Yellow Fever Debunked

[Mulboyne]

"The Asian Mystique" by Sheridan Prasso
AsiaSource Interview:

Sheridan Prasso's book The Asian Mystique lays out a provocative challenge to see Asia and its diverse people honestly, with unclouded, de-eroticized eyes. It traces the origins of Western stereotypes in history and in Hollywood, examines the phenomenon of "yellow fever," then goes on a reality tour of Asia's go-go bars, middle-class homes, college campuses, business districts, and corridors of power, providing intimate profiles of women's lives and vivid portraits of the human side of an Asia we usually mythologize beyond recognition...more...

Freep.com: Slap at stereotypes is flawed

Prasso can get in the way of the story, such as when she mentions that Iwasaki "comments on my fine manners as a foreigner" for her proper use of chopsticks -- as if Prasso is eager to prove she's not as culturally insensitive as the rest of us crass Westerners.

[Greji]

She is a bit in to herself, isn't she!

[Socratesabroad]

[jingai]

[Socratesabroad]

Actually the book seems like a very useful advice manual for potential FGs.
[snip]
Well if there is more info like that in there I bet it's going to become a bible for fat white FGs.

Hasn't become my bible just yet.

Seriously, though, while the book probably has zero academic value, if it gets people who only have an exoticized notion of "Asia" to examine any of their stereotypes it's a good thing.

The bit about the Phillipines was interesting - I wasn't aware of the strides women had made there politically. But I do have doubts about the rigorousness of Prasso's scholarship.
According to a review in the Asian Review of Books

The Internet and World Wide Web is also shown to be used in perpetuating stereotypes. For example, Prasso excerpts some graphic chat rooms and threaded discussions of men, primarily white it is assumed, extolling the virtues of Asian prostitutes, particularly in the red-light districts of Thailand and the Philippines.

Ahhh, so now adult chat rooms and message boards are reputable sources of information? And no one would lie in an adult chat room, right?

Worth mentioning when talking about us "fat white FGs" and our predilictions is that Prasso may be far less objective than she thinks:

An LA Times review of the book wrote

Having lived in Cambodia, Hong Kong and Japan as a single white female, she acknowledges being part of a group sometimes "guilty of racist sour-grapeism," of feeling overlooked and betrayed by Western men who are chasing Asian women.

[Taro Toporific]

Racial fetishes: to embrace or to extinguish

Cavalier Daily Science, Aug 25, 2005

...According to The Asian Mystique, by Sheridan Prasso, in Okinawa, Japan, teenage girls come from miles around for the chance to sneak a peak at -- and have sex with -- the black-American marines at Camp Butler. They are known as koku-ju, "black-(loving) girls," a subset of the ame-ju, "American-(loving) girls." They get surgical implants in their breasts and buttocks. They go to tanning salons, watch MTV to learn dance moves, adorn themselves with an abundance of bling-bling and for a final touch, cornrow their hair Snoop Dog-style. Racial fetish encompasses their entire being.
Images from the American entertainment industry consistently show black men gallivanting with buxom black women. The girls in Okinawa understand this racial preference and capitalize on it to satisfy their own lustful intentions. Why are they attracted to black Americans? Could their skin color make them appear more exotic than Japanese men? Perhaps their stature makes them appear more manly? Maybe the Japanese girls are aroused by the prospect of encountering men with the largest average penis size (according to published research at UC Santa Barbara). Or they might want the bling-bling lifestyle that is increasingly associated with the black American cultural stereotype, thus avoiding the perceived trailer-park lifestyle of white America....
...In Sheridan's book, the girls in Okinawa have a positive novelty response in relation to the black men, whereas Americans in Lieberman's study did not. The negative response in the study is the result of societal repression of such novelty responses. Their cultural perception of the black men is one of manliness and is much different from the emasculated perception they have of Japanese men. America's melting pot has morphed into a melting crater. By being exposed to so many cultures, racial differences and stereotypes are magnified. Even as the eroticism of exoticism becomes increasingly more mainstream, novelty will continue to elicit special responses in the human brain. Experiences with other cultures will trigger a greater number of amygdala responses and perhaps even more fetishes...more....

[Greji]

[b]Racial fetishes: to embrace or to extinguish

I sometimes think that a lot of research expended in a topic like this may well be misdirected, by researchers who believe there has to be, or must be an underlying social reason clearly identifiable for westerners for this so-called phenomenum.

I have heard on from several J-females that this is not particularly a matter of racial choice between black and white, rather between men who are non-Japanese and it does not particular matter to those who would go with a FG whether he is green or not.

I don't happen to be a J-girl, so I have no idea what they are thinking (nor, for that matter, do a hell of a lot of other people).

