This is in response to the column, "Stereotypes of Asian Americans limit dating scene" (Viewpoint, March 2). I'd like to comment that although Annalisa Burgos begins by mentioning how the stereotypes of Asian American females and males are analogous, she ends by stereotyping Asian American males herself.

Burgos implies that the lack of interracial dating by many Asian American males is due to their lack of intelligence and character. For example, she writes, "If more Asian American men would approach women outside of their race in the first place and prove that they are intelligent and worthwhile boyfriends, maybe there'd be more of these types of couples."

Burgos also contradicts herself when she writes, "...being American, I also value my independence and self-reliance. I refuse to be told what to do and often feel restricted by my family's expectations and pressure. And that's why many Asian American women are attracted to non-Asian men. There are fewer expectations and pressures in such relationships."

But what about Asian males? We value independence and self-reliance as much as the next American. Coincidentally, if the stereotype of Asian American males is that we are more "submissive, respectful and obedient" than the typical non-Asian American, wouldn't we then be less domineering and more sensitive than the average American male, and thus, a better catch? I have asked many white women who have dated Asian men about this, and the majority have told me that the men that they dated treated them with more respect and were less domineering than the "typical" American man.

I'd also like to talk about how these stereotypes affect the Asian American community as a whole. Both gender stereotypes of Asians are analogous. They portray Asians as weak, submissive and powerless. They perpetuate the image of Asians as foreigners because there is something very distinctly "un-American" about a poor, submissive, whimpering sap in an abundant land of "manifest destiny" and the old pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps American mythology.

The stereotypes about Asian Americans are nothing more than a construct of mainstream American society that reveals more about the American psyche than the subject which it purports to describe.

As evidence, we should examine how Asians in Latin America are viewed. In general, Latino men are stereotyped as being more "macho" than American men. Yet, the stereotypes of Asian Latinos are very different from those in the United States. When I lived in Latin America, I knew about 10 Asian Argentine families in Buenos Aires, and in every case, it was an Asian male married to an Argentine woman. I was also told by a Peruvian woman that, in Peru, it is mostly men of Japanese descent who marry outside of their race because, in general, Japanese women want to maintain their culture, and thus they prefer Japanese Peruvian men.

In South America, Asian men are often looked upon as a good catch because the stereotypes there assume that Asians are well-educated, hard working, stable, and property or business owners of some sort. The above stereotypes are similar to ones about Asians in the United States. But in Latin America, they are used to construct an overall positive, powerful image of the Asian Latino.

Proof of this positive, masculine image was seen during the 1990 presidential campaign of Alberto Fujimori of Peru. While campaigning, he often carried a samurai sword and performed a routine of swordsmanship in front of potential voters. He won the presidency by a landslide in a country where the Asian population is similar proportionally to the Asian population in the United States. I seriously doubt that an Asian American, whether male or female, could have been elected president of the United States in 1990, or even in 2020.

As far as I know, there are no stereotypes about the Asian Latino being submissive or geeky. Once, in Mexico City, I was talking about the Chinese community in America, and I asked the family with whom I was staying about how Chinese Mexicans were perceived. The mother of the family (whose family doctor was Chinese Mexican) told me, "Well, I'll tell you what I know about Chinese men in Mexico. I know that many like to gamble a lot, but aren't they womanizers?"

Are we either sexless geeks or womanizers? Clearly, Asian men are stereotyped across the board. So where does that leave us?

First, most Asian American men would probably be just as likely to go out with non-Asian women if given the opportunity. But what happens? Overwhelmingly, it is men who are the initiators of the dating process. Given that Burgos agrees that mainstream America has marginalized all Asian Americans, Asian males are more likely to introvert themselves within their community as a response to racism and ostracism.

For example, if an Asian American woman receives a date request from a white or black male, she assumes that this person is not racist and may be willing to go out with the man. If an Asian American male was asked out by a black or white female, he would probably feel the same way. But the difference is that, overwhelmingly, men initiate dates, not women.

What I see in the column is Burgos transferring her guilt for her marginalization as an Asian American to Asian men. From my experience, I have seen a sizeable number of Asian women who do not date Asian men. But it is erroneous, divisive and selfish when a person of color blames his/her opposite-sex ethnic counterpart for the marginalization which is accorded to their community as a whole.

In conclusion, I am not in any way opposed to interracial couples. I myself was raised by two white stepmothers, and I have brothers and sisters who are interracial. My example of how Asians are perceived in Latin America is meant to show how the same group can be represented by very different, or even opposing stereotypes, depending on the society they live in.

These stereotypes are as much constructs of that particular society as they are based on any sort of reality. The worst way to combat these stereotypes is to blame one segment of the given community for the marginalization of the whole. Unless we fight these stereotypes as a united community, we will continue to be seen as quiet, subservient, invisible and "foreign," the very ideas we wish to eradicate.