Yellow fever

Disclaimer: I am not dismissing the seriousness of body-trafficking and prostitution. It is an atrocity and believe me, happens not only in Thailand, but in your neighbourhood as well. Up to four million people are victims of human trafficking each year - that's the equivalent of exploiting the entire population of Singapore every year and forcing them into slavery, sweatshop labour or prostitution. It is terrible and it must end.

That was the reason why I was researching this article, but then I came across a few remarks that made me smile. And I quote:

Some men - a lot of men - prefer Asians. What lies at the heart of Thailand's sex tourism industry is the way we sexually stereotype Asians; about the way Asian women perform in the bedroom and act in a relationship.

I asked my ex-girlfriend, Viv - brought up in England by parents from Hong Kong - about it. Her words detonated off the screen:"Oh my God, I have so much to say about this." In her opinion, there is "a hell of a lot" of sexual stereotyping. She told me: "We call it 'yellow fever', which I find hilarious, or 'Asian fetish', which is more common. I get it all the time at certain clubs, and you know that guys are only talking to you because you look Asian.

Viv had a number of theories about why Caucasian men are attracted to Asian females. First, there is the physical difference. "Perhaps it's the hairlessness of our bodies and the different feel of our skin due to the extremely healthy diet and the blackness and straightness of the hair," she said. "Everything is completely different."

Cultural differences serve to heighten the attraction. "Girls are taught to bring up a family and to know their place; to take all sorts of shit and still be courteous and long-suffering without a word of complaint.

"Western guys who look ugly as hell and don't stand a chance with strong-minded, selfish, feminist, materialistic, status-driven Western girls can have beautiful Asian girls falling over themselves to be with them."

After reading this, I can't help but feel that I'm a failed Asian.

1. * I have naturally wavy hair that become quite curly if I don't brush it.
2. * I started going grey when I was about 14. I have to colour my hair at least once every three months to ensure I don't get mistaken for a grandma (perhaps the fact that I knit doesn't help matters).
3. * I have no intention of having children at the moment and certainly do not have plans of bringing up a family.
4. * I know my place - it involves being assertive and not being trodden over.
5. * And alas, I am somewhat feminist.
6. * Oh, and I do know a lot of Western girls who are not selfish, feminist, materialistic or status-driven. So much so that they put me to shame.

But the beauty of this is that it proves to me that D loves me for me and not simply because he's suffering from some sort of yellow fever.

Ah, the beauty of stereotyping...how I love it.