The Asian Mystique
Author Sheridan Prasso is a friend of mine. But even if I didn't know her I think I'd love her new book about the sexual stereotypes and sexual realities of Asia, "THE ASIAN MYSTIQUE: Dragon Ladies, Geisha Girls, and Our Fantasies of the Exotic Orient". One of my favorite excerpts from a night out on the town in Indonesia:
"...It is one of those moments when the oddity of it all suddenly hits you, and you wonder what on earth you are doing, running through the lobby of a Jakarta luxury hotel at 3:30 in the morning, hand-in-hand with an ethnic Chinese woman, fleeing an ex-headhunting tribesman-conventioneer who has bought you a tuna sandwich and expects you to have sex with him. He doesn't pursue us, and just stands perplexed for a moment. He had thought things were going so well, that his trip to Jakarta was about to be a resounding success."
Read the book and you'll have a better understanding of things like:
- Why many Asian-American women are sick of white men with "Asian fetishes."
- Why single Western women who live in Asia are likely to stay single (though we can always get laid).
- The "charisma-man" phenomenon.
- What your husband may be up to on his business trips.
- How many 30-something Japanese women in Tokyo are actually much less conservative than many American women their age.
- Different approaches in the East and in the West to what it means to be a "strong woman," and the relationship between sex, power, and influence.
- What Western women can learn from Asia about being comfortable with our own femininity.
Hahahaha! Ok, reading that passage made me laugh really hard. I think I'll go buy the book now.
Posted by: Lisa Williams | April 30, 2005 at 06:05 AM