There has been much controversy about the opera, especially its treatment of sex and race. It is the most-performed opera in the United States, where its rank as Number 1 in "Opera America"'s list of the 20 most-performed operas in North America. This popularity only helps to perpetuate the notion of the dominant white male over the subjugated East Asian female who can be cast aside and treated as easily dispensable according to Sheridan Prasso in her book, "The Asian Mystique: Dragon Ladies, Geisha Girls, & Our Fantasies of the Exotic Orient" published in 2005.