Just my 3 sen worth!

[Charles]

An LA Times review of the book wrote

Having lived in Cambodia, Hong Kong and Japan as a single white female, she acknowledges being part of a group sometimes "guilty of racist sour-grapeism," of feeling overlooked and betrayed by Western men who are chasing Asian women.

Because of course every SWF knows the best place to pick up single white men is in Asia.

[Mulboyne]

TimeAsia Magazine feature on Women in Japan:

The Wasted Asset

Japan's Me Generation

[Tsuru]

Having lived in Cambodia, Hong Kong and Japan as a single white female, she acknowledges being part of a group sometimes "guilty of racist sour-grapeism," of feeling overlooked and betrayed by Western men who are chasing Asian women.

That's settled, then.

Why do I keep getting the feeling that most people think when a Western guy and an Asian girl have something there is something not completely 100% Columbian with either of them. The same seems to be true for every other intercultural or interracial relationship I know of.

Luckily it's also one of those those things that at the same time sends the sweet vibes of other people's jealousy up my spine... a feeling I love very much by the way. (Ooooh, how very imperialist-western-male-like of me)

I've gotten so sick of other people's rumours and shit my motto has become: everyone who's NOT directly involved in our relationship (which is the entire world population except us and maybe our parents and closest friends) should shut the fuck up. Especially American SWF journalists.

[Neo-Rio]

The Wasted Asset

"Pitiable women who direct their dissatisfaction at being ignored by men toward society ... are truly laughable," Nakamura said. He then added: "It's also strange how these women, compared to their peers, are uglier. "

Wow.
Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, pot.

[kurohinge1]

...

... Even as the eroticism of exoticism becomes increasingly more mainstream, novelty will continue to elicit special responses in the human brain. Experiences with other cultures will trigger a greater number of amygdala responses and perhaps even more fetishes ...

I think someone mentioned this, just the other night, at our X-Box-Booth-Babe-Appreciation Society's monthly meeting.

[Greji]

I think someone mentioned this, just the other night, at our X-Box-Booth-Babe-Appreciation Society's monthly meeting.

Wow! Smorgasbord!

[matsuki]

Sorry to zombie this thread but this image is pure gold!!

[Greji]

Sorry to zombie this thread but this image is pure gold!!

I think I know most of them....

[Typhoon]

The conclusion seems to be that life is best as a feminine princess.

If you're a J-woman.

[cstaylor]

The conclusion seems to be that life is best as a feminine princess.

If you're a J-woman.

I think the other three are incapable of being a princess (neither a rich father nor a beautiful face), otherwise it does seem like the easiest track.

[sublight]

Having lived in Cambodia, Hong Kong and Japan as a single white female, she acknowledges being part of a group sometimes "guilty of racist sour-grapeism," of feeling overlooked and betrayed by Western men who are chasing Asian women.

This reflects badly on her in terms of racial bias.

Being the exotic outlier will always work in your favor for finding sex/marriage partners, just by simple statistics. Even if 99% of Japanese women have no interest in western guys, that 1% still outnumbers the guys that are here, meaning you'll never go lonely. However, this only holds if you're also a xenophile, as the overwhelming majority of the single guys who've come to Asia are. To be unwillingly single as a westerner in Asia speaks volumes about one's own racial preferences, even without cementing it by saying you're "feeling overlooked and betrayed by Western men."

[legion]

blonds have less fun it seems



is that a power cleavage?

[matsuki]

I think the other three are incapable of being a princess (neither a rich father nor a beautiful face), otherwise it does seem like the easiest track.

Although I know a few that lack those attributes, they nonetheless live the princess life (or try to) though none are married yet (ridiculously high standards) and they are starting to realize that they may have to switch gears to desperate housewife or lead a very lonely life. It's funny to watch them try to act like princesses without the face for it...girls dislike them, guys run away.

is that a power cleavage?

Wow...if a picture says a thousand words, I must say I didn't know there were that many synonyms for the word bitch.

[FG Lurker]

Wow...if a picture says a thousand words, I must say I didn't know there were that many synonyms for the word bitch.

Yeah, I was thinking, "Can't imagine why guys would pass that up for something local! "

[sublight]

Wow...if a picture says a thousand words, I must say I didn't know there were that many synonyms for the word bitch.

She kind of looks like a pointier-headed version of Ann Coulter.

[Prasso] mentions that Iwasaki "comments on my fine manners as a foreigner" for her proper use of chopsticks

Damn, that's such a huge "bumbling water buffalo without a clue" flag she's raising, I'd almost suspect the whole book is actually a clever satire on the 'I'm an expert on Japan because I took the two-week package tour!" genre.