Interracial Relationship Between Asian Women and White Men
Among interracial relationships, it seems that the pair between (East) Asian women and White men are the most common. But is it true? Let's look at the data. Suppose it's true, then why?
It does seem there are a lot of Asian women pairing with white men. But it looks like few Asian men are pairing with white women. But is it true?
But first look at the perception in the society.
And there’s this video with the title “Why Are White Guys Taking All the Asian Girls?”
But is this stereotype true?
It’s True
It’s time to look at the data.
Src: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/05/18/1-trends-and-patterns-in-intermarriage/
For 11 Asian wives and White husbands pairs, there are 4 Asian husbands and White wives pairs. Almost 3 times.
Here’s another data:
Src: https://www.asian-nation.org/interracial.shtml
As you can see, the number of Chinese women marrying White men (14.5, 31.9, 37.7) is much more than Chinese men getting married to White women (5.2, 19.2, 26.5).
Another data:
But this is in the US. What about other countries?
In Japan…
A large number of the foreign women wedding Japanese nationals were from neighboring Asian countries.
Koreans were the most popular marriage partners for Japanese women, with 1,689 unions, or 27.9% of all male spouses. American men were second, at 1,158, followed by 718 Chinese spouses.
The data also shows that Japanese women have a stronger tendency than their male counterparts to marry partners from the United States or European countries.
In South Korea…
In Korea, most Korean men in an interracial marriage chose to marry Asian women, particularly those from Southeast Asia, who are generally smaller than Korean women; in contrast, most Korean women in an interracial marriage chose to marry Western men, who are generally taller than Korean men.
The Most Attractive Races in Dating and Marriage
So what gives? Why is this the case?
On average, in the US at least, White men and Asian women are the most attractive on dating apps.
All women except black women are most drawn to white men, and men of all races (with one notable exception) prefer Asian women.
Src: http://home.uchicago.edu/~hortacsu/onlinedating.pdf
Asian men need $247,000 annual additional income to be as attractive as White men to White women. But the reverse is not true. White men are more attractive than Asian men to Asian women with the same income.
But another research suggested that Asian men are more attractive than White men to Asian women. However, the difference is only 6%. And Asian men are still not attractive to White women (-12%) by default.
Src: https://www.ninjaonlinedating.com/blog/what-are-the-racial-preferences-of-women-on-dating-sites/
Some people have experimented on Tinder. Asian men fare worse than White men.
To test this, the folks at ZMDEA devised an informal study to determine the reality of the Asian man’s dating woes via a social experiment. The group posted nearly-identical profiles of an Asian man and a White man on Tinder to find out which one would receive the most matches.
…
Both profiles with White males scored significantly higher than their Asian counterparts despite the only differences being their respective races.
https://data.nextshark.com/tinder-racist-experiment-reveals-challenges-dating-asian-man/
There is some hypothesis. It could be because of height. The average height of Japanese men is 170-171 cm but the average height of the Netherlands men is 181-182 cm. On average, Asian men are shorter than White men. And women have a strong preference to choose tall men. So race could be a proxy for height in dating.
Movies
But another hypothesis is more on the cultural side. Asian men were portrayed unfavorably in Hollywood.
There is a familiar trope between White men and Asian women on TV.
But when it comes to depicting couples, the portrayal goes mostly in one direction: White guy and Asian American woman.
…
At the same time, Imada says, “Asian males are just not viewed as being lovers, as being manly enough, or sexy enough, to carry a story or a commercial. The idea is that they’re not strong enough to woo a white woman. So they don’t get the roles” and are rarely paired with women of any race.
The Asian American and Pacific Islander (API) characters rarely get good characters in Hollywood.
The study found that API roles are rarely leading characters and are often “silenced, stereotyped, tokenized, isolated, and sidekicks/villains.” For example, 67% of the characters “reflect tired tropes,” such as the mocking depiction of Bruce Lee in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
That being said, things have changed.
Asian American masculinity is being increasingly celebrated.
There are more Asian men and White women couples in Hollywood now.
In an interview with Yeun in early 2021, Jay Caspian Kang called Glenn and Maggie a revelation, noting, “An Asian man dating a white woman on the most popular show on TV was seen as not only a marker of progress but also a permission slip for white women to maybe start dating more of us.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/29/hollywood-mixed-race-relationships/
Progress comes slowly, they say.