Laotian Daughters 2: Electric Boogaloo

In this addition to Laotian Daughters, Bindi Shah explores the struggles of young Laotian girls in Asian American communities. These struggles basically consist of identity issues, marital/dating selection pressure, and other parent/child struggles. More specifically, struggles include Laotian girls having trouble integrating with their non-ethnic peers, partially due to their parents criticisms of them fraternizing and dating outside of their race. Furthermore, while many of their peers are beginning to experiment sexually or explore their sexuality in their dress and presentation, Laotian young women are shamed for diverging from modesty. Should one of these young women become pregnant their school life suffers, due to the families expectations for their caring for the new child. All of these cultural standards appear to make life worse or at least less comfortable for these young women. However, I think these standards have their place. For the most part they encourage a strong moral background. It gives the young women a place to start when deciding who they want to be. Due to the strictness of the expectations, another possible benefit is that these girls will inevitably disagree with their parents enough to rebel. This young rebellion is the first instance of personal character development for teens, as it gives them agency. Parents can tell you exactly what you want to hear, but if a parent is far off enough to drive you to find what you want on your own, you will develop a stronger sense of confidence and agency. There is risk in this that a child may grow up afraid and sheltered, but I think that is unlikely, given the pervasiveness of individuality in American culture.