I've seen a thread about East Asian under travel category, but I don't know if there's one for dating, so here you go.
A Fairly recent movie, Crazy Rich Asian, received wide media coverage. I am an East Asian myself but haven't seen the movie (probably because I am not Southeast Asian), but I think the wide media coverage of the movie is a good sign that as we, as a society, start to see this issue of Asian underrepresentation, so I figured there's a decent chance this thread can become active with good discussions by the members.
To establish a sence of the accuracy of dicussion, I want this thread to specifically focus on East Asian men in the dating market. I am sure we have other fellow Asians who can start their own threads. I want to start off with this short video clip of a sociology lecture at Penn State:
"Asian Dating Double Standards"
This lecturer academically supports the Roosh's opinion of how East Asian men are at the bottom of the totem pole of male attractiveness. In my opinion, East Asians being ranked at the bottom seem to be true at least in the US.
A lot of people commented on how useless and a waste of time and money the lecture is, and I think it's because the lecturer only spends a lot of time arguing about the importance of discussing the touchy subject but doesn't go into detail as to why. Racial bias in dating is a touchy subject that makes people feel uncomfortable, and the lecturer doesn't really provide a solution or any insight as to why that's happening. From that point of view, I understand why people may think it's useless.
Nevertheless, it does not take a lot of research to find some strong pointers. I believe the biggest reason East Asian men struggle the most is that they are the most underrepresented ethnic group in the US media. As lecturer said, East Asian men never get sexualized or portrayed as a leader in Hollywood films.
The most obvious example is that we are yet to see a single Marvel or DC movie with an Asian hero. An actor like Ken Jeong made into Hollywood. Although being a doctor and all, he gained huge respect from the public, his acting career also exacerbated the negative Asian stereotypes like Asian men are undatable, short, and nerdy. If you don't know who he is, just watch Hangover and you will get my point.
With the growing number of Asain Male White Female (AMWF) couples, one can counterargue that some East Asian men still manage to pull hot non-Asian girls. Just search AMWF, and you will see a lot of YouTube channels of AMWF couples blogging about their dating life. The number of those contents has been growing a lot, and I think it's largely due to the growing popularity of K-pop music and K-drama in Hispanic and European communities.
If you dig in just a little further about those AMWF couples, you can find out about few common things.
1) most of the white girls are exposed to K-pop/k-drama, although the degree of their interest/obsession varies by individual.
2) The majority of those couples met each other while the WF is doing study abroad/work holiday in Asia. (mostly Korea, which is because I am Korean as well)
3) Even the small subset of couples who met each other in non-Asian countries like the US, Europe, etc. the point (1) still holds true for the girls.
These findings basically support my argument that the representation of a race in media significantly influence the attractiveness/desirability of the race by the society and that holds true for the dating market as well. Those Asian men who scored very attractive non-Asian women who are into K-pop exist because the K-media shaped the perception of East Asian men as an attractive figure.
One thing I frequently observe is that those European girls who are fairly attractive by mainstream society's standard, are looked down upon and labeled as yellow fever with some freaky fetish on Asian men.
Just like anything else, I am sure women with yellow fever with some freaky fetish exist and always it's those extreme cases that create stereotypes. But the reality is that I personally have met and dated a handful of attractive non-Asian girls who are capable of having a normal conversation with.
Compared to Europe and Latin America, however, AMWF cases are less common in the US, I think it's mostly because Kpop/kdrama doesn't have as much influence. But it's a pleasant surprise to see Kpop songs making to the Spotify Top hits list occasionally. and they actually don't sound too bad for many American ears.
Going back to the video clip of sociology class, I see a lot of people disagreeing with
the professor's claim that it requires an East Asian dude to earn quarter a million dollars more to equally compete with a white dude, everything else being equal.
Although it was hinted that the number is based on girls' response rate to guys of East Asian vs white ethnicities on dating platforms with varying income status. My guess is that everything else being equal, an East Asian dude can expect the same response rate from girls if he's making a quarter of a million more than the equal white counterpart. Anyway, the lecturer could have elaborated more on how he got the number.
What I get out of that video is that everyone has to work their niche to maximize his result in the dating market, whether it be your outfit style, demeanor, or kpop. White guy's niche turns out to be the majority of the female population, because of their dominant presence in the US media. Of course white male also dominates many other sectors from sports to the job market, but I believe the dominance in the media has the greatest influence in women's perception.
Of course, you can always improve your game, your physique, your career, etc. to reach your max potential, but considering how important the first impression is, and knowing that your looks can take you a long way, is there anything we could do to raise the ceiling for Asians as a whole? How could East Asian dudes overcome this disadvantage in game, in social life? What will it take for us to see our first Asian superhero? What are your thoughts?
