"But I'm just not that attracted to Asian men."
Asian male characters in film and TV
have long been sidelined, emasