A recent study on interracial marriage rates in the US has been making the rounds in the Asian-American blogoverse, the main point of interest being a slight decline in the high outmarriage rates of Asian-American women with white men. Here's the NY Times report. As you can read from the NY Times article, some Asian-American women have experienced a kind of disillusionment with dating white guys because they have come to the realization that much of the attraction to them seems to actually be based on objectification. The bigWOWO blog also has an interesting post about this, as well as a stimulating discussion in the comments section.
Feminist blogger, Shiuan Butler, has also posted on the article, and has included some more in-depth charts showing the specifics of IR marriage trends. And some very interesting things show up particularly on this chart. .......
What is interesting here are the numbers for white woman/Asian man pairings. As you can see, of all pairings of white women, those who marry Asian men report a higher average earning capacity, as well as a slightly higher percentage who have had an income within the previous 12 months.
Why is this interesting? One of the stereotypes that are happily and casually put forward about Asian men is that they are irredeemable sexist pigs whose suffocatingly backward attitudes to women's equality makes them unsuitable partners for the modern emancipated woman. Yet these figures would seem to tell a different story.
According to the data, white women who marry Asian men have a high earning capacity, over 90% of them continue to earn during the marriage (at least within the previous 12 months), and almost 60% are college educated. What this might imply is that Asian men who marry white women seek out partners who accomplished in their careers, are educated, and who continue to pursue their earning potential.
To me, this suggests that contrary to the claim that Asian men suffocate the aspirations of their wives, many Asian men are, in fact, more likely to seek partners who are the opposite to the meek, submissive, woman that we are informed are the type that Asian men prefer. Even compared to other ethnic groups (including white men) white women who marry Asian men show possibly a greater degree of accomplishment which in turn suggests Asian men are more comfortable with empowered women than every other group. What kind of sexist pig would be partnered with an accomplished and educated woman? Maybe one who isn't actually as sexist as some would like to believe.
This brings up some interesting questions on an aspect of the interracial dating debate that is never really explored; what are some of the reasons for Asian-American men to marry outside of their race. We hear ad-nauseum about the billions of reasons why Asian women choose to marry outside of the race, but never why Asian men might do the same.
Very insightful analysis indeed.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, Asian-American men have to face this uphill battle of inaccurate, antiquated stereotypes. One of those is that Asian-American men are chauvinistic and sexist toward women. It's simply not true. I think part of the stereotype originated from some Asian-American women out there, like the Amy Tan's of the world, who grew up with old-fashioned Asian parents and dated old-fashioned Asian males who carried that mindset.
Of course, I think those stories are extreme cases and a rarity. The data doesn't necessarily conclude that either-or but it does allow us to discount that false perception.
Masir
DeleteThat's exactly right. One of the issues is that the Amy Tan-esque worldview seems to have been adopted by a gullible mainstream as the foundation for understanding the Asian minority.