The Atlanta Spa Shootings: A Nexus of Race, Class, and Sex Work

Strategic Insights -

The gruesome killings at three Atlanta-area massage parlors, resulting in the deaths of eight people, including six Asian women, have sent shockwaves across the nation. As the investigation unfolds, it has become apparent that the victims lived at the nexus of race, gender, and class, highlighting the deep-seated issues of systemic violence and oppression that plague American society.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Atlanta shootings are a stark reminder of the intersectionalities of race, class, and sex work, with the victims being Asian women working in massage parlors, often stigmatized and marginalized communities.
  • The shooter, Robert Aaron Long, has been charged with murder and claims to have been driven by "sexual addiction," but investigators have not ruled out racism as a factor, highlighting the complex and nuanced nature of hate crimes.
  • The stereotype of the Asian woman as hypersexualized and submissive is a product of centuries of Western imperialism, perpetuated through literature, media, and cultural narratives that objectify and exoticize Asian women.
  • The history of violence against Asians in the United States is long and traumatic, including the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Page Law, and the Bellingham riots, among others.
  • The Asian woman has become an object of hatred, lust, and desire, a product of systemic racism and sexism that has been internalized and perpetuated through institutions and cultural norms.
  • The murders are also an example of anti-poor violence, as the victims were working-class women who died because they were at work, highlighting the links between economic exploitation and violence.
  • The police response to the shootings has been criticized for perpetuating the same systems of oppression that led to the killings, with some calling for more funding for police departments instead of addressing the root causes of violence.

Statistics:

  • Nearly 3,800 acts of violence against Asians have occurred since the COVID-19 pandemic began, with most attacks targeting women.
  • The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act was the first and only major federal law to exclude a specific ethnic group from entering the United States.
  • The Page Law of 1875 allowed immigration officials to bar entry to Chinese immigrants who were deemed to have agreed to services with "lewd and immoral purposes."
  • An estimated 90 percent of massage parlor workers in the United States came to the country as G.I. brides.

Sources:

  • "Unbound Feet" by Judy Yung
  • "Sex Among Allies" by Katharine Moon
  • "Madame Chrysantheme" by Pierre Loti
  • Edward Said, "Orientalism"
  • "The New York Times" - "A Hate Crime in Atlanta: Asian Women, Massage Parlors, and the Violence of Silence" by May Jeong