From Inquirer:

As a Chinese American woman born to immigrants from Hong Kong, I knew I was an outsider in the small, Upstate New York town where I grew up, but the differences seemed benign. The teasing I endured from classmates didn’t seem racially motivated, just cruel. As an adult, I dropped the foreign parts of my name and lost my native Cantonese language skills, feeling more American with every step. I rarely worried about being Asian. The times I was heckled with racist insults were few and far between. I lived a life free from threats of racist violence.

My gender, small stature, and periods of single life seemed more likely to attract harassment and crime. They were why I learned how to shoot guns, to fight using Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and otherwise defend myself against all of the normal sorts of threats that women worry about. In time, they were why I founded On Her Own, a social media project where I share what I’ve learned about how women can survive and thrive in today’s world.