General Information | Filipina Dating; Filipino Women

Filipinas and Black Men

Let’s say you are an African-American man who is interested in finding love in the Philippines. You may be wondering if you have a chance of winning a Filipina’s heart. I’ll do my best to answer that question.

As I’ve mentioned before (see: Filipina Beauty), people in the Philippines tend to prefer Caucasian physical characteristics, such as a pointy nose, blue eyes, and light skin. They avoid sun exposure (for fear of getting darker) and spend a lot of money on “skin whitening” products. Some of the most popular celebrities are half Caucasian. This is simply the way it is right now.

RECOMMENDED: I recommend Christian Filipina for those who are serious about finding love in the Philippines.

But that doesn’t mean an African-American has no chance. I’ve met quite a few black men who are happily married to Filipina women (almost all the ones I’ve met are retired military guys). One of my readers (a retired black gentleman) recently let me know he’s had a really good response to his profile on a dating website.

So I would never discourage anyone, regardless of skin color, from looking for love in the Philippines. I would offer a few tips:

*Be sure to post your profile picture. You want to know upfront if the one you are chatting with is really open to you.

*This may sound obvious, but I would encourage you to ignore profiles that express a preference for white men only. Don’t waste your time trying to convince someone who is not open-minded.

*Visit the Philippines if at all possible. I think you’ll find that Filipinos are very warm and friendly to all regardless of skin color.

RECOMMENDED: REMITLY

Helping Your Filipina Spouse Adjust to the USA

Let’s say you’ve finally made it through all that red tape and brought your wife or fiancee to the USA. How can you make her feel at home and help her adjust? I’ll share some suggestions I believe you’ll find helpful.

Staying in Touch

Your wife will want to stay in touch with her family. The internet, of course, is very helpful for this. There are internet cafes all over the Philippines and it shouldn’t be too hard for family members to get online and chat with your wife. Internet access for smart phones is becoming common as well, so her family may be able to communicate that way.

Texting can be done through a program called Chikka. You can set up an account to send free texts. Just warn the recipients that responding (from their cell phones) will cost money (it cost more than a regular text message if I remember correctly).

Calling (either cell phones or a land line) is a different story. For some reason calling to the Philippines costs a lot more than calling from the Philippines. Your best option for inexpensive calls to the Philippines is probably going to be Globe Duo. Whoever you want to call will need to get a Globe number/SIM card (Globe is one of the main cellular companies in the Philippines). This subscription service will set it up so that you can call that one Globe number with unlimited minutes for a monthly fee (around 10$).

Sending Money

I won’t repeat everything I’ve said before about money and sharing, but your wife will probably want to occasionally (or regularly) send money back to her family. There’s more than one good service for this, but I would recommend Remitly. What’s nice about this service is you don’t pay a transfer fee for the economy service (3 business days). They still make money off the exchange rate, but you save a few dollars on the fee if there’s no emergency. I’ve rarely encountered a situation where a family member has to have money in 24 hours, so the economy service is what we used most of the time.

RECOMMENDED: I recommend Christian Filipina for those who are serious about finding love in the Philippines.

Filipino Media

Your wife will be able to get all kinds of Filipino media through video websites like Youtube. Some cable companies carry channels catering to the Filipino community, especially if you live in a large city or place with a significant Filipino population.

Here’s another option that is available to anyone with an internet connection: The Filipino Channel. You can subscribe to this channel for about 12 bucks a month and watch all kinds of content. This looks like a perfect choice if your local cable provider doesn’t offer some kind of specialty channel for Filipinos. It would also work well for those who don’t want to change their cable service just to get that one channel.

Filipino Food

You’ll need to invest in a rice cooker if you haven’t already. She may want to eat rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner just like she does back home. Larger cities will have at least one Filipino (or Asian) store so she can get some ingredients. Fortunately, some dishes (like adobo) don’t require anything except what can be found at most grocery stores (vinegar, soy sauce, etc).

Filipino Community

Your wife will also find it helpful if she can meet some other Filipina friends in your community. One way to go about this is search “Filipino American (name of your city/town/state)” and see what you can find. There are Fil-Am associations all over the place. You’ll eventually discover that people from the Philippines tend to find each other and gather together for social events like birthday parties.

Hope this helps!

Filipina Beauty

I’m not the only Western guy to notice the exceptional beauty of the women here in the Philippines. Most first-time visitors comment on how pretty the girls are (both men and women).

Here’s what’s interesting: Filipino culture tends to prize features we’d associate with Caucasians. White skin, a pointed nose, and blue eyes are considered handsome or beautiful characteristics. Some of this goes back to the period in which the Spaniards ruled. Children of Spanish colonizers certainly had certain social/economic advantages, so “whiter is better” kind of got imprinted in the culture.

I don’t think this preference is purely based on cultural baggage from the Spanish era. Maybe it also has to do with Western media and the desire to look more like international actors and actresses.

For better or worse, people in the Philippines admire light skin. Filipinos spend millions on products designed to whiten their skin (first-time visitors to the country may be surprised by the marketing of “skin whitening” lotions). Many of the popular tv and movie stars are half Filipino/half Caucasian.

RECOMMENDED: I recommend Christian Filipina for those who are serious about finding love in the Philippines.

Most Filipino men I’ve talked to tend to prefer women with fair complexions (called mestizas). Women with darker complexions (morenas) are often not considered as beautiful. There are exceptions to this rule, but I’m speaking in very general terms to make a point.

Here’s where this gets interesting for Western men: the woman you consider beautiful may be looked upon as completely “average” by the standards here in the Philippines. I love the look of a “classic” Filipina beauty: dark skin, dark hair, dark eyes, and a petite figure. Most foreigners I meet also seem to choose morenas.

This is where a Western man is in a win-win situation as far as physical attraction goes. He admires the women of the Philippines who may not be appreciated by her fellow countrymen. She is attracted to his pointed nose and other Caucasian features.

I think this is an overlooked aspect of “Fil-West” relationships. Philippine women are often just considering all their options and responding to those who most appreciate their unique attractiveness.