How Much Is An Asian American Spouse Worth?

Published on October 16, 2012
Written by: Jeff
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weddings lg How Much Is An Asian American Spouse Worth?

How much is an Asian American spouse worth? Janis Spindel’s new Asian American matchmaking service will charge Asian American men a minimum of $5000 to match them with a prospective wife. What makes her think that men will pay that? She describes why in this press release.

Janis Spindel already has a matchmaking business that focuses on men as clients. She says that she was approached by an Asian matchmaker who wanted to use her business model and expertise to launch a new division to serve “young Asian Americans who are pressured by their parents to get married and have children.”  She also claims that Asian American parents are willing to pay matchmakers to make that happen.

Spindel’s business model has men paying $5000 at the lowest of two tiers of service after careful screening. Asian American women pay $275 and have to go through the same screening process. From a business standpoint, her move into this new market seems very clever.  She already has the infrastructure for a matchmaking service set up and operational, and expanding into a new market with the same model could be done at a relatively low cost. Having already expanded into the gay men matchmaking market, she is now expanding into the Asian American market and possibly other niche markets where as she puts it:

I realized this could be the start of an amazing launch of multiple niche matchmaking businesses. For instance, other cultures around the world force their children to marry within a specific religion or race. That opens the doors to other niche markets.

I have to say that I do find this last quote somewhat disturbing. Also disturbing is that the fee structure of her business model implies that as an Asian American man, I am only worth 5.5% of what an Asian American woman is worth, and that is at the lowest tier of service. I do credit Spindel with being a clever businesswoman — even if this venture fails, the start-up costs couldn’t be all that great since she has already established the basic infrastructure for making this venture work.

I still wonder whether Asian American men and women will pay these prices, although I think Spindel is definitely targeting an upscale clientele. What do you all think? Would you use such a service? Would anyone you know use it? Do you think it will be successful?

The first office will open in New York in November and then others will open on the West Coast.

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Categories: Business, Dating, Lifestyles
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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Madley-Katarungan/595776217 Madley Katarungan

    For some reason I had to go to her website to see if she was Asian… although I don’t doubt Asians/Asian-Americans would go to a matchmaker — would they go to someone outside of their race? Or maybe that’s not the point… eventually there would be such a big database of daters/datees in her A-A niche it wouldn’t even matter any more.

    And I’m confused about the math, why you are disturbed… explain to me please. I think it’s pretty standard that the men always pay more…

  • pzed

    The story doesn’t make the pricing clear. It says there are 2 levels for men, the lower starting at $5k, but then later it says they’ll charge $275, before taking the men as clients.

  • http://www.8asians.com/author/ancientone95131/ jeffat8asians

    @pzed: Regarding pricing, men pay $5K at the lowest level of service. Women wanting to be matched pay $275.

    @Madley: The 5.5% figure is derived from $275/$5000. Yes, her business model is that men pay more, but Asian American women paying only 5.5% of Asian American pay seems extreme and like a value judgment on the value of seeking an Asian American man. Regarding race of the matchmaker, the article did mention that an Asian American woman was seeking to use Janis Spindel’s model and infrastructure to start an Asian American division.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Sanchez-De-La-Cruz-Kim/58700922 Ahmed Sanchez De La Cruz Kim

    I don’t know if this particular service provider will be successful but matchmaking is a serious business among many Asians, both overseas and American citizens.
    It depends on a lot of factors, but yeah, the family would get involved in some way and there is a high probability they would help fork out that much money. For both guys and girls. I got my info from reading many articles and from personal interactions with people who have done such activity.

  • Lili Marlene

    It could be that women are more embarrassed about using matchmaker services to find men. Women are sought after in our society; we are trained not to do the pursuing.

    And as for being worth 5.5% of an Asian woman, remember that women, especially Asian women, are prized as sexual objects… but men generally are not. While society in general seems to pressure all men to be ripped and ready all the time (or else you’re not a “real man”), I don’t know any women who prefer that sort of image. Not to mention the less than flattering stereotypes regarding Asian men as being distant, aloof, unromantic, and academically intelligent while socially bumbling. It could be that because of this, men are not as ‘in demand’ as commodities as Asian women are. In terms of people being products, which is essentially what happens in a matchmaking service, you have a lot of goods and not a lot of buyers on one type of stock, and fewer goods but more demand on another. Prices adjust to reflect that. A man pays more for the “rarer good”- the woman.

    It’s pretty clear she markets to affluent men, so $5000 will be no problem to them. These are people who don’t have time to clean their own toilets, much less find a person they care about for themselves. It’s just easier for them to pay someone to find their potential future spouse for them.

  • http://www.facebook.com/lili.marlene.52 Lili Marlene

    Sorry it’s a bit late. I’m not Jeff, but also find it disturbing (but not surprising in the least) that men are expected to pay more. 1) Because men *make* more, especially in terms of higher-up positions like CEOs, a lofty and often unreachable position for women, and also because 2) Asian men are seen as jokes. And it’s the kind of ‘joke’ that really isn’t funny. I talked about the reasons for that in my last comment: stereotyping Asian men as being smart, but incapable of having a relationship, a notion that is entirely untrue. Therefore, men are less ‘wanted’ than women. Either women don’t seek out men because if we do, we’re apparently whores or something, or men (Asian men in particular) are not being asked for because of negative stereotypes.

    The “standard” of men paying more needs to be abolished, largely by closing the gender gap in pay, and by abandoning racist tropes of That Asian Guy who works 20 hours a day before coming home for a nap.

  • gender divided

    you realize Asian men make way less than women compared to white men does, right?

    once again, your Joy Luck Club feminism fails to acknowledge the racist system at play against genders breakdown in considerations of race.

    you want to blame white men? leave Asian men out of your white female feminism wrongfully applied to Asian men.

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