Oxford Study on Asian Women Dating White Men

Submission 556

Part of a series on WMAF / AMWF. [View Related Entries]

About

Oxford Study on Asian Women Dating White Men refers to a 2010 Oxford University study called "The New Suzie Wong: Normative Assumptions of White Male and Asian Female Relationships," which became the subject of jokes on TikTok and elsewhere aimed to criticize and mock Asian female and white male (WMAF) relationships. Internet users spammed "Oxford study" in the comment sections of videos showing instances of the interracial relationship. However, despite the memes purporting that the study was about the tendency of Asian women to choose white men to date, the Oxford study in question was solely about TV advertisements and how some shaped perceptions of romantic relationships between white men and Asian women. Regardless, commenting "Oxford study" or making memes about the Oxford study surfaced en masse in 2024 as some couples embraced the stereotype. Asian women posted self-effacing content about their personal preferences for white men.

Origin

On April 10th, 2023, TikToker^[1] @lightskinbbyrei stitched an Asian female and white male couple, saying that there needed to be a "full Oxford investigation" of their attraction. The video received over 330,600 plays and 53,900 likes in a year.

Later on April 10th, TikToker^[2] @lightskinbbyrei stitched a similar video of a WMAF couple who captioned their video, "asian & white duo >>." @lightskinbbyrei said, "The Oxford study is in motion," receiving over 377,900 plays and 34,500 likes in a year (shown below).^[3]

Spread

In the following year, videos about the Oxford Study surfaced en masse. For instance, on January 3rd, 2024, TikToker^[4] @m.nnequin030 posted a video that used the hashtag #oxfordstudy and had text overlay reading, "Me praying on the downfall of mid white men and their ability to enchant 10/10 Asian women," receiving over 4.1 million plays and 685,100 likes in 10 months (shown below).

TikTokers began commenting "Oxford study" in the comment sections of videos posted by Asian female and white male couples predominantly starting in early 2024. For instance, on March 14th, TikToker^[5] @hyunnybb posted a video about the Oxford Study, responding to a comment that asked her if she preferred white men. Her video received over 125,000 plays and 1,100 likes in eight months (shown below).

On May 26th, 2024, TikToker^[6] @etymologynerd posted a video in which he claimed that the Oxford Study was fake. He showed the Oxford study that people were likely referencing, called "The New Suzie Wong: Normative Assumptions of White Male and Asian Female Relationships," which is only about the representation of Asian female and white male relationships on TV. His video on the topic, condemning the trend, gained over 347,600 plays and 41,700 likes in six months (shown below).

On June 26th, The Guardian^[3] writer Steffi Cao published an article on the Oxford Study trend, also claiming that the study in question was unrelated to what the TikTok trend purported.

Going into late 2024, Asian women and white men online posted memetic content about the Oxford Study trend that was predominantly self-effacing. For instance, on August 29th, TikToker^[7] @kirahedtke posted a video that showed herself and her other Asian friends posing with white men, including text overlay that read, "Oxford study????!!!!!!" The video received over 1.3 million plays and 134,600 likes in three months (shown below).