Guest Contributor: Sydney Rae Chin (@sydneyraechin)
In early November, I wrote an article entitled “My Once Colonized Body: Race and Gender at the Intersections of Hookup Culture” that was published as a guest post on Reappropriate. However, the article was problematic and, thus I removed the article from here. I mislabeled an uncomfortable sexual encounter I had as “sexual assault.”
Looking back upon that experience, the sexual encounter that I described lacked the proper communication, thus making it uncomfortable. But, I regret framing this experience as “sexual assault”. I want to apologize to the community of sexual assault survivors/victims for appropriating their experiences, and thus disrespecting the community as well. Furthermore, I want to apologize for the implication that because he was a non-Asian and non-white man that he was fetishizing me upon the basis of race. To conclude, I am deeply sorry that I misused the terms sexual assault and fetishization as both come with heavy significance.
(Editor’s Note: As editor/blogger of Reappropriate, I also wish to apologize to the sexual assault survivor/victim community for all the pain that Sydney’s piece and subsequent commentary caused, and fully support Sydney’s decision to retract it.)
Sydney Rae Chin, a third generation Chinese American, is a current Emerson freshman who is pursuing a B.A. in Media Arts Production. She works with the multicultural community at Emerson, including with Flawless Brown Pictures (the only women of color film company on campus), A.S.I.A. (Asian Students For Intercultural Awareness), and the greater Boston Asian American community.
Learn more about Reappropriate’s guest contributor program and submit your own writing here.
