New York Magazine generates a heated debate
Is this the month of Asians on the cover of magazines?
V Magazine, Italia Vogue and now New York Magazine.
“Asian Like Me” (or, as it’s titled,”Paper Tiger“) is written by Wesley Yang with they byline, “What happens to all the Asian-American overachievers when the test-taking ends?”. It’s on the cover of this week’s New York magazine.
Contributors to “Asian Like Me” discuss everything from traditional Asian upbringing and how it may deter success in the workplace, to Asian male social awkwardness, and the “bamboo ceiling” effecting high-achieving Asian Americans in companies across the United States.
Yang’s feature also looks at the Asian version of pick-up master Mystery, J.T. Tran, the Asian Playboy, whose website says, “The story he tells is one of Asian-American disadvantage in the sexual marketplace, a disadvantage that he has devoted his life to overturning. Yes, it is about picking up women. Yes, it is about picking up white women.”
What a touchy subject!
Nina Shen Rastogi responds to Wesley Yang’s “Paper Tigers” http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2011/05/10/a-response-to-wesley-yang-s-paper-tigers.aspx
JT I know you have been around the other Asian websites lately. Did you win your argument with Erika at http://www.8asians.com ?
As I am mentioned (my stage/pen name being “Asian Playboy”) and my company (the ABCs of Attraction) in this story about representing Asian men and enhancing our image as masculine and confident, a subject near and dear to my heart, I thought I’d chime in real quick.
Obviously, my approach is from an alternative angle- helping Asian men be confident and successful in their dating, sex life, and romantic life- but achieving confidence is something both universal and something that can be applied to all areas of our lives. My students have gone off to have sexual adventures, but to also fall in love, settle down, and get married.
It is so SO important for Asian Americans to learn that emotional intelligence is a HIGHER PREDICTOR OF SUCCESS than simply your grades and college education. Working with people, interacting with them with confidence is what will make you both successful and happy.
The mission statement of my company falls in line with wanting to help my Asian brothers be successful in all areas of their lives. My first client, in fact, was a Canadian Chinese mother who called me up after hearing about me from her son.
She literally hired my to fly up to Toronto and help socialize her son who had been harassed by neo-Nazis in highschool. And for three days and three nights, I was the big brother he never had, teaching him the secret language that Wesley points out in the beginning of the story.
Anyways, hopefully Asian Americans who read this will begin to strike out on their own, to be more successful, and to achieve their own happiness. And if I and my company can be of any small help in that part, I am proud to do my part.
JT Tran
http://www.abcsofattraction.com