Although Asians are the largest minority group at the University, making up approximately 12 percent of the student population, many students and faculty say they are oftentimes marginalized in the typical dichotomy of black and white race relations.

Coinciding with Asian-Pacific-American Heritage Month and Take Back the Night, two facebook groups about Asian women have had attention called to them by various students. One group was formerly called "Americans for the Increased Importation of Asian Women" and the second was titled "People for the Propagation of Asian Fetish."

In the latter part of the 20th century, hegemonic North American masculinity has come under both ideological and institutional attack. Despite the steady, incremental erosion to male privilege that the women’s movement have brought upon men, some gay and feminist theorists continue to link heterosexual, mainstream masculinity with power and “the exercise of power in its most naked forms,” asserting that masculinity is organized for domination, and hence, resistant to change because of power relations” (Connell 1995:42). [1]  These ideological assaults on heterosexual masculinity have occurred at the same time that global capitalist practices have altered the positioning of the male protector/provider. With American manufacturing moving off shore and targeting a predominantly female labor pool (Nash 1983; Ong 1987, 1991), jobs that once marked working class American masculinities have been reassigned, both re-located and re-gendered. [2]  Not only has decentralized production rendered once-secure blue collar jobs almost extinct, over the past 15 years, wages for men in the unskilled-labor market dropped over 25% (Swoboda 1992). The number of male white collar workers has also declined, and in the American employment frontier, growing service sector jobs increasingly target women whose lower wages undercut men’s employment opportunities. [3]  Indeed, statistics indicate that in 1984 only 42% of men between the ages of twenty to twenty-four could keep a family of three out of poverty compared to the 60% in 1963 who could do so (Pfeil, 1995). So despite women’s lagging wages, material conditions no longer permit men to construct and valorize a protector/provider masculinity for themselves.

Task Force, Asians groups team up on groundbreaking report aimed at dispelling invisibility

Americans of Asian and Pacific Island descent are among the fastest growing minority groups in the nation and among them an increasing number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) people are coming out of the closet.

Nevertheless, say community activists, Asian and Pacific Islanders living in the United States, even in major metropolitan area like New York City, still confront issues of cultural isolation and racist stereotyping, even within the queer community.

Marsha doesn't want to be known as the woman who used a dating service.

The 29-year-old Jersey City resident felt even more uneasy about the potential pool of guys that she would meet through a dating service.

But after 10 six-minute "speed dates" she had a list of potential suitors.

"There were a lot of surprises," said Marsha, who did not want to give her last name.

Like other minorities, many Asian-Americans feel pressured to marry within their culture. But meeting potential dates can be difficult when ethnicity is a factor, even in areas with large Asian-American communities.

And why has the administration taken the decidedly un-Christian approach of measuring our foreign aid in terms of absolute dollars rather than relative to our nation's ability to contribute? Recall: [Jesus] looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury; and he saw a poor widow put in two copper coins. And he said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had." (Luke 21:1-4)

Take a real pro-life position. Shame the Bush Administration with your copper coins. Give to Oxfam.

(Editor's Note: After a week of sustained criticism of U.S. contributions to the relief effort, Bush announced a further commitment of $315 million on Dec. 31.)

By Anita Pleumarom
©1997 The Nation (Bangkok)
March 9, 1997

Equipped with the concept of sustainable development and Agenda 21 - the central document of the Rio Earth Summit - it has become possible to turn virtually every development activity into an environmentally friendly venture. With the arrival of sustainable industrial and agricultural production, sustainable logging, and sustainably managed wood plantations, hydro-power dams and golf courses, we seem to have made a big leap forward to save the Earth.

Help the worst-off. Give to Oxfam.

©2003 MensAsia.com

Phuket

Phuket is still tying to find its place in the tourism market of Thailand. It was known in the past by foreigners as the place for beautiful beaches, backpacker heaven, and where they filmed James Bond's famous beach scene in The Man With the Golden Gun. It does have incredible beaches and little island hideaways where you could spend weeks without ever seeing another living person. But increasingly it is becoming known as the second Pattaya both by foreigners and Thais alike.

The local economy has seen a large increase in sex tourism and a large decrease in "normal" tourism. The Phuket government is attempting to bring back "normal" tourism (as is all of Thailand) by really cracking down on the sex industry. They have made some major closures of well known establishments and deported some well known expats. All this lends itself to looking over your shoulder to see what's next.

The majority of research on romantic relationships has tended to focus on marriage, with relatively less attention paid to dating. This study examined the relationship between Asian American dating, both interracial and intraracial, and a variety of factors thought to be associated with dating in this population, including acculturation, ethnic identity, attractiveness, interracial dating experience, ethnicity of friends, parental influence over dating, and density. Participants were administered measures of these variables and were asked questions regarding their likelihood of dating both Asian Americans and White Americans. An interesting pattern of results emerged when the variables were put into regression equations to predict both interracial and intraracial dating. Findings are presented and implications discussed.

The United States population is increasingly becoming more racially and ethnically diverse; indeed, a special issue of Time magazine (Jamieson & Seaman, 1993) spoke of "The New Face of America: How Immigrants Are Shaping the World's First Multicultural Society." This special issue addressed not only the changing demographics of the United States but also the way members of this multicultural society have increasingly interacted with one another in different facets of life, including marriage. Interracial relationships have been discussed in a number of forums, from scholarly journals and books to mass market magazines and newspapers, where the topic has ranged from the academic to the emotional. A general conclusion is that interracial marriage in the United States is increasing and that Asian Americans make up a significant proportion of people who are involved in such relationships.