Say, if one parent is Asian (in this case, Filipino) and one is Caucasian, will the children most likely look Asian?

All the mixed Asian/Caucasian people I know (and for some reason, I know a few) look more Asian than Caucasian. I think the Asian look tends to be darker making it the stronger gene (I might be complete wrong but that’s what I have always assumed).

My cousin married and has children with an Asian guy and their kids look more like their father. But there is some Caucasian traits in them, such as their eyes.

I have a friend who is half Filipino and half Caucasian. She doesn’t look Filipino at all but she does look like what has come to be thought of as “generic Asian.” Oddly enough, I have found that the Asian phenotype has a tendency to fade almost completely by the third generation, that is to say, someone with one Asian grandparent and three Caucasian grandparents will look 100% white, as opposed to someone with one black or Hispanic grandparent and three Caucasian grandparents.

@KatawaGrey Actually I have noticed that too. I have a friend who is half Chinese and half Caucasian and, whilst you can see the Chinese in her, her daughter looks 100% white like you said.

My dad does. I barely do. My younger brother is pretty Filipino looking, my other two siblings slightly less so. I just take more after my mom’s side (French-Canadian and indigenous).

If memory serves the Spanish ruled over or occupied the Philipines for many years, so the Filipino friend might have recessive traits due to mixing in her own background.

@JLeslie Yep, a lot of us have varied degrees of Spanish descent.

My mother is Japanese and my father was caucasian. I ended up more Asian in appearance, with some caucasian features. I have double eyelids and my hair is wavy. When I was in college, I was told I looked more latino than asian.

@majorrich: What are “double eyelids”?

My eyelids fold in the middle with a crease, my brother’s do not. It’s kind of hard to describe, almost like my eyelids are thinner. A couple of my friends contemplated cosmetic surgery to have their eyes fixed to be like mine, but decided against it.

@majorrich A friend of mine is Korean and she opted for the surgery.

@majorrich: Okay, I see what you mean. I just spent a few minutes feeling my eyelids as I opened and closed them in the crowded cafeteria, btw. So, what are an Asian’s eyelids generally like? And why would someone get surgery for that?

@KatawaGrey I think they feel caucasian eyes are more ideal, more appealing. I don’t even notice the difference. I think Asian women are beautiful generally and their eyelids don’t even strike me as a major feature affecting their beauty. I saw a show on Oprah once where Asian women discussed it, and black people discussed being too dark. It seems within their own communities they are more critical of themselves than we on the outside of the community. At least that is how it seems to me. Maybe they perceive caucasians as worrying about things they would never worry about like T & A size? Not sure. It will be interesting to see what @majorrich says.

@JLeslie: I thnk you’re right which is just said. I also haven’t noticed any difference between “average” Asian eyelids and “average” Caucasian eyelids. They’re just eyelids to me.

My brothers and Mom’s eyelids just don’t have that fold in them so it emphasizes the almond shape and is a little bit ‘puffy’ looking. The folded eyelid make the eye appear somewhat rounder. Probably a westernization thing. Trying to look like an Anime. lol.

I think it depends on which side you are on. To a caucasian the child will look more asian, the the asian it will look more caucasian.

It’s really in the genes. It’s a matter of what happens to be more dominant and so on at the time of conception. Something like eye color.
The laws of genetics state that eye color is inherited as follows:
If both parents have blue eyes, the children will have blue eyes.
The brown eye form of the eye color gene (or allele) is dominant, whereas the blue eye allele is recessive.
If both parents have brown eyes yet carry the allele for blue eyes,  a quarter of the children will have blue eyes, and three quarters will have brown eyes.
If it goes for eyes it must go for the rest of the body.

Huh. My Dad has hazel eyes and my Mom had green. My three siblings have dark brown and I have blue.

From what I understand the newer science on eye color shows it is more complex than previously thought. @meego is demonstrating the simple example of genes when there is clear cut dominant and recessive traits. Classic examples back when I was young, not sure what they teach now, were eye color, color blindness and some others.

This is a more well planned, thought out and executioned idea on genetics, thats if anyone is up for reading the material =O
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetics?wasRedirected=true

My dad is Asian and my mum is Caucasian. I’d say with my brothers and I you could definitely tell. But my dad’s sister married a Caucasian man and their children are all very pale-skinned and have light hair. It’s not that predictable.

God knows.

The likelihood of the child looking Asian is good because (if I remember correctly) it is dominant genetically. I only know one person with a white parent and an Asian parent. He looks white so you can’t be sure.

Every Amerasian friend of mine is gorgeous. Just sayin’.

@Jude My wife’s Thai. This is how the luck of the draw treated us. People don’t quite know what he may be. How American is that?

A good thing about being like this is I don’t sunburn easily. Just brown like a cake.

@majorrich I am so jealous of that.

Yes my dad is white and my mom is full Viet. I came out looking fucking ASIAN! FML!

@majorrich Good point on the melanin in the skin. That picture was from his sendoff ceremony for deployment to Afghanistan. We were out there in the sun for hours listening to everyone from the Governor and Senator Scott Borwn on down to the City Clerk of Worcester give a speech. I was cooked red that evening. He was just fine. :-)

@smokeweedeveryday That’s what I meant about the luck of the draw. On any given trait, you can come up just like dad, just like mom, or anywhere inbetween.

@smokeweedeveryday Why the FML? The picture of you is beautiful, you are blessed.

@ETpro Is that your son?!?

@longtresses Yep, the old guy in the blue checkered shirt is me. The dashing young first lieutenant standing next to me is my son.

@ETpro I bet on that day your son’s friends were, like, “Who’s this man?” LOL

@longtresses Yeah, I think so.

Hello! I too keep hearing that the Asian gene is dominant. Well, apparently my family doesn’t follow that philosophy. :) My parents are both from the Philippines and my husbands grandparents were from Wales (Maternal) and Scotland (Paternal). My six year old has chestnut brown hair, blue eyes and is very fair. Her hair lightens in the summer and she gets a sprinkle of freckles. My 19 month old has strawberry blond hair, blue/green eyes and is also fair skinned. We don’t doubt that she will get freckles too.

For a Filipino man I’ve always thought my father was very fair. So, who knows. Maybe there is a history there that no one is willing to admit. I’ve been told all my life that I am fair skinned, for a Filipino. Since I was born and raised in Canada, amongst so many different cultures I’ve never given this much thought. Until I ended up with two very Caucasian children.