Yunior's How To Date A Brown Girl, Black Girl

Yunior from Junot Diaz’s short story, “How to Date A Brown Girl, Black Girl, White
Girl, or Halfie”, acts as his own worst enemy because his interactions with the opposite sex in his neighborhood prevent him from establishing more meaningful connections. Essentially, Yunior is sexually motivated because he views sex as a game; the more girls he has sex with, the more valuable he is to the men in his neighborhood. In Yunior's case, the amount of sex he has is reflective of his masculinity and value as a man. Yunior believes that being promiscuous satisfies his idea of what it means to be a man, and his sexual conquests serve as a type of competition with the other men in his neighborhood. Subsequently, this prevents Yunior from developing a sense of respect for the girls he encounters, and only furthers his belief that women are sex objects. The more sexual interactions Yunior has, the stronger his disposable attitude towards women grows. Yunior serves as his own antagonist when it comes to sex and relationships because his desire for connection backfires amidst his sexual conquests. Yunior's perception of women as objects prevents

Yunior organizes the women he brings over into a hierarchy based on race, with white girls situated near the top. Yunior specifically values white girls over other races because they help him live vicariously through their whiteness, or at least draw him nearer to their whiteness by association. Once again, Yunior hides the pictures of himself with an afro because he is ashamed of his blackness, and does not want the girls he brings over to know his African heritage. Yunior seems to associate whiteness with wealth and privilege; he even states that he wishes his skin, hair, and lips were more like a white person’s. Yunior prefers white girls because they remind himself of what he wants to be: Yunior wishes he were white, and not black or