, seen as unassuming, or underestimated (Ponzio, 2022). This has made it harder for them to create spaces in which they can prove their physical abilities rather than being perceived solely on how they first appear (Ponzio, 2022).
“I think the obvious thing in my mind is that I was Asian American,” Lin told Rose when asked why he never was offered a Division I basketball scholarship. “I think that was a barrier.”
Jeremy Lin
Jeremy Lin who is an Asian American and played 9 seasons in the NBA, is one of many players who suffered from Asian-ness. Lin did not receive any division 1 offers to play basketball other than from Harvard. The reason why Lin did not receive many offers was not because of his skill, as he led his team to a 32-1 record and an upset of the powerhouse Mater Dei in the 2006 California Division II championship game. The reason was Asian-ness, as scouts looked at him and associated him for being unathletic.
Conclusion
In conclusion athletes like Rui Machida face racism in different ways than other minority groups. The term model-minority puts Asians Americans in racial triangulation between whites and blacks as they are seen as honorary whites. This also hides the challenges that Asians Americans must face on a day-to-day basis. Rui Machida along with all Asian athletes have to deal with Asian-ness, which is a misconception that Asians are seen to be weaker, passive, less aggressive, frail, and nonathletic. This misconception leads to a limited number of Asians in professional and collegiate level of sports. As they are not given a chance to prove their abilities because they are discredited, seen as unassuming, or underestimated before even stepping foot on the court, field, or pool.
References
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Museus, S. D., & Kiang, P. N. (2009). Deconstructing the model minority myth and how it contributes to the invisible minority reality in higher education research. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2009(142), 5–15. https://doi.org/10.1002/ir.292
Ponzio, A. (2022). Model minority perceptions: The lived experiences of Asian American women in collegiate sports. Claremont Colleges. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1144&context=pitzer_theses
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KNPE 397 