| abstract
| - She is of Asian origin, he is of Western origin. This is a very common combination for interracial relationships in fiction (as well as in Real Life). A combination that is not only common, but also archetypal, for better or worse. Authors making this combination have a whole history of stereotypes and prejudices to use or avert. Sadly, interracial relationships in general are still a touchy subject for many. Sometimes with notions that the women of a certain ethnic group or whatever "belong" to the men of that group, or that any woman or man who makes intimate alliances outside their group is a Race Traitor. When it comes to the particular case of Asian women with white men, we also have the whole issue of Orientalism, with its history of stereotypes about "white men rescuing brown women from brown men" and with Asian women being portrayed as exotic, submissive and hyper-sexualized. So, back to our Asian Alice and our Western Bob. Why are these two characters together? Well, it's really a sliding scale. At the top of the sliding scale, the narrative treat both characters with respect. In the middle, both characters are treated with a respect that may feel objectifying and/or built on very outdated stereotypes. At the bottom, the narrative is condescending or openly hostile against the woman or the man or both. Six individual options along this sliding scale are as follows: 1.
* Maybe they simply like each other as individuals, race not being a factor at all. 2.
* Maybe race is a little factor – at least one of them have a preference for the other race without being obsessed or anything. They think that the other person, as an individual, looks nice and have a nice personality – and that the racial background contributes a bit to this. 3.
* Maybe he's an awesome Mighty Whitey, or she's an exotic Mysterious Waif or something. Probably both. In other words, the story itself has been inspired by such classical stereotypes: some kind of fetishism is probably going on here, but the characters are fetishes rather then fetishists. 4.
* Maybe one of them, usually the man, has a full-scale fetish for the other race. 5.
* Maybe one of them is deluded, incorrectly believing the other to be a living stereotype. The difference between this and level three is that it's in the character's head rather then in the narrative itself. 6.
* Finally, the whole thing could also be based on a negative stereotype or a few: she's poor and uneducated, possibly a prostitute. He's a loser who can't get a "real" (white) woman. This trope is almost never inverted in Western fiction as the White Male Lead will often function as an Audience Surrogate. It is common wisdom in the Western entertainment industry that the white male audience cannot identify with a non-White male character, especially if said non-White lead hooks up with a white woman. Compare Where Da White Women At?, which is about black guys and white girls hooking up, Black Gal on White Guy Drama which involves black girls and white guys, and Asian Baby Mama, where this type of relationship doesn't end well. If it's on the lower end of the sliding scale above, the gal in the relationship may use Asian Speekee Engrish. Examples of Asian Gal with White Guy include:
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