Cross-cultural interracial relationships – Jewish boys and Asian girls

Quite by accident, I made my way to a forum topic discussing something I wasn’t really aware of before on the net. Turns out that some people claim there are quite a few American Jewish guys that choose Asian girls as their partner for life. Here’s an interesting look at things from an Asian female perspective with "Asians: The New Shiksas?" :

I was at a party in Sunset Plaza recently where a woman walked over to me and accused: "Could you leave some for the rest of us?"

I didn’t know this woman, and she left as quickly as she came, saying something about her empty martini glass, so I didn’t have an opportunity to ask her what she was muttering about.

A mutual friend was kind enough to be indiscreet and fill me in. Apparently, the woman was left waiting by the phone for several days and nights by a man who was later discovered to be pursuing a woman of the Asian persuasion.

Was the woman right? Are we Asian women indeed the new shiksas? And are we stealing all the men?

Anecdotal evidence abounds. Take a look around your temple, family bar mitzvahs, even Hollywood parties: That nice, successful Jewish boy has a willowy Asian woman on his arm. [...]

First, the question of racial stereotypes. All of my interviewees laugh their heads off when I mention the oft-heard theory that some men — Jewish or otherwise — are attracted to Asian women because they are deemed more submissive. [...]

Similarities, they say. All the couples list similarities between Jewish culture and Asian culture — both Jews and Asians place great importance on education, family, respect for elders, they said. [...]

Could it be then that in these modern times of unprecedented freedoms — freedom of religion, freedom from being forced to date parentally preapproved candidates — that men and women meet at school, at work or through mutual friends and simply fall in love without participating in a cultural phenomenon? Maybe there is more intermarriage because we as a people have grown more aware of each others’ similarities.

Are American Jewish guys into Asian girls? Are they tired of Jewish girls? A Jewish guy B wrote Gil at "Being Jewish" :

I am proud to be a Jew, and I will certainly marry and raise my children to be Jews as well. There is no question about this, for what else am I, if not Jewish? However, I can say with almost absolute certainty that I will probably not marry a Jewish girl, because we have remarkably different values about what’s important in making a relationship work.

Why? Because many Jewish women expect to be "taken care of" (read: live very well). This is fine with me. The problem, Gil, is that their expectations are unrealistic. By forcing us to submit to "the interview" that so many men complain about, they expect us to be able to show at the outset of the dating relationship that we are capable of providing them (and future children) with the standard of living that their parents attained, or better.

In contrast, my Asian girlfriends have never cared how much money I make. What’s important to them is that I know how to have fun and still treat them like ladies, in addition to being responsible enough to keep a good job. Jewish men are marrying Asian women in increasing numbers because these women take a traditional view of the male/female relationship. They know how to take care of us (and they do), in addition to knowing how to be taken care of (and showing their appreciation for it). Moreover, their values tend to be centered around making the relationship work, rather than in how well they’ll be able to live. These are some of the qualities I’ve found in dating Asian women.

Interesting. A thread opened up on Style Forum to discuss this mail "Asians of the world, Jewish men steal your Asian women!":

Coho – Many Jewish women I’ve talked to are well aware of this phenomenon and some have wrote blog entries expressing their anger. I’ve seen some of my Jewish friends using the phrase "I’m Jewish" to pick up Asian girls. That phrase is the equivalent of my black friends’ "my parents are still together"when approaching a black girl.

Coho – I agree. His assumption about the "Asian girlfriend" is ridiculous. What if she came from a relatively strict Christian upbringing? I’ve been friends with a Korean woman who is Baptist and she told me that she would like to marry only Christians (her father is a community Baptist preacher), race comes second. Of course, there are people who are easy going, but living a full Jewish faith, like any others (Catholicism, Buddhis, Islam, etc.), require enduring self-abnegation. I am Catholic and sometimes I see no point in attending a Sunday mass which I have neither head nor heart for. Thank you for posting in my thread DarkNWorn. I think you’re a learned individual and your opinions many times elucidate the subject at hand and elevate the discussion to a higher plateau of intelligent exchange.

Shraka – Perhaps the reason Asian women are picking Jewish men (assuming this is accurate) is simply because they represent some of the classic family values that the Chinese women want (A lot of non Jewish white guys in Australia don’t want families, or it’s not high on their agenda), with the advantages of a white guy over a Chinese one.

rnold – I have a Jewish friend that says Asians are the Jews of the new Millennium.
I think I know what he means. When I was a little boy in the 1950s there was the stereotypical Jew. Usually perceived as an emigrant or son of an emigrant who would work hard and have their children leapfrog into the professional ranks in one generation.

Somebody there posted a link to a website called "Asian Nation" with a page on "Interracial Dating and Marriage". Some interesting stats in there.

Weird, eh? What do you think about all this?