Fetishized: A Reckoning with Yellow Fever, Feminism, and Beauty

Yu, a former pinup model and lead singer of the rock band Nylon Pink, debuts with a searing memoir that expands into a broader look at the fetishization of Asian women in pop culture. In sharp, sometimes caustic essays, Yu recounts her entertainment career, examines her strained relationship with her father, catalogs her attempts to conform to Western beauty standards, and unpacks the skewed messages she received about Asian people in films ranging from Full Metal Jacket to Memoirs of a Geisha and the Austin Powers franchise. What sets Yu’s musings apart, in addition to their ferocity, is the author’s willingness to acknowledge her complicity in her own fetishization. “I’m still chiseling away at the layers between the pleasurable applause of the chauvinistic gaze and my feminist ideals, especially at an age when my physical attractiveness is quickly waning,” she admits. “I know I’ll be unraveling these unconscious beliefs... for a lifetime.” It’s an immense pleasure to read Yu as she does that unraveling with a ruthless gaze and a razor-sharp pen. This leaves a mark. Agent: Amy Bishop-Wycisk, Trellis Literary Management. (Aug.)