Western Men: Find Your Asian Woman For $60

I’ll admit it right here on the world wide web – I’m not the best at dating. In fact, I wouldn’t be averse to a little outside assistance, either. Luckily, via a Yelp event listing that a friend found, my luck may soon be changing as I found this video:

Now, I’m not one to be very selective regarding race, but I’m not one to exclude either, so I wouldn’t mind dating an Asian woman. Fortunately it seems that I can use these tips on any Asian woman and I should get good results. I also appreciate that they give tips to someone used to a Westernized culture. I mean, I’m not from California so I guess I’m not really “Westernized”, but I guess their tips can still apply to a guy born, raised, and who lives in Chicago, right?

Then there’s the matter of their event, which looks very inviting indeed:

“We are looking for Asian women ages 23-41 who want to date Western Men. We are also looking for men ages 28-47 who want to date Asian women. All ethinicities are welcome to join. If you're man 5'8 or above, have a solid job, ambitious, comfortable in your own skin, and financially secure, you are invited! Of course, all are welcomed as long as you appreciate Asian cultures and the fine women of Asian countries!”

Luckily for me, I fit all of the criteria! Again, that “Western” thing comes up, but surely I can fit in with all you California people, right? It’s not like I’m from some foreign country or anything, not that that should matter.

Ok, time to be real here; this is one of the creepiest things I’ve seen on the internet. First, to clarify some things – I’m in no way against interracial dating. One of my best friends is a white guy dating an Asian woman, and my sister’s dating a white guy...that’s all cool. Speed dating, that’s fine, whatever.

But I can’t read through this event’s description, and can’t read through their site without thinking of a certain term for the two entrepreneurs behind it: sell-out. It’s a loaded as all hell word for sure, but I think it’s appropriate here. First of all, the genius pricing scheme – charging triple for men as they do women. It just feels like they’re slightly lowering the bar of entry on one side so they can cash in hard on the other.

Then there are the loads of helpful tips for dating an Asian woman. Like they’re trying to give a little wink and nudge that these are some kind of insider secrets to shortcut the pain of actually trying to learn and appreciate a different culture. Sure, it can be rough, but I’ll bet anything that maybe a series of YouTube videos aren’t going to prepare you any better than actually trying to get to know someone on a personal level.

And what a way to completely crap on all the Asian guys out there. In contrast to the over-sexualized Asian female that they’re trying to cash in on, the under-sexualized Asian male isn’t even part of the equation. Looking at their event pictures and promotional images, all you see repeatedly is white male…white male…white male. Even ignoring the fact that using “Western” is pretty dated and ignorant to begin with, it’s obvious what kind of clientele they’re really looking for. By one definition of “Western”, I should fit it – I was born in America, raised in the American culture, with a mix of Filipino and American values. But something tells me that if I walked in there with sixty bucks, ready to go, I would still feel out of place and probably unwanted.

So yes, ladies, congratulations on striking potential gold by preying on all the poor guys out there with some kind of “yellow fever”. And this is obviously the target demographic – why does race need to be specified at all? Regardless, you may be helping an Asian woman find her ideal American man, but you sure are doing no favors to Asian American women.