Most people know about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. But did you know about the Page Act of 1875? It was the first federal law to restrict immigration in general, and it specifically targeted Asian women who were believed to be entering the US for prostitution or polygamy.
“Chinese women were seen as a threat to the institution of marriage, and a danger to white males (even stigmatized as being unclean and giving white male children as young as 12 syphillis).”
reproductiveaccess.org/2017/03/womens…
reproductiveaccess.org/2017/03/womens…
“By identifying and excluding Chinese women as prostitutes, the law prevented the birth of Chinese American children and stunted the growth of Chinese American communities.” jstor.org/stable/4099477…
The law itself targeted “Chinese, Japanese, & other Orientals” meaning it had implications for all Asian groups. If you’ve wondered why there were only Asian male laborers & few Asian women, it’s because they didn’t want Asian people to reproduce, populate, & threaten whiteness.
But US still wanted cheap labor, so they let Asian men migrate (in limited numbers) & banned women. They even disguised it as a morality issue by painting the women as prostitutes or immoral, even though many were just trying to pursue opportunities & reunite with their families.
It’s also important to recognize that many of these women might have been sex workers. This was their way to earn money, leave bad family situations, or migrate. Sex work was work then & sex work is work now. We cannot stigmatize a group for doing what they need to do to survive.
I’ve often wondered why we cite 1882 & not 1875 as the beginning of federal immigration bans. And the answer is always clear- sexism & sex work. Because it targeted women & involved sex workers, it has been removed or minimized from the narrative- even in Asian American Studies.
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