The study does not make conclusions about individuals, only white men in general, so your observations don't conflict with the conclusion that men are, on average, unbiased towards race. Tou can observe a preference, but the other half of the average--the discrimination--is generally harder to observe.

There is also the small matter that, statistically speaking, most women a white male will meet in Asia are Asian. You can't fight the numbers.

Of course men wouldn't mind the color women they date with, For they used to think with dickhead rather than head.

But perhaps white males in Asia do not represent the average American white male who lives in America.

white males living is asia are a carnival freakshow of cultural castaways.

the average white man in asia is ill-mannered, conversationally inept, short, aesthetically fascist yet unfashionable, bald(ing), and--in light of his life-long failure to "fit in" back home--embarrassingly earnest about (1) aping the habits of his newfound hosts, and (2) schooling himself with a savoir-faire unchallengeable by his reviled high-school and college classmate-betters living wholesome and objectively successful lives across the ocean.

i hesitate to generalize about the home life of the non-american white man; but of his u.s.-born counterpart currently living in asia, i can say this with confidence: your mother is ashamed of you.

full-disclosure: i am a white american male who lived extendedly in china, now recovering at home in the motherland.

Besides the point on the data being about aggregate averages hiding individual preferences, there are other reasons why this isn't a disproof of "yellow fever" quite yet.

First, the study's method of choosing yes or no to each potential partner is not a fine enough granularity. A person with a "fever" for a particular type, whether "race", ethnicity, or hair color, will rank them much higher on their level of superficial attractiveness, and make them a first priority for pursuit. What the study missed was a ranking of all the people a candidate has met, or some other quantification of their level of attractiveness.

Second, attractiveness to a type is largely superficial for many people. However, the study had participants choose desired partners after meeting all of them. Rather than reinforcing the stereotype than men will hump anything, I think it actually shows them to be less superficial than commonly assumed.

Third, the number of Asians (85) is much less than the number of people from East Asia (28). I assume that means many of the Asian participants are American-born or from other Western countries, which is common for American colleges. I can't say to what degree someone will be attracted to anyone who looks Asian, versus specifically ones from Asia, which has the exotic allure of an accent, foreign cultural differences, or just plain foreign status. The degree to which this matters is a highly variable individual preference.

My understanding of statistics is weak, so the study may have addressed these. Apologies in advance for any misinterpretations I have made.

Does it really make sense to use terms as "East Asian" or "White"? Chinese people are different from Japanese as are Italians from Swedes. Within one country there are also big differences between people who live in the countryside from those who live in an urban area, etc. If there are such kinds of racial preferences, they are cultural not genetic. In that case, a study made in a big northern American city, is only significant to this area and has to do with the demographics, history and sociology of this area.

I have a theory that "that sort" of white american men in China are being socially rehabilitated, what with the influx of interest in all things China, and their unique position to tell everyone about it.

If you look at cities like Vancouver where 49% of the population are visible minorities and inter-racial couples are not considered unusual these couples still form a small minority - although appartently still one of the worlds highest rates.

re: ombres and "East Asians" ... using Vancouver again as a backdrop I think it's clear that regional "cousins" discriminate far less against one another in love.

No stats to back this up, but on purely anecdotal evidence there are countless inter-regional-racial-marriages (Chinese with Koreans/Vietnamese) as well as South Asian marriages.

All in all though, the latest census showed that only 7.2% of married or common law couples where "inter-racial" (the wiki article also mentions 12.9% of people in their 20s but doesn't source that).

I never experienced asian fever until I moved to the US (from the UK). From my experience this 'yella fever' is far from a myth and frankly it disturbs me.

I'm an asian girl who grew up in the west but because I come from a rare asian background (not japanese, chinese or korean) I didn't grow up with an ethnic culture. Race was never an issue, I have only ever dated white or black men but I don't think I've ever had a preference for any race.

At one point I thought it would be great (shallow superficial) to date one of those ultra cool fashionable japanese men but alas no asian man has ever asked me out.

When I moved to the US I discovered that most of the men who asked me out had had a history of dating asian girls and to me thats a no no. I think its perverted and would never date these types of men.

I'm ethnically asian but it sickens me to think that men would find me attractive for that reason alone. I'm a strong individual and refuse to be put into a box.

I think its very very said when I'm walking down the street and I see a white-asian couple and the guy is so obviously checking me out. I feel sorry for the girl but then I feel mad at her too for putting up with that kind of rubbish and demeaning herself and perpetuating this whole business. She needs to get herself a man who is into her, not her race and then maybe I would get less attention too from these type of idiots.

