Are these Filipinas just projecting their own guilt?
I'd really like to hear what people think about this one, because it's interesting and something we've only run into recently.
My wife and I have been together for almost 25 years. We have kids, and we're fairly close in age. We met and married in a third country through a mutual friend. Her family wasn't poor, but not rich either — middle class, good people. When we visited recently, her family drove us around in their cars and we chipped in for gas. When we ate out, it was anyone's guess who'd end up paying.
For years we didn't live anywhere with a lot of Filipinos, and that was fine. My wife likes going to the Asian store here in the US now and then, but she doesn't need to be around other Filipinos. It's nice when we are. There's one family we met years ago who are like family to us, but they now live several states away.
In the last year or two we've gotten to know some Filipinos from wealthier families who are here in the US. And we've started noticing that the ones from wealthier families look down on my wife because she married an American. They seem to carry the bias that any woman who married an American must have been after the money.
But as you all know, that's a pretty common perception, and it's easy to brush off as ignorance. What baffles me is that Filipino women who are married to Americans and living here in the US do it too. It's like they think they're the only educated, non-bargirl Filipina who ever married an American. :)
Could it be that they're projecting their own guilt onto others? And why does this seem to be happening more lately?
