Phung Hang himself has experienced this sexualized racism many times.
Phung Hang tells about frightening and disgusting experiences in Norway.
– I have been asked how much I should charge for a blowjob on the 54 bus to Bjølsen in Oslo, during the day.
On the way home from the city, she has been asked if she gives a happy ending.
– I have been refused to visit friends who live in hotels as the staff thought I was a prostitute and would not let me in, she says.
The open racism against women from Asia is just as evident in the world community now as before, especially against East Asian women.
She herself came to Norway from Vietnam.
– If mum and dad hadn’t fled from Vietnam to Norway, I could have been one of those girls.
If you think that there is something familiar about Phung Hang, you are absolutely right.
She became a big star with the band Cape back in 2001, sold platinum, topped the VG-list and was nominated for Spellemann in 2002.
And on the dance floor everyone danced along to “Tic Tac”.
Growing up on Hedmarken
But creating success as a dancer and singer was not a given for Phung.
Because he grew up in Brumunddal in Hedmark, a town which at the beginning of the 90s was labeled as a “racist village”.
In the village, this goes beyond the immigrants, and especially those with a Vietnamese background.
– I don’t think people understood the extent and how bad this was until quite a long time passed, says Phung Hang now.
Because after the “Battle of Brumunddal” on 31 August 1991, the villagers rose up in protest. On 19 September, they literally turned their backs on the racists and neo-Nazis.
– I’m glad I grew up in a place that took it seriously and chose to do something about it.
The people of Brumunddal turned their backs on the racists in 1991.
– Brave
Through her music, she now comes to terms with the racism that many women with an East Asian background experience.
– The idea for the song came when I traveled to Thailand and saw young Asian girls standing on the street calling for older, white, big men, says Hang to NRK.
Solveig Hessaa-Szwinto is a social scientist and works at the Archives for Peace and Human Rights in Kristiansand.
She is one of the foremost experts on precisely racism against women from East Asia.
She is happy that the artist uses music to shine a spotlight on this.
– It is brave to share experiences about perceived racism, because it costs money, says Hessaa-Szwinto.
Solveig Hessaa-Szwinto works as a researcher in Kristiansand.
Photo: Victoria Marie Nordahl / NRK
Through her research, she has discovered that this form of racism is still very much present in Norwegian society.
In a study she conducted, all the female participants had experienced sexualized racism.
– There were several of the female participants who had been asked all the way down to the age of 13 about how much they cost. This question is asked by strangers, grown men.
Racism based on skin colour, gender and sexuality, Hessaa-Szwinto asserts.
Phung Hang and her alter ego Jade Aya now hope that the music will make it easier for Asian women to stand up against everyday racism.
When she was younger, she had to sneak out to experience the dream of making a living from dance and music.
She came second in the NM in disco dancing and she took part in the reality series “Popstars” on TV3.
There she was chosen to join the band Cape.
– Exciting
The others in the band were Mette Olsson Årbø from Stavanger, Kjetil Tefke from Moss, Hanne-Karine Sørby from Porsgrunn and Alf Gunnar “Alfie” Nilsen from Trondheim.
– It was huge, it was scary and it was exciting, she says now, 23 years later.
They were among the very first reality contestants in Norway and there was no large equipment ready when the TV camera was turned off.
– There was no psychologist who warned us of what we were going to encounter or who would receive us when the hysteria was at its worst.
Phung Hang as program director at NRK in 2015.
Photo: Lars Tore Endresen / NRK
After his career with Cape, he moved on to NRK as a program manager, among other things.
She has been MOT ambassador and is today a highly regarded lecturer in cultural change and the prevention of bullying and racism – and she has become a mother.
And now a new career as a music artist.
– I wanted to get something out that I have a great desire for, she says about the song “Mr Mr”, which is now out in the places where you listen to music.
There is no doubt that the new song has a different expression and content than the one she released together with Cape.
– I think it’s great to be able to release new music now at an adult age. Now I am allowed to be a slightly more mature artist. I’m only living now!
Phung Hang is now back as the artist Jade Aya.
Photo: Cover image
– Fellow human
Researcher Solveig Hessaa-Szwinto is happy that Phung Hang uses music to promote his views on racism.
– Because racism destroys an entire life. It is incredibly important that we have an understanding that racism is a shared responsibility, she says.
She states that it is not only those who experience racism who must work anti-racistly.
– It is something we all have to solve together.
For Phung Hang, it is an important message that he now presents through new music.
– I want to take care of the people around me because I want to be a fellow human being, not because I’m from Brumunddal or because I’m Asian.