Confucius: it sounds like you hung out with the wrong kind of people in Asia. In fact, there are many normal, well-adjusted western expats living in Asia. They're just not advertising their normalcy. The difference is that, unlike Asians, western/American expats historically tend not to group together in "ghettos" like Chinatowns or little Koreas. So, it's harder for them to adapt to the racially homogeneous environment and thus often wind up alienated or just plain strange...like you ;-)

The formation of these "ghettos" historically had it's beginnings in the local dominate culture forcing these people together. This is due the nature and climate of that time period (Westerners are racist and xenophobic. So are Asians and Africans. It's just that the latter two had been playing the game badly). The reason expats in Asia are not in ghettos is 1), no one is forcing them into ghettos (how I would love to see this happen), 2), they're western xpats, and who the hell here has heard of xpat ghettos? You failed to make any relevant points.

The point is that Westerners' motivations for traveling are different than those Asians who immigrate to the West. These two groups thus will have wildly varying set of experiences.

Plus, don't forget the stereotype on how Asians love their xpats, ho hum ho hum. Asians needs to treat them the same way that Asians immigrants are treated when they come to the West.

Personally, I think everyone should just stay home, and prepare to to fight the final confrontation/struggle between the races. It's the only path for us all. There is no unity, peace, and love and all that other non-sense.

Ghettos tend to form because of a combination of economic forces and mutual support. So, for example, a Chinese person may naturally move to China town because the rents are affordable and the shops sell the food s/he like to cook.

I would argue that using this definition, Shunyi is certainly something of an expat ghetto. It is just that the expat is not as physically obvious (eg, British, Americans, Koreans Japanese, etc). And a certain number of Chinese will also move toward this expat ghetto in the same way that some non-Chinese people may see advantages in living in Chinatown, ie, because its suits their economic/social outlook.

But hat this has to do wit yellow fever, i don't know!!

If you read the whole study, it says that Asian men and to a lesser extent, Asian women, are viewed as the least attractive race.

It makes a strong point of stressing that women of all races had the least preference for Asian men, and concludes that this might be because of their low attractiveness.

So I think you should label this "yellow aversion" rather than "yellow fever", because that's what the study is saying. It is basically saying that all women are racist against Asians...

@April

Don't be so judgmental. Sheesh.

I generally agree that women are inherently race conscious (if not outright racist) and obsessed with anatomy compared to men, especially the white American women. However, this study is based on one particular city, New York. If you go to Hawaii you will find different results. You will find a lot of white women with Asian men, because the Asians are the dominant race. People in Asia were wondering why white women expats keep complaining about not getting dates while there are plent of well educated local men available. The fact remains that most of these white women especially from the US will not even touch an Asian male's skin back home.

Shows that women are more racist than men, contrary to conventional wisdom. A white man who did not vote for Obama because of his race, will date a black woman or an Asian woman. On the other hand, I know a number of white women who supported and even campaigned for Obama, who would not date anyone other than white and in buses or trains would not sit next to a non-white person. Here in DC I see it all the time.

Is yellow fever wrong? I guess if a person is perverted, but who said its perverted to like women or men of another race. People are sick who hold on to their prejudices.I started studying Japanese and Chinese to further my knowledge of different cultures.Do I have yellow fever,I don,t think so. I interact with Asians as a result. I don't like all of them, but I like most. I found out that I am attracted to Asian women. I don,t find them attractive because their Asian but despite of it. I know it may come as a shock, but there are lots of short westerners.Please, don,t tell of the timid oriental. Plenty are not timid.I had a Korean friend who was much better at picking up women then me. If I preferred women because they were tall ,short,red headed,blonde or any reason at all, just because I like them that way , would I be branded with some new kind of fever.The brush does not fit every canvas.

@nostalgiphile - You mean, SanLiTun is not a "ghetto?"

I agree with Tony. I know plenty of guys who have some kind of preference in women's looks, be it dark hair over blonde, fair/tanned skin etc, yet for some reason, guys who prefer to date Asian women get singled out as having a fetish or "fever". I don't think I've come across a single guy who's dated an Asian girl just because she's Asian either. I have met guys who have cultural misconceptions, but experience usually sets these straight I think.

There are two sides to the coin as well. A good number of Asian women like or prefer dating white men and not surprisingly they get a hard time for it too. They get called gold diggers and whores among other things, mostly by people of their own race, but also by whites. There's a general resistance to interracial dating, which can probably be put down to lingering racism.

I expect that interracial relationships will become increasingly common until it gets to the point where they are no longer considered unusual, at least in my country (Australia). People who date other races will have to ride out some ignorance and bigotry until that time.