In the eyes of the mainstream public Asian men have always had a bad reputation as not being attractive to women. Well that’s quickly changing. We’ll tell you why.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane. Specifically, let’s take a trip back to 1984. That year saw the release of the Macintosh, the Soviet boycott of the Olympics in Los Angeles, the formal identification of the HIV virus, and the agreement that Hong Kong would be returned to Chinese possession 13 years later in 1997.
It also saw one of the single most damaging events for Asian men in recent history: the release of the film 16 Candles.
It featured the infamous Long Duk Dong, an Asian parody character with a ridiculous name and an even more ridiculous personification of every stereotype in the book. He was horny, but too socially awkward to get the girl, a perpetual bumbling joke. Up until this point, in the majority of films Asian men only had to endure kung fu stereotypes; now Hollywood was telling the world that it’s perfectly okay and totally hilarious to portray Asian men as sexless and unskilled with the ladies.
Not the best haircut…
Enter 30 years of non-stop parodies, stereotypes, and dick jokes.
But this is not a bad news article; I’m here to tell you that times are changing for the better.
What would you say if I were to tell you that Asian men are now more desirable than ever?
What would you say if I were to tell you that Asian men are becoming wildly popular as paragons of fashion, masculinity, music, dance, and romance?
If you grew up in the world I did, you’d probably say I was crazy. But it’s true, and I’m here to offer proof.
Let’s get right to the point. Quite possibly the single biggest reason that Asian men are now more desirable than ever is because of the explosion of Asian media. While Hollywood was doing its best to sweep Asian men under the rug, Asian producers had no idea that their clients were “supposed” to be walking, talking jokes, and frankly, they didn’t care. It was simply unprofitable for Asian media to emasculate Asian men for Asian audiences. In Asian media, men went right on being sexy as usual.
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And then technology happened.
Suddenly, you didn’t have to travel to Asia to witness powerful Asian male celebrities. Jrock and Kpop exploded on the Western scene, and with them came Korean television, Japanese thrillers, and mainstream Chinese films. Several prominent Asian celebrities (like Taiwanese singer, songwriter, and actor Jay Chou) are even making a name for themselves outside of their homeland.
I know that a lot of Asian men sneer at things like Kpop in particular. I can’t blame them—there’s only so many saccharine sweet love ballads my ears can take before they start to bleed in protest—but we can’t deny how valuable it has been for Western people to get a good look at good-looking Asian men.
I firmly believe that the explosion of Asian media and the proliferation of the Internet are single-handedly responsible for giving a jump start to the Asian male revolution, because seeing hot Asian men in Asian media meant that Westerners were no longer relying on over-fobbed, under-sexed Hollywood representations of Asian men to make opinions about Asian men’s sexual value; they have the REAL THING.
They have this:
My panties are wet.
Hang on, I have to change my panties. That is HOT.
Asian men were no longer accepted as ridiculous and offensive stereotypes the way Hollywood media had been lying to Americans for generations, they were HOT and women took notice.
How many of you don’t know a single American girl with Asian fever? How many of you don’t know a girl who listens to Kpop or cracks up laughing at one of the insanely popular Asian men on YouTube? How many of you don’t know women who would trade places with Maggie on The Walking Dead?
If you can count yourself in that group, I suggest you quit living under a rock.
Money talks, and millions of dollars are now being paid out in the form of YouTube revenue, iTunes sales, movie tickets, and concert tickets. There’s now more demand than ever for Asian men, and Hollywood has been listening.
Many sexy Asian men have been making us swoon in Hollywood as of late. Daniel Dae Kim in Lost and Hawaii Five-0, Daniel Henney in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Harry Shum Jr in Glee, and Rick Yune in Olympus Has Fallen. More importantly, Asian men have been cast in leading romantic roles than ever before, which is a complete 180* turn from what Long Duk Dong did for the romantic prospects of Asian men 30 years ago. We went from seeing over-fobbed and under-sexed Asian stereotypes to seeing Steven Yeun’s Glenn kicking ass and having sex with a HOT white girl in The Walking Dead, Jet Li’s Han romancing a Black woman in Romeo Must Die, John Cho’s Harold romancing a Latina in the Harold and Kumar trilogy, and Sung Kang’s Han hooking up with the hottest girl in the cast of Fast and Furious. (P.S. I bet director Justin Lin had something to do with that one).
30 years ago this would have been a pipe dream.
Okay, so he’s only HALF Asian. But he’s fucking hot.
The rise of dance reality shows also helped our Asian boys get some recognition. Let’s face it, dancers are sexy as hell. They possess that killer swag that can make any woman wet in the panties. And in this generation, Asian boys have dominated the dance scene. Just look at the crazy number of amazing Asian dancers and dance crews out on popular media — Quest Crew, Poreotics, Jabbawockeez, Kaba Modern, Super Crew, and the list goes on and on. In fact, the winners of every America’s Best Dance Crew had an Asian member except for Elektrolytes.
How can you not find this sexy?
And let’s not forget our beloved YouTube boys. We got Ryan Higa, KevJumba, Wong-Fu Productions, Timothy DeLaGhetto, the Fung Brothers, Just Kidding Films, and many more. YouTube gave these performers a platform to break away from the Hollywood system and make a name for themselves without needing studio approval. And with the rise of social media, these talented comedians were able to get huge followings without needing to “fit” into a system.
They’re even getting A-list level endorsements.
Instead of living in a world where it was an exception to see an Asian man in entertainment or the media, this is becoming a world where it’s an exception NOT to see one.
Long story short: not only is Hollywood now giving us good-looking Asian men in non-stereotypical roles, it’s also pairing them with women of all colors, giving legitimacy to the Asian men everywhere who refuse to be confined by their race.
I’m not saying that everything is fluffy clouds and unicorns and puppies for Asian men in America right now. I’d be lying if I did. 200 years of stereotypes and 30 years of demeaning Hollywood representation are hard to permanently shake.
But things ARE a lot better for our generation.
Asian boys are no longer growing up seeing themselves portrayed as either doctors or kung fu stars and nothing else; they’re seeing themselves portrayed in an ever-increasing array of roles and occupations.
Asian boys are no longer facing a world in which being ridiculed for their race is simply par for the course; do it then, you’re a comedian, but do it now, you’re an asshole.
And most importantly, Asian boys are no longer facing the prospect of having to grow up in a world where women buy into harmful, untrue, and outdated stereotypes… they’re being CRAVED by women of all colors like never before!
And that’s a little something I like to call progress.
Written by Cindy Young