Psychologically, the painter Lomax needs the prostitute Wong as the muse who inspires the self-discipline necessary for commercial success. Suzie Wong is an illiterate orphan who was sexually abused as a girl; thus her toleration of abuse by most of her Chinese clients. Unlike the Chinese and British men for whom Suzy Wong is a sexual object, Lomax is portrayed as enlightened, which implies the moral superiority of American culture, and thus that U.S. hegemony (geopolitical and cultural) shall be better than British hegemony. When a British sailor attempts to rape the prostitute Suzy Wong, the chivalrous American Lomax rescues her and beats up the sailor, whilst Chinese men are indifferent to the rape of a prostitute. As a Lotus Blossom stereotype, the prostitute Suzie Wong is a single mother. In contrast to the British and Chinese mistreatment (emotional and physical) of Wong, the white saviour Lomax idealises her as a child–woman, and saves her with the Lotus Blossom social identity, a sexually passive woman who is psychologically submissive to paternalism. Yet Lomax's love is conditional; throughout the story, Wong wears a Cheongsam dress, but when she wears Western clothes, Lomax orders her to only wear Chinese clothes, because Suzie Wong is acceptable only as a Lotus Blossom stereotype.