Interracial dating debate targets Asian American men

Finally, someone addressed the issue of interracial dating (“Sexism seems implicit in questions of racial dating,” April 20). This should be a good read . . . or so I thought. But rather than being a proud assertion of feminist ideals, it became rather apparent that the letter was a not-too-subtle attack directed towards Asian American men, especially when it had lines like: “Just because I am of Chinese descent, no Chinese man is entitled to date me by virtue of our similar cultural and racial heritage.”

The unfortunate truth is that whenever some article comes out about interracial dating, especially at this university, it inevitably starts to focus on the whole issue of statistical dating disparities between Asian American men and women. The views of Blacks, Hispanics and women in general are all but ignored. Let’s not even start to talk about Native Americans or multi-racial individuals. Why? Because talking about the frustration of Asian American men is a controversial subject that a lot of people know about that opens up all kinds of related issues like racial stereotyping that people like to talk about and get generally pissed off about. Basically it attracts readers for the shock value.

What this ends up doing is furthering existing media portrayals of Asian American men as chauvinist and racist. This is especially apparent when one looks over what quotes have been included, and finds that most are from unidentified, angry Asian men complaining about white men dating Asian women.

I think it’s reasonable to believe that every frustrated guy, no matter his ethnic background, occasionally starts to rant on that particular train of thought. But since only the frustrated ravings of some Asian American males are presented in printed form, guess which group ends up being portrayed as sexist.

Which leads me back to the letter to the editor written by May Chiang. By the end of the letter, it’s pretty clear, at least to many I’ve asked, just who she is talking to: an Asian American man. But Ms. Chiang is not a racist, nor does she possess any more self-hatred than anyone else who lives under the constant racism and sexism in our society. However, she is just as susceptible to the warped thinking promoted by a media culture that pursues ratings and shock value over truth and social awareness.

Despite what I’ve just said, in case you start to think that I’m some kind of chauvinist who’d be better off working for the Review, I actually do agree with Ms. Chiang. Men who view women who date outside their ethnicity as some kind of “lost property” are simply trying to dodge the simple truth that they themselves have no social skills. It’s always easier to inherit something than it is to work for it, and sexual frustration is one of those things that hurts the laziest most.

Bryan Choi

Senior, Psychology