Job Discussion Forums

[naturegirl321]

What is it about China that attracts the guys? Here at this school there are four teachers, three guys and me. I'll be changing schools and the next school has three guys and then me. I don't get it!

Maybe because Chinese women are attracted to foreigners and vice versa. Well, I for one don't feel that way about the Chinese men. And it's so hard to date, because they go for the skinny as a rail Chinese girl!

[Wolf]

Well, I'm the only guy FE at my school. Last year there was a married couple (both Canadain.)

I mentioned on the general discussion forum today that I'd bet yen to yuan that the majority of EFL teachers in East Asia are men. Not just China.

Why? Not sure. Some possible reasons I can think of are:

1. Our own society is still sexist and "good girls" are conditioned not to go to Asia to teach EFL.

2. The "Asian women are hot" angle.

3. It's a man's world over here (and therefore easier to be a man. In non - dating areas I mean.)

4. School owners try to use sex appeal to get students to sign - so they play off having a "foreign guy" to get women to sign. (The converse is also true, however.)

5. In relation to #1 and #2, young men are condtioned to "go sow their wild oats" or something like that. Some sort of acceptable outlet for "wild behavior" while a guy is young.

These are all hunches. There are soooooo many areas of EFL in Asia that need to be studied scientificly. I'd start with polls on how many EFL teachers are satisfied with their jobs, have been illegally harrased by employers, etc.

[Capergirl]

I think you need to stop at number two, Wolf. No offense, but most of the single foreign guys I met in Korea and Taiwan seemed to be there for the women. Some of them even told us (I was a part of a couple so I guess they thought they could share such things, lol) that women in their home countries didn't pay them a lot of attention, and they liked all the attention they got from the Asian females. The Asian women treated these guys like movie stars. Some of them even blatantly hit on my boyfriend right in front of me.

@naturegirl...Don't be hard on yourself. Even if you are a skinny-as-a-rail foreigner, most foreign guys will still snub you in favour of the local honeys. They are just playing the odds, I suppose. For them, an Asian woman is a better "bet" than a North American, British, or Aussie one.

[Gordon]

Another related question. Do Asian men think Western women are easy? I remember in Korea, that Korean men thought that. How do you see Western women are perceived in the eyes of Asian men?

[Jess_Laoshi]

When I was living in China, if I went out to bars or clubs, I would get hit on constantly. I was always pretty surprised at women complaining they couldn't get any action in China, because the opportunities are definitly there. Most Chinese wouldn't consider a western chick girlfriend material, but there is some curiosity there fore sure. We're seen as being more "open minded" than local girls (they won't say easy), and many of the guys also see us as exotic. I don't think it generally gets very far past flirting, either because the Western chicks don't go in for it, or because the Chinese guys are all talk a lot of the time.

As for the abundance of Western male teachers in China, I'd have to agree that the number one factor is probably the ladies. How many times have you heard "I'm thinking of teaching in Asia, which place is the best for picking up girls?" (or some variation) on assorted message boards? I'm sure there are other reasons too, but that's got to be a big one.

[khmerhit]

Your average Cambodian male would never desire a Western woman. In their view, from what they have seen, many Western women smoke, cuss, wear indecent clothing, drive motorcycles, watch football, stay out late in bars and give their men a very hard time. (That was my experience, too. Funny, that.)

However, there are western female sex tourists who regularly go to Cambodia, as the sex industry is rather versatile in that country.

[Capergirl]

[Minhang Oz]

I suppose in a lot of cases, after THE divorce, where the wife gets the house, kids, and bank account, and its difficult to continue with the same mind-numbing routine, a complete change is needed. China's about as complete as it gets. I don't think sex is the main reason, as there's plenty of job vacancies in countries more noted for that. Chinese women aren't generally promiscuous; there are much easier *self censored* back home. Not as pretty though.
My 2 cents, FWIW

[SueH]

[whitjohn]

As a general observation, the Chinese women(girls) are far more attractive than western women. They don't seem to get much attention from their own men and they do like foreign men.
They are definately not "easy" but are very friendly and willing to associate.
Yes, after THE divorce, Chinese girls have helped rebuild my self image and I really appreciate them for that.
Several western women have told me they don't date Chinese men because they are too "shy". I think that also means what Jess says about all talk...
I really believe they are sexually ignorant and would be frightened of looking foolish with a western woman.

[Kurochan]

About the beautiful women -- an important factor is that what Chinese men consider attractive and what Western men consider attractive is often different. A HK guy I dated said other Cantonese men would laugh at the white guys they saw with Asian women, like "Better him than me!" This isn't very nice, but according to him, HK men say white men like women "with faces like cha shao bao" -- barbecued pork buns. That is, a women with a round faces, and small, low-bridged noses. So, while a foreign guy is courting what he thinks is a beautiful woman, the local guys are looking at her and going, "Yuk!" I guess it's nice that local and foreign guys aren't in conflict there.

[fat_chris]

So, why are guys attracted to China?

For me, (1) it's the welcome challenge of learning the language, (2) the many opportunities for decent jobs (in my mind, China can be the land of opportunity for laowai--a type of reverse jinshan), (3) the opportunities to travel in such a large diverse country, (4) being able to afford a high standard of living on little $$$ and yet being able to live simply, (5) living in the exotic Orient where even mundane errands bring surprises and something new.

The women are nice, but a male can find nice, hot women everywhere. Most of the women that I get involved with, wherever I may be, only seem to become a hassle later. That's something we won't get into.

[fat_chris]

So...looking at my reasons, those could easily be the same reasons why foreign women are attracted to China.

The women and availability of relationships are nice, but once again, they can be found elsewhere as easily and they tend to be overrated most of the time.

[Wolf]

I see. #2 it is. *Holds nose.*

[Susie]

Do male TEFLers get paid more than female TEFLers?