A Fairly recent movie, Crazy Rich Asian, received wide media coverage. I am an East Asian myself but haven't seen the movie (probably because I am not Southeast Asian), but I think the wide media coverage of the movie is a good sign that as we, as a society, start to see this issue of Asian underrepresentation, so I figured there's a decent chance this thread can become active with good discussions by the members.
To establish a sence of the accuracy of dicussion, I want this thread to specifically focus on East Asian men in the dating market. I am sure we have other fellow Asians who can start their own threads. I want to start off with this short video clip of a sociology lecture at Penn State:
"Asian Dating Double Standards"
This lecturer academically supports the Roosh's opinion of how East Asian men are at the bottom of the totem pole of male attractiveness. In my opinion, East Asians being ranked at the bottom seem to be true at least in the US.
A lot of people commented on how useless and a waste of time and money the lecture is, and I think it's because the lecturer only spends a lot of time arguing about the importance of discussing the touchy subject but doesn't go into detail as to why. Racial bias in dating is a touchy subject that makes people feel uncomfortable, and the lecturer doesn't really provide a solution or any insight as to why that's happening. From that point of view, I understand why people may think it's useless.
Nevertheless, it does not take a lot of research to find some strong pointers. I believe the biggest reason East Asian men struggle the most is that they are the most underrepresented ethnic group in the US media. As lecturer said, East Asian men never get sexualized or portrayed as a leader in Hollywood films.
The most obvious example is that we are yet to see a single Marvel or DC movie with an Asian hero. An actor like Ken Jeong made into Hollywood. Although being a doctor and all, he gained huge respect from the public, his acting career also exacerbated the negative Asian stereotypes like Asian men are undatable, short, and nerdy. If you don't know who he is, just watch Hangover and you will get my point.
With the growing number of Asain Male White Female (AMWF) couples, one can counterargue that some East Asian men still manage to pull hot non-Asian girls. Just search AMWF, and you will see a lot of YouTube channels of AMWF couples blogging about their dating life. The number of those contents has been growing a lot, and I think it's largely due to the growing popularity of K-pop music and K-drama in Hispanic and European communities.
If you dig in just a little further about those AMWF couples, you can find out about few common things.
1) most of the white girls are exposed to K-pop/k-drama, although the degree of their interest/obsession varies by individual.
2) The majority of those couples met each other while the WF is doing study abroad/work holiday in Asia. (mostly Korea, which is because I am Korean as well)
3) Even the small subset of couples who met each other in non-Asian countries like the US, Europe, etc. the point (1) still holds true for the girls.
These findings basically support my argument that the representation of a race in media significantly influence the attractiveness/desirability of the race by the society and that holds true for the dating market as well. Those Asian men who scored very attractive non-Asian women who are into K-pop exist because the K-media shaped the perception of East Asian men as an attractive figure.
One thing I frequently observe is that those European girls who are fairly attractive by mainstream society's standard, are looked down upon and labeled as yellow fever with some freaky fetish on Asian men.
Just like anything else, I am sure women with yellow fever with some freaky fetish exist and always it's those extreme cases that create stereotypes. But the reality is that I personally have met and dated a handful of attractive non-Asian girls who are capable of having a normal conversation with.
Compared to Europe and Latin America, however, AMWF cases are less common in the US, I think it's mostly because Kpop/kdrama doesn't have as much influence. But it's a pleasant surprise to see Kpop songs making to the Spotify Top hits list occasionally. and they actually don't sound too bad for many American ears.
Going back to the video clip of sociology class, I see a lot of people disagreeing with
the professor's claim that it requires an East Asian dude to earn quarter a million dollars more to equally compete with a white dude, everything else being equal.
Although it was hinted that the number is based on girls' response rate to guys of East Asian vs white ethnicities on dating platforms with varying income status. My guess is that everything else being equal, an East Asian dude can expect the same response rate from girls if he's making a quarter of a million more than the equal white counterpart. Anyway, the lecturer could have elaborated more on how he got the number.
What I get out of that video is that everyone has to work their niche to maximize his result in the dating market, whether it be your outfit style, demeanor, or kpop. White guy's niche turns out to be the majority of the female population, because of their dominant presence in the US media. Of course white male also dominates many other sectors from sports to the job market, but I believe the dominance in the media has the greatest influence in women's perception.
Of course, you can always improve your game, your physique, your career, etc. to reach your max potential, but considering how important the first impression is, and knowing that your looks can take you a long way, is there anything we could do to raise the ceiling for Asians as a whole? How could East Asian dudes overcome this disadvantage in game, in social life? What will it take for us to see our first Asian superhero? What are your thoughts?