On being a Doctor of “Oriental” Medicine

<Here's the rough draft of the essay I've been meaning to write, which began as a rant. Really, please, do not share this one. I'm trying to get it published ...in a Journal of 'Oriental' Medicine, hah.>

Last month I went to a birthday party. The birthday girl, age 7, assigned male at birth, began exploring her gender identity around age 3. She'd always enjoyed wearing frilly hand-me-downs, skirts and "shiny shoes", but as she acquired language for the concepts of gender, she asked questions about who was "a he" and who was "a she", and then asked for her given name to be feminized. For awhile in preschool she had two name tags, one with the name on her birth certificate and one with her feminized name, and she chose every morning which one to put on her desk based on how she felt that day. Eventually, she decided she wanted to be a girl full-time.

The words that we use to describe ourselves are important. Here and now, we are finally beginning to honor the right to choose these words. The child in my story, with her mother's support, legally changed her name and gender identity and entered kindergarten as if she'd be born female. I am acutely grateful to live in a place and time where this could be the outcome of early childhood gender exploration. However, in my professional life, I find unmanageable labels applied to my highest achievements.

This is not a new experience for me, the moment of victory spoiled by an inaccurate label that unconsciously damages identity. As a child, I was called 'gifted and talented' for my fluency in Chinese, which discounted countless hours of applied effort and practice, 'antisocial', which misinterpreted my limited English skills for social inhibition, 'strong', which stifled vulnerability, and 'tom-boy', which denied both my attraction to girls and the full range of my gender expression. Most recently, I am chafing over being the first in my family to graduate with a doctorate...in Acupuncture and 'Oriental' Medicine.

Why, in 2018, are we still using 'Oriental' to describe 'not only Chinese' medicine?

'Orientalism' is a term that was coined by Edward Said back in 1979 to describe the hegemonic concept that "enables the political, economic, cultural and social domination of the West, not just during colonial times, but also in the present."1 According to Wikipedia, "Orientalism is a term that is used by art historians, literary and cultural studies scholars for the imitation or depiction of aspects....usually done by writers, designers and artists from the West."2 President Obama banned the use of 'Negro' and 'Oriental' from federal statutes on May 20, 2016. And yet the word persists.

As a Chinese American woman trying her best not to participate in the appropriation of her own cultural heritage, I struggle with the continued use of 'Oriental' in my chosen field. No, it's not a derogatory epithet like 'Chink' (or 'gay' or 'perverted', all phrases I have personally experienced), but I disagree with Jayne Tsuchiyama, DAOM's opinion that it would be a "waste [of] time, energy and millions of dollars to rebrand our entire discipline — rename our schools and boards, redesign corporate identities, websites and publications and send out thousands of revised diplomas — all to wipe away an insult that doesn't exist."3 The insult exists. There is a difference between overt and covert oppression. This is covert; the term is so entrenched it is not noticeably offensive to the oppressed minority. The fact that it would be challenging to root it out is not an excuse. The fact that those who are most directly affected are too busy fighting other battles does not mean this cause is not worthy. In fact, that's one of the ways hegemony works. If you keep the minority group distracted with things like poverty, they will never have the energy to demand equal rights.

It is a privilege to have the power to choose our own labels. The practitioners of mainstream medicine reject all adjectives (e.g., 'allopathic' or 'Western') except those of their own choosing (e.g., 'evidence-based'). It is true that 'allopathy' was coined by the founder of homeopathy Samuel Hahnemann, and does not accurately represent preventative or rehabilitative medicine. 'Western medicine' is a transliteration of the Chinese 西醫 xīyī. However, I would like to point out here that the opposite of Oriental is not Western, but Occidental. The equivalent insult would be for an MD (Doctor of Medicine) to be labeled a Doctor of Occidental Medicine. This is a great example of a moment where those benefitting from a hegemonic inequality mistake being asked to share power and privilege with being oppressed. When the Other takes on the trappings of mainstream society, it is not cultural appropriation in reverse; it is assimilation. The lamentable xenocentrism of Chinese culture (which calls itself 中國 zhōngguó, "central kingdom" and its indigenous medicine 中醫 zhōngyī, "central medicine") does not have the power to change the dominant narrative. We cannot even redefine our own.

The WHO thinks Oriental Medicine is an acceptable “general term for traditional medicine practiced in East Asian countries.”4 Tsuchiyama argues that "geographic origin is not a slur."3 As a label, it is not even geographically accurate. 'Oriental' is an outdated term that refers to the Middle Eastern, East Asian, South Asian, and in some cases even north African cultures. This field of medicine does not include indigenous medicines from cultures beyond East Asia.

Sometimes, a derogatory word can be reclaimed by the group of people it describes. 'Queer' is a good example of that. But 'Oriental' has not been reclaimed so much as tolerated. Nor is it a term coined by strategic essentialism, when disparate groups voluntarily band together under an umbrella label like 'Asian' in order to gain more of a voice. 'Oriental', like 'allopathic', was coined by someone on the outside looking in. It carries with it the essentialism and fetishization toward the Otherness of the Orient.

The acupuncture school where I work is trying to mitigate this problem with the label 'integrative medicine'. This is also problematic, since 'integrative' is the contemporary expression of 'complementary' medicine, which has its roots in the 'alternative medicine' of the 60's counterculture movement. <insert history of all these labels>

I would be delighted to be introduced as a Doctor of Eastern Medicine (ED), someday.


1 Said, Edward. "Orientalism," New York: Vintage Books, 1979: 357.
2 WHO International Standard Terminologies on Traditional Medicine in the Western Pacific Region. http://www.wpro.who.int/publications/who_istrm_file.pdf. Accessed February 15, 2018.
3 The term 'Oriental' is outdated, but is it racist? Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-tsuchiyama-oriental-insult-20160601-snap-story.html. Published June 1, 2016. Accessed February 15, 2018.