Comedian and actor Margaret Cho hopes the forthcoming web series she's producing, Mercy Mistress, dispels longtime assumptions about Asian women's sexuality.
Cho, actor Poppy Liu, and Yin Q, the BDSM master whose memoir serves as the inspiration for the show, stopped by BuzzFeed News' morning show AM to DM on Monday to chat about the series with reporter Hayes Brown.
When questioned about which Asian stereotypes she'd like the show to chip away at, Cho immediately responded, "Dragon Lady."
"But it’s the one way we as Asian women have been able to have agency and control of the narrative," said Cho, "that we have to assume these tropes like Dragon Lady, like the Lotus Blossom, like the Delicate Flower."
Cho said that the great thing about Mercy Mistress is having Asian women play with the stereotypes in a way that's "eroticized and having fun for us."
"I think that's the most powerful piece of this."
They also discussed how the web series highlights the importance of consent when it comes to sex.
The show was lifted from the pages of NYC-based dominatrix Q's memoir, who said she found she was never into "the very soft, romantic way of seduction" when she had her sexual awakening, which led her to BDSM (bondage, discipline, and sadomasochism).
"I really loved bruises; I wanted to hold someone by the throat," Q said. "I really loved to wrestle someone down and be the one on the bottom too being pinned down."
Q added that what she needed in her life was to "find the rules" that would allow her to explore this desire, "because if you’re just going and slapping someone in the middle of sex, first of all it’s not consensual, and then it’s not sexy, and it’s dangerous for both parties involved."
She said BDSM is based on consent, trust, and negotiations "that happen before the actual activity occurs" so that the experience is great for all parties involved.
From a producing standpoint, Cho, who is bisexual, said she was looking for a project that expanded her worldview.
"What’s so great, it is the actual antithesis of rape culture," Cho said. "This is all about consent where the submissive is the driving force behind everything."
In the series, Liu is playing the role of Q.
Liu believes one of the admirable things about the project is that she's playing a character "who really owns her own sexuality," who doesn't choose the route of reclaiming her power by getting rid of her sexuality, a natural response as Asian women have been "fetishized, exotified, eroticized" for so long.
"I set the rules for this space and you may be watching my body and you may be consuming it, but it’s on my terms and that’s amazing and that’s so powerful," she said.
Mercy Mistress premieres Jan. 7 YouTube.
And you can watch the complete interview below: