How To Date a White Woman: A Practical Guide For Asian Men
Every once in a while a book comes along that seems like it was written specifically for me. Actually, that never happens. But then I heard about How to Date a White Woman: A Practical Guide For Asian Men. And that, my friends, is a book with “Hung Truong” written all over it! I first heard about it from my internet pals JP Meyer and Maria via their Google Reader shared feeds. After seeing the cover and reading the title, I knew I had to get this book. I promptly ordered the thing from a third party Amazon seller for whatever crazy high price it was. It was completely worth it.
I didn’t get the book to improve my white woman dating skills, but rather to try and get into the mind of an Asian guy who would write such a book (I am already dating a white woman, fairly successfully). The book is written by Adam Quan, who is apparently “an International Business Consultant” who has “successfully dated women of many nationalities.” The book has a little bit of everything, from a theory on why white guys have more luck with Asian girls versus Asian guys and white girls, to detailed statistics on divorce rates and even score sheets for keeping track of your white woman dating progress. I am not making any of this up!
One of the best parts of the book is the inclusion of Asian grammars. There are countless grammar and spelling mistakes sprinkled here and there. It helps to read the book in the voice of a grumpy old Asian male. Here’s an example:
The image you projected to the white woman is the very core of your dating strategy. To date successfully, often you must become knowledgeable about the white woman in question. Find out what ticks her.
Unfortunately (for anyone reading the book seriously), the advice doesn’t really seem all that helpful. The author suggests that to compensate for being tiny, Asian men should work out to increase their physical size. Another section heading is titled “Avoid Losers.” Yet the book sorta forgets to include some common knowledge about dating, like calling the girl the day after a date, etc. The process that the book suggests seems a bit too structured and analytical. I guess it could help to keep a journal, but should Asian men really be keeping track of their current “points,” gain/loss velocity and possible competition after each date!? It’s pretty apparent that a businessman wrote this.
Another distressing thing about the book is its fairly misogynistic tone. For one thing, it treats women as objects, often referring to them as “targets” and the reader as a “hunter.” It portrays the submissive Asian woman stereotype and flips that around to conclude that white women are focused on being headstrong individuals. This is not to say that I didn’t find the book to be extremely entertaining. But there were quite a few parts that had me scratching my head and wondering about those who would take it seriously. I kind of feel bad for the Asian guys who need this book and end up taking its advice.
Overall, the book is quite useless for its intended purpose. For unintentional humor, this book rates very high. If I weren’t already dating a white woman and wanted to bag one, I think it’d also be great as a prop. Just take this to the nearest Starbucks (or wherever white women gather in your area) and pretend to be studying it closely. It’ll definitely be more useful as a conversation starter than a reference book.
My advice: be yourself. Be genuine. Really listen. Oh, and really do work out to compensate for your wimpy Asian physique. Wii Fit seems to work well for me.