Recently Salon published an article about “Yellow fever,” the phenomenon where men of all races fetishize Asian women.

In the article, the author complains that it’s harder than ever to date as an Asian woman because so many White dudes have a fetish for Asian women. Men, she says, have made Asian women in sex objects and lust after them with no logic to their reasoning. From the perspective of an Asian man, it doesn't seem like there's much of a problem. I would personally love it if a few more non-Asian girls had a thing for Asian guys, but alas, no such luck.

So I enlisted the help of writer Emma, an Asian girl in her 20s, to debate this issue and to discuss how Asian women feel about “Yellow fever.”

Is dating really hard for you as an Asian woman?

It is. When I was on OkCupid there was a lot of creepers that would say I love Asian girls or I only date Asian girls. It was very racist and disrespectful the kinds of messages I would get, and it really pissed me off when I saw a guy with the username YellowFeverXXX — that shit was creepy.

Have you ever dated anyone with Asian fetish?

I went on two dates with guys that had yellow fever. Each guy would say things… creepy things that would tell me they had yellow fever. One guy specifically said, “I love Asian girls, you girls are so small, I just want to grab you up.” Is that supposed to make me feel good? No.

Why is being a fetish so bad? As an Asian guy I don’t think it would bother me if a girl had a fetish for Asian guys.

Well to me it’s a belittlement of my race. It belittles us as Asian females. Guys will specifically try to date Asian women — these men are just targeting us solely because of race. They talk about it all the time and treat us as a trophy instead of a human being.

The typical guy who has an Asian fetish is typically very aggressive at making that known. That’s very annoying. The way he hits on me is usually so creepy and racist.

Furthermore the whole “Yellow fever” movement has caused wrong stereotypes to pop up about Asian women — like how we’re “submissive” or we’re just sexual objects. That really bugs me a lot, and its perpetuated by these “Yellow fever” stereotypes.

Again I also think because we're women, it's different for us than it is for men. Fundamentally I think women and men are more sensitive to different things. As women we're already treated in a certain way, and to avoid sounding sexist I won't go into this any further. But the point is that women will always think differently about this topic than men would.

But what about guys that just have a preference for Asian women? Is that okay?

I don’t like the idea that someone likes me just for my race. I’d like to believe that I have other qualities that are attractive.

It’s okay to have a preference, but you should not try to broadcast it so openly. That’s not a great way to talk to an Asian girl. I’ve been told, “I bet you’re nimble in bed because you’re so small.” It’s just so demeaning to me. The difference is being respectful vs being creepy.

At the same time, I think a lot of these guys are just uneducated. They think that saying stuff like “I know SO MUCH about your culture” or “I really like Asian women” somehow helps their chances, when in reality it does the opposite.

True. That's why we're doing this article. Men sometimes truthfully just don't have a clue when it comes to talking to women, so I get this point. At the same time I think it should be common sense not to say some of the things I've heard over the years, it feels like the men are doing it on purpose.

Why is it okay for Asian guys to have a preference for Asian girls?

It’s a double standard. Society accepts Asian guys with Asian girls, and it’s not really seen as a fetish, even if the Asian guy dates exclusively Asian girls. Don't ask me why that's the case, but that's how society is.

So this Salon article, this girl was really mad about the fetishization of Asian girls. Is this really a problem you’re actively dealing with as an Asian girl?

Yeah it's something pretty prevalent in my life. Not only was it something I saw on OkCupid a lot, I’ve also regularly gotten hit on by guys that say “Konnichiwa GIRL!” That kind of stuff gets really annoying.

I get that as well. It’s making a mockery of your race. So even though yellow fever is so commonplace, Asian girls are still going after those types of guys. So what’s going on?

I’ve always dated non-Asians, but I would totally date an Asian guy if he was my type. There’s a ton of hot Asian guys out there or cool Asian guys, but most of them are taken. I just haven’t been able to find a single Asian guy that’s my type. Most of my boyfriends in the past have been non-Asian, but none of them were “yellow fever” type guys. I can't speak for other Asian girls, but I will say that not every White guy or Black guy that's dating an Asian woman necessarily has “Yellow fever.”

Do you think it’s kind of silly that Asian girls are even complaining so heavily about this? I mean just think about Asian guys, not that many girls of other races like Asian guys. I mean, Asian girls are essentially complaining about being “glorified” in a way, while Asian guys (in my opinion) are facing something even worse.

Again, I just think it's a double standard. As women we get much more defensive about this kind of stuff. We feel sexually abused by this kind of fetishization. I’m overgeneralizing, but in my opinion a majority of men don’t feel the same way.

Is this really as big of an issue as the Salon article makes it out to be or is it just a minor nuisance for Asian women?

For me it’s only a minor nuisance. I know there are Asian girls out there who really flip out over this kind of stuff. I think the author of the Salon article is kind of overreacting, but then again I don’t have the perspective of every Asian woman. I know some of my friends have flipped out over this kind of stuff.

What can you gather from our discussion?

1) If you like Asian girls, don't broadcast that shit to the world, and DEFINITELY don't make a racist comment to hit on her.

2) Go out and date more races of women.

Written by Editorial Staff