Michael Lohman

Michael Lohman is a 28 year old doctoral student at Princeton University. He set off a whirlwind of social commentary and revelations when he was arrested for stalking and harassing Asian women. He confessed to secretly spraying his own semen and urine on these women or in their drinks, while cutting off locks of their hair in which he would masturbate privately too. At least 50 different offenses and occasions have been confessed too at the east coast Ivy League university. His psychotic behavior went rampant from 2002 to 2005, yet the police have not commented on previous offenses earlier than 2002, nor have they assured the public, mainly the Asian American community, that offenses like these will never be committed again. He has specifically targeted Asian women, and only Asian women, none of his other cases had he tried to victimize women of other descent. He has resided in Louisiana, and will frequent many other states within the future.

Much of the social commentary in the news and blogging universe focused on the disgusting nature of the act itself. Very few public commentaries focused on the question of why such an event occurred, and what sort of awareness is needed to prevent such criminal acts from happening in the future. The nature of hate crimes based purely on skin color warrants an investigation into the psyche and mindset of such an individual(s) through a deeper depth analysis.

For many in the Asian American community, Michael Lohman was a wakeup call to the passive attitude of "such negative stereotypes do not affect me privately". The demented pervert set off a whirlwind of Asianphile awareness in the mainstream through his raw interpretation of what is socially acceptable as an extension of his inner desires. He was what many label as the classic Asiaphile, with many speculating that he was not charged with a hate crime because of his white skin privilege. His wife, a Chinese American female, who has been shamed internationally from the actions of her dominating and perverted husband, can only blame herself for accepting what has happened. While many outside of the Asian American community doubted the existence of Asiaphilia before Michael Lohman, very few will argue for its non-existence now. Michael Lohman terrorized Asian women, who knows truly how many Asiaphiles there are, and what they do daily to how many Asian women.

Many explanations for Lohman’s behavior notices that it is likely the pure product of the Hollywood media perspective of Asians. Michael Lohman exposed two deep problems with American culture, one was the exposure of the negative effects of Hollywood Asiaphilia, and another was the persistence of white male power structures that leaves many ethnic minority victims of violent and twisted hate crimes.

For some who were sick of such incidents being swept under the rug, Michael Lohman typified the beginning of the power shift away from the east coast white male dominated institutions in the hearts of the world, thereby thrusting new paradigms into consciousness, such as the 60's Civil Rights Awareness, West coast multiculturalism, etc...New perspectives, many times distributed through the digital media, started to erode the consciousness that allowed Michael Lohman to exist. The capture and confession of this uncontrolled manic started a new wave of awareness of the need of another alternative to life, especially for the sake of minority women around the world.