"About the intimidation thing, I think a lot of us are intimidated, not by [white] women, but by our own image," Everson added. "If you're not nerdy you're a gangster. We're far from the masculine ideal."

"Personally I actually do feel intimidated if I ever thought of asking a [white] woman out on a date," Robert S. Lim '02 said.

Uyen-Khanh Quang-Dang '02 said women have noticed Asian men's sense of intimidation.

In her nearly two years at Harvard, "Not a single Asian guy has ever approached me," she said.

Panel members also discussed the benefits of interracial dating.

"Sometimes a shared racial background can create an unhealthy relationship," Hur said.

She said dating someone from a different culture can provide new perspectives.

"Sometimes you're trying to escape your life," Hur said.

Quang-Dang shared positive experiences from both interracial and non-interracial relationships.

"When I dated someone who was Vietnamese, it was really awesome to share the same language. When I dated a white guy, he appreciated things about me that I never thought about," she said.

Panel members also discussed how to maintain cultural traditions in interracial relationships.

"There's sort of a danger point when you assimilate too much of the white culture," Hur said.

Peggy T. Lim '00 described her father's reaction to her sister's decision to marry a Korean, rather than a Chinese man.

"To him it's like he's been cut off from his line," she said.

"For me, personally, being the first born son of a Korean family, the pressure is there to marry Korean, or at least Asian," said Robert Lim.

Jenny I. Shen '01, co-president of the AAA, said the board's curiosity about trends they've observed inspired the panel.

"Asian women date much more outside of race than men," she said. "Is it a matter of preference, media portrayal?"

The panel members were chosen by officers of the AAA.