# How did Asian Girls Become Cute? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 9, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850 "2008-09-09T21:35:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/21 "2008-09-10T10:49:33Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > (hell, I can’t even think of a _single_ Black videogame hottie) I would say Alyx from Half-Life 2, but really, she’s hardly “black.” Her father is a dead ringer for Morgan Freeman, but Alyx herself looks like Halle Berry, but whiter, and crossed with some Asian-type features as well. I think that’s a cop-out. I want a dark, dark Nubian-type woman (with a big afro, not that straightened shit that’s so popular among women of all races these days.) ETA - [here’s a picture](http://pds4.egloos.com/pds/200706/13/07/b0044107_11062398.jpg) in case you don’t know who I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/22 "2008-09-10T11:21:41Z")
Here are some images for debate…I’ll mark this as NSFW because there are lots of thumbnails that I think they probably change regularly and so are unpredictable. “Mostly” safe, though, in that the main images are the cheerleaders performing. > **[LinkInn.com is for sale | HugeDomains](https://www.hugedomains.com/domain_profile.cfm?d=linkinn.com)** > > Short term financing makes it possible to acquire highly sought-after domains without the strain of upfront costs. Find your domain name today. Some of them are hot; others not. It’s like that in any ethnic group, IMO, though here in the states it’s true that in the early days of TV, it seemed like all pretty much white bread on the airwaves. ---
**Author:** ![YoudNeverGuess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a587f6/32.png) [@YoudNeverGuess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoudNeverGuess)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/23 "2008-09-10T11:23:59Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > Asian women have been labeled ‘exotic’, but sort of a safe exotic. White guys have been drooling over black, Indian, Native, and any other kind of ‘ethnic’ woman for centuries, but they were also usually taught that these were ‘lesser’ women, one (or more) steps down the humanity scale from them. Asians are far from being treated as equals by whites, but they’ve become an ‘acceptable’ minority, and it’s ‘acceptable’ to fuck, or date, or marry them, or just jack off to porn about them. All of that petite, submissive, traditional mail-order bride geisha girl shit has also had an influence. Latinas (especially Brazilians, at least judging by porn) have also become a safe exotic, and they have those stereotypes about being passionate, sexual, and wild attached to them. In reality, of course, each woman is unique, and while culture influences us, you’ll find wild and crazy Asian women and gentle and quiet black women and Latinas who can’t dance and white girls who you wouldn’t want to take home to mother. But the realm of male _fantasy_ has precious little resemblence to _reality_. There’s your answer. What **Mississippienne** said. Any guys I know who favour ‘asian’ (I presume you mean east-asian here as opposed to Indian etc.) women are turned on by the ‘exotic’ factor and I suspect the 'petite, submissive, traditional mail-order bride geisha girl shit ’ that M mentions above too ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/24 "2008-09-10T11:44:00Z")
> [@YoudNeverGuess](#): > > There’s your answer. What **Mississippienne** said. Any guys I know who favour ‘asian’ (I presume you mean east-asian here as opposed to Indian etc.) women are turned on by the ‘exotic’ factor and I suspect the 'petite, submissive, traditional mail-order bride geisha girl shit ’ that M mentions above too Not that I favor Asians or any particular ethnicity, but I was never taught anything like that. I’ve heard the stereotypes and doubted they were true but then, I wasn’t thinking about something long-term. In a visceral “Would you tap that?” sort of way, I figured my Y chromosome was responsible for the attraction to exotics. “Let’s mix up the genes with someone from a very different pool,” should help avoid expressing recessive genes. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/25 "2008-09-10T11:45:59Z")
> [@YoudNeverGuess](#): > > Any guys I know who favour ‘asian’ . . . women are turned on by the ‘exotic’ factor and I suspect the 'petite, submissive, traditional mail-order bride geisha girl shit ’ that M mentions above too Wow, grandma, what a broad brush you have. So **[any guy](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/31695)** who has a thing for Asian women more or less has something wrong with him, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/26 "2008-09-10T11:49:30Z")
Nah, I like Asian girls but I just like their looks. I’m not interested in the submissive thing and never have been. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/27 "2008-09-10T11:55:28Z")
Missed edit window earlier: I’m probably asking for it here, but I confess some appreciation for the fact that the gorgeous Asian girls I see around Taipei every day will still be gorgeous well into their thirties and forties (if they’re not there already). The western expat girls who arrive here are kind of freaked out at first that the western guys pay them so little attention. Moreover, a most western guys here really _don’t_ like submissive girlfriends, and their wives and/or lovers are often quite assertive if not dominating. . . . rowwr! ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/28 "2008-09-10T12:30:44Z")
> [@YoudNeverGuess](#): > > There’s your answer. What **Mississippienne** said. Any guys I know who favour ‘asian’ (I presume you mean east-asian here as opposed to Indian etc.) women are turned on by the ‘exotic’ factor and I suspect the 'petite, submissive, traditional mail-order bride geisha girl shit ’ that M mentions above too My freshman year of college, I lived in a small dorm that had an ‘Asian-Pacific Islander theme’. About half of the people in the dorm were of Asian extraction, and we occasionally had events about Asian American history and culture. We discussed this topic a lot. Anyway, the above quote is definitely what the Asian American girls in my dorm believed was the reason for the fetish some men seem to have for Asian girls. I’m pretty sure it came from their personal experiences. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/29 "2008-09-10T13:26:40Z")
> [@A\_shameful\_cracka](#): > > I don’t think Asian women are more attractive in general than any other race. What I find odd is there are plenty of Asian women who, in my opinion at least, have very unattractive facial features that are seen by many as beautiful. Very true. I’ve been surprised at the number of Asian ladies who are strong objects of desire among Westerners, even though they are generally considered to be quite ordinary in their own countries. You mentioned Lucy Liu, for example. I agree. I can’t imagine that she’d garner a lot of attention among Asian lads, but she’s definitely been placed in the sex symbol category. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/30 "2008-09-10T14:03:22Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Not to me it isn’t… (at least, not the business about diet. The part about there being more Asian American women available is presumably reasonable.) Not only is it plausible that a more Westernized diet is affecting Asian bodies, it is so prevelant that they coined a term for it: “bon-kyu-bon.” [The phenomenon](http://www.thestar.com/Life/article/211747) has affected clothing design: > [@](#): > > TOKYO–All over Japan, retailers are scrambling to keep up with a new look known as “bon-kyu-bon.” It means “big-small-big” and it signals a change in the way Japanese women look: they’re getting curvier. > > Today, the average Japanese woman’s hips, at 35 inches, are around an inch wider than those of women a generation older. Women in their 20s wear a bra at least two sizes larger than that of their mothers, according to Wacoal. Waist size, meanwhile, has gotten slightly smaller, accentuating many young women’s curves. > > The average 20-year-old is also nearly three inches taller than she was in 1950, according to government statistics, and the average foot has grown by nearly a quarter of an inch. > > The physical changes are largely the result of an increasingly Westernized diet, say nutritionists. Meals that used to consist of mostly fish, vegetables and tofu now lean heavily toward an American-style menu of red meat, dairy and indulgences such as Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Cold Stone Creamery ice cream. To the OP, to the extent that the phenomenon exists, I would guess it’s tied into geekdom becoming mainstream. I think, but have no cite, that the preference for Asian girls has a much higher incidence in geek circles than in society at large. As geektitude becomes more mainstream, geek fetishes naturally follow suit. PS: Sorry for the hijack, but in my first paragraph, is “affected” the right verb, or should it be “effected”? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/31 "2008-09-10T14:07:36Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Moreover, a most western guys here really _don’t_ like submissive girlfriends This is frequently cited as why Western guys have such luck with the local women in Japan, and I imagine it’s much the same in Taipei - Asian men expect the submissive wives, so the women gravitate to Westerners because they don’t generally have the same expectations. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/32 "2008-09-10T19:30:25Z")
Maybe white guys like [half-asian kids](http://www.newyork.dulcemichaelanya.com/main.php?g2_itemId=8317). Oh, and my wife and daughter didn’t get the Asian=submissive memo. Anyone have a copy I can give them? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/33 "2008-09-10T19:35:32Z")
> [@A\_shameful\_cracka](#): > > I don’t think Asian women are more attractive in general than any other race. What I find odd is there are plenty of Asian women who, in my opinion at least, have very unattractive facial features that are seen by many as beautiful. Lucy Liu is one of the more prominent examples, but she’s better looking than that chick on Grey’s Anatomy who I’d think would be dog-ugly to anyone. I do not understand the praise of Lucy Lui. Were we speaking of [Ming-na](http://www.chssc.org/honorees/2006/mingna2.jpg), you’d have a point. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/34 "2008-09-10T20:51:50Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Not only is it plausible that a more Westernized diet is affecting Asian bodies, it is so prevelant that they coined a term for it: “bon-kyu-bon.” [The phenomenon](http://www.thestar.com/Life/article/211747) has affected clothing design:To the OP, to the extent that the phenomenon exists, I would guess it’s tied into geekdom becoming mainstream. I think, but have no cite, that the preference for Asian girls has a much higher incidence in geek circles than in society at large. As geektitude becomes more mainstream, geek fetishes naturally follow suit. > > PS: Sorry for the hijack, but in my first paragraph, is “affected” the right verb, or should it be “effected”? affected=influenced, effected=caused. I think you mean “affected.” In terms of usage, it didn’t cause their bodies…it caused changes in their bodies. But you might say that the change in diet effected changes in their bodies. I find that very plausible; I’ve heard of studies where they tracked the growth of Asians in Asia vs. Asians in the U.S. and they found that we “grow them bigger.” Diet probably has a lot to do with that, e.g. more calcium in our diet probably makes for bigger bones. It could be that geekdom advances the cause of Asian; I don’t play computer games so I don’t know about those to which I think others are alluding. But I have always found petite women with dark hair and dark eyes to be attractive, irrespective of ethnicity, as I’m sure other men have. And for that matter, I never tried Thai food till I was about 27…but I loved it. To some degree with the popularity of computer games, animé, and the internet people are sampling things they’ve never tried before. Some won’t like it; some will, but they can’t have an opinion of it till they’ve had some exposure to it. ETA: Lucy Liu, RAWR! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/35 "2008-09-10T21:57:35Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > I think Lucy Liu is hideous, and yet…if pressed, I’d venture that she is the first and only Asian actress that any average person would be able to name. If they were pushed harder, some might be able to say “that chick from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” > > Compare that to the number of blonde actresses that are major stars. There’s no way in hell that Asian has replaced blonde or anything else non-white as the standard for attractiveness in the mainstream. What has happened is that the niche of guys who like Asian girls has expanded more and more. Why this is, I don’t know. People are just as likely to name Margaret Cho as Lucy Liu. I did a poll in IMHO a while back asking dopers to name an Asian celebrity, a black celebrity, a white celebrity, and a Hispanic celebrity. Here are the results if anyone is interested. The numbers seem to indicate a preference for black males and Asian females: 18 black male, 78% (Will Smith most popular, with 8) 5 black female, 22% (Oprah most popular, with 4) 24 white male, 69% (Tom Cruise most popular, with 4) 11 white female, 31% (Paris Hilton most popular, with 5) 15 hispanic male, 68% (George Lopez most popular, with 10) 7 hispanic female, 32% (Jennifer Lopez most popular, with 12) 12 asian male, 55% (Jackie Chan most popular, with 10) 10 asian female, 45% (Maragaret Cho and Lucy Liu tie with 8 each) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/36 "2008-09-10T22:07:14Z")
Sorry, I didn’t copy the data properly. To avoid confusion, here is the full data of the first 50 responses: Raw tally: 42 black male, 84% 8 black female, 16% 34 white male, 68% 16 white female, 32% 30 hispanic male, 60% 20 hispanic female, 40% 23 asian male, 46% 27 asian female, 54% Tally of unique answers: 18 black male, 78% (Will Smith most popular, with 8) 5 black female, 22% (Oprah most popular, with 4) 24 white male, 69% (Tom Cruise most popular, with 4) 11 white female, 31% (Paris Hilton most popular, with 5) 15 hispanic male, 68% (George Lopez most popular, with 10) 7 hispanic female, 32% (Jennifer Lopez most popular, with 12) 12 asian male, 55% (Jackie Chan most popular, with 10) 10 asian female, 45% (Maragaret Cho and Lucy Liu tie with 8 each) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/37 "2008-09-10T22:40:22Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Anyway, the above quote is definitely what the Asian American girls in my dorm believed was the reason for the fetish some men seem to have for Asian girls. I’m pretty sure it came from their personal experiences. What? You mean they don’t get turned on when guys insist on figuring out what country they’re from, then testing out their limited Mandarin/Japanese/Thai/Whathaveyou vocab on them? There was an intelligent thread a few weeks back about the Western obsession with all-things Japanese that covered this topic quite nicely. And I don’t think Asian beauty has become any sort of standard. The three Bs – boobs, blond hair and blue eyes – are still as popular as ever. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/38 "2008-09-10T23:48:48Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > This is frequently cited as why Western guys have such luck with the local women in Japan, and I imagine it’s much the same in Taipei - Asian men expect the submissive wives, so the women gravitate to Westerners because they don’t generally have the same expectations. [Yes, my princess?](http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hhBQ7ji0pVP194qcI36ojROut10Q) ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/39 "2008-09-10T23:58:49Z")
There are many answers to this question, but I think that Asian culture in general places more a premium on cuteness, neoteny, and going with the flow as opposed to standing up for yourself. That covers the cute and submissive angle. Physically, they tend to look more petite, slender, and symmetrical, which only helps the overall physical attraction. Throw in the cultural stereotypes about their sexuality being less constrained by Western puritanism and gender wars, and you’ve got the next big hot thing. ---
**Author:** ![greatshakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@greatshakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greatshakes)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850/40 "2008-09-11T04:58:31Z")
Of course, there are a lot of specimens of all nationalities that are babes. We do see a greater dominance of asians in the media, not because of any cultural shift in horny Western men, but because of advertising savvy. The market shares were becoming diversified. The realization of advertising agencies that the dollars were coming from a mixed variety of people led advertisers to try to find a ‘middle ground’ when choosing models for commercials. In the early to mid -90s, there was some experimentation in advertising using the “New World” person look-a cross between Asian, black, and white features. (cite: my brother, who was in advertising, and who was up on all of that junk.) It seems to have died out, probably couldn’t find too many people with such divergent characteristics that would be representative of all three marketing segments that was attractive enough to reach the targets. Of course, the Asian babes that are on TV are at least acceptable, so you will get a skewed effect if you are doing research. To find the really ugly ones, you have to go to all of the places where I hang out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-asian-girls-become-cute/462850.md?page=3)