Another important lesson here is that Asian American women inhabit both the robot trope within the white imagination, and also, of course, the geisha trope. This is why robot geishas are ubiquitous within white science fiction: because robot geishas are the perfect Asians. https://twitter.com/kazumiochin/status/1307397114582896640

The trope of the geisha is also the trope of the prostitute who falls in love with her benevolent suitor, which is also the trope of the faithful wife, which is also the trope of the mail-order bride, which is also the trope of the war bride, which is also the trope of etc. etc.

This trope predates the robot trope. The robot trope is a more recent, more neoliberal invention. It emerges as Asian American begin to enter the workforce in positions formerly occupied by a majority white male workforce. But instead of replacing the former, the tropes merge.

These two tropes at once create the perfect Asian: the woman who feels no emotions except for her male counterpart, who lives only to serve him, who has no life beyond her labor and sexuality which are oftentimes one and the same.

But this convergence is also a site of horror for the white male imagination: because this dual agency becomes a possibility: the possibility of a robot gaining sentience, and the possibility of the woman coming to take back possession of her own body and desires.

This convergence creates the perfect storm of fears: the woman (who is also a racialized subject) who is thinking, and feeling, and desiring, and in control of her own body. This person is a threat to both capitalism and also to the white supremacist order.

So the perfect Asian is threatening in her perfection, despite her perfect, because she always holds the possibility of revolution: if her stereotypical kindness and service and intelligence are turned towards herself and her own self-liberation.

So yeah, I felt like the original thread really needed this second gender-based analysis in order to really explain the way that gender in the workforce contributes an additional layer to this issue, as folks will often see whites bringing their domestic fantasies as well.