So, David and I had a grown up date night that didn't include Chuck E Cheese or Mc Donalds last Saturday. One of the 408 folk is getting her Master's Degree in Library Science and we all decided to go to Karaoke Kid. Yes, I said Karaoke. It was fun. My friend Paula brought her kids and stayed with Isabel and Abigail for about four hours. And no, David did not get up and sing, but he was a singing fool at the table. It was nice to get out and have good fun and conversation with intellectual people.
Some kid asked David if I was Hawaiin. No, really, he did! At first, I laughed, but the more I think about it the more I realize that what he was really saying was that he liked me because he thought I looked exotic. Think about what that says about this "liberal" education we are providing these midwestern kids. And more importantly what that says about racial and ethnic relations and ideals of sexuality for women of color.
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My sweet island girl, Ida. Hehehehe I couldn't resist. I know what you mean, seeing as I am married to a woman of color myself. My wife is from Puerto Rico, but is repeatedly mistaken as Middle Eastern. Men seem fascinated by her until she reveals where she is from, and then it seems to lose the allure.
As a Caucasian man who has always been drawn to Latin women, I think that it is the sense of difference that causes the attraction. When you grow up white, in a white neighborhood, with white friends, it is just human nature to be curious about the differences of other cultures.
Speaking on the sensuality/sexuality aspect of this - I have white friends who will say that they want to 'have sex with a black girl or a Japanese girl just to see what it is like.' As though the act of sex itself is secondary compared to the act of being with a woman who is of a completely different cultural or ethnic background. This is because for most of Middle America, the idea of mixed, interracial couples is still considered taboo. Take those mid-western kids for example. Most of them are land locked who have never traveled outside of their own backyards. Once they finish their educations they will either stay there or go back home. They are academically educated, but not worldly. The reason that guy liked you as a Hawaiian island girl is because you represented the possibility of bringing something from a strange and distant land into his back yard, mid-western life.
This is a hell of a rant, but its my two cents.
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