the trend train

it is a well documented and growing phenonmenon: caucasian men from europe/north america marrying asian women.

while many men enter into their mixed race marriages for love and compatibility, others for other reasons. "she is so hot. until i came to asia no girl looked at me, and suddenly the most beautiful thin girls in the world were attracted to me."

in hong kong, it is a difficult life for a single caucasian female. the competition for single caucasian men is fierce. just read the personal ads: at least 40 per cent of them state they are looking for a western man. very few of the ads request a caucasian female.

many men describe asian women as ideal: their petite frames make them feel ultra masculine being an added bonus. their beauty overwhelming.

however

in luxury print ads, caucasian women are typically the models used to display/enhance the product. buy this and you can date me is the not so sublimal message. yet more and more men prefer asian women.

why aren't asian women figuring in these ads? goodness knows there are many stunning asian models out there. many men state they prefer asian women, so why are caucasian women still upheld as the "ultimate" partner?

marketing companies spend enough on test audiences to follow trends. mixed race marriages are not limited to asia. obviously they feel that the miss universes out there will sell more than an asian model would.

there is a piece missing to all of this. i'm looking for it. maybe being in asia prevents me from seeing the puzzle. there are a few options, none of them palatable.

why is it that the popular and prized first choice isn't prized internationally?

Comments

[joeinvegas]

Sorry, I go for the American girls, or maybe the Canadian ones too.

[Kara]

Interesting Tess, depends which country or producer has more money to spend on their marketing budget, I think US/hollywood types spend more money on marketing and then perhaps places like India/bollywood....the grass is always greener, even if you are the nice thin blade type, you may not be quite green enough...what do I know, I have my head in the sand over here.;)

[Cristy]

Everyone in other countries wants to be like Americans *I use the term everyone loosely* and most Americans I know LOVE things that are exotic. It's in our nature I suppose. Americans can buy things that looks like us and Asians *some not all* want to be us too. Of course it's 2 am and I'm talking crap so you can't listen to me lol.

[Katie]

I have a good friend who used to live in HK and a friend of hers - English, small but otherwise blonde and curvy and non-Asian - met and married a fellow Westerner out there and became the ledgendary English Girl Who Met Her Husband In Hong Kong. I'm not kidding - everyone had heard of her. Perhaps you have too?!?

[Maggs]

Huh. Can't say I thought of it before.

[ellen]

I recently read a fascinating sociology report on this, and the basic conclusion was- 1) Asian women are the most feminine (slight) in appearance 2) Black women have the most masculine features (i.e. muscles) 3) White men are going for the most feminine 4) Black men are avoiding the most masculine. The ones that statistically are the most mateless in the US are...asian men (least masculine) and black women.

[Lori in YK]

Well...this is definately a sensitive issue. Who (ethnically) makes a better marketing tool, wife, husband, etc? I have only one question...what about Americanized or Canadianized Asian men or women..do they rate as Western?

Not sure of the norm but I do have one or two friends in the category of mixed marriage and they definately have stated insecurities about fitting in or being pigeon holed within their own society. There is a learning curve for the new spouse which seems to allow a kind of freedom from judgement...a grace period of sorts.

As for the Model question....not sure if the statement is really that caucasion women are "better partners" but possibly that they are they are just harder to attain (New Age Independent Caucasion Women) as the company would like to have their procuct appear to be(if it is hard to attain then it must be rare and worth the money...like a diamond or gold). Asian women are usually depicted as being very family oriented and certainly not as independent...possibly not appearing to be as hard to attain (not the companies idea of A-1 marketing maybe).

My rational may not be perfect but then again the issue at hand is not an easy one to make sense of either..good luck to all who try!!!