Recently, on one of my blogs, a contributor left a long, racist comment about how the Iranian men in the US during the late Shah’s time were dating white women, but after the Islamic Revolution we were left with only dating black women! Or something like that which forced me to delete the racist and inappropriate comment.
From my own experience and those of my Iranian friends, I can state unequivocally that our dating habits then and now were more a function of supply and demand and not influenced by the name recognition of the late Shah, or lack thereof. In other words, although he paved the way for thousands of us to come to the US and get educated, by no means he delivered white, blond American girls to our dormitories!
We dated white women then because the universities were overwhelmingly white. Later in the 80’s there was an influx of Asians, so we modified our habits. Then came the Iranian women and the Latinas and the Filipinas, so we modified again. And by the time we figured things out, we dated whomever we liked, and many ended up marrying Iranian women.
So, call the late Shah whatever you want, but don’t call him a pimp.
The obsession of the third-world male with the white women reminds me of French-African philosopher Frantz Fanon who wrote in Black Skin, White Masks:
Out of the blackest part of my soul, across the zebra striping of my mind, surges this desire to be suddenly white. I wish to be acknowledged not as black but as white. Now—and this is a form of recognition that Hegel had not envisaged—who but a white woman can do this for me? By loving me she proves that I am worthy of white love. I am loved like a white man.
I am a white man.
Her love takes me onto the noble road that leads to total realization. . . .I marry white culture, white beauty, white whiteness.
When my restless hands caress those white breasts, they grasp white civilization and dignity and make them mine.
فانون, روحت شاد
May I cordially invite our friend, Siavash, and his eye-ranian relative for a sexy counter-argument... And as if anyone is interested in my life story, my time was wasted sitting at the edge of the bed, correcting her pronunciation, “no, sweetheart... not eye-ran; it’s closer to ear-run”... or, trying to cook up some fake stories about elections, which we never had, or how our parliament and judiciary were democratically independent (of course, not), etc. ... And, one more thing, almost all of them thought we ride on camels back home, and they all knew our half-white Queen Sorayya,
Another great piece of yours... I wish I could write this good.. pfffffttttt.
"by no means he delivered white, blond American girls to our dormitories!"
Indeed. That is one of the area that shah of Iran failed us as far as I com concerned! I was expecting to bang super models or at least high class call girls, instead of ending up banging peasent stocks, go figure!
Back in those days, the only times that some blond chick knew about our country of origin were when they had dated one of our brothers and had learned that we were into having a good time, and not necessarily into serious relationships. You would hear phrases like, "I know all about you guys!" And the late Shah was of no help there either.
But generally, we were known as oil rich Arab guys with camels and the works until we told them that they were insulting us.
Iranian-Americans today occupy a high place in this country because of our accomplishments in the past 40 years in our adopted country. We've earned it!
I was in north Idaho, a red neck state back then where hardly anyone knew where Iran was. One Saturday night I went to pick up my brunette date at her parents. There was a cabinet full of guns in their living room. As we were getting ready to leave her dad asked me to stay for a minute as he went upstairs. Fearing for my life I thought I should get the hell outta there. Couple minutes later he came down the stairs holding a big unfolded map. He walked up to me and said: “OK son, show me where eye-ran is on this map”.
it was a beautiful unforgettable night.
This whole idea of Iranian men wanting to date white women is racist and self denigrating. I have dated women from pretty much all races, white, black, Hispanic, [very white] Scandinavian European, Asian, Arab, Noth African Arab, and quite a few Iranians. Nothing compares to Iranian women. THE BEST!
One thing I don't understand why some of us avoid black girls? Some black girls are very hot. No pool party in complete without one of them.
Dear AmirtheBear, this whole culture of dating white women by brown / black people is a symptom of an inferiority complex. You see it in some black males who become rich and powerful. Examples: OJ Simpson, Clarence Thomas, one of Fox News hosts (don't know his name as I don't watch Fox). It's sad. I have personally dated a few African American girls. Lots of fun, especially when you meet the extended family. :-) But as I have said in the past, Iranian women are the BEST!
ikea-4u,
Make sure that you can handle the heat in the kitchen before you turn the oven on! Otherwise, you might rant racist stuff like some of the folks around here!
Just kidding. You're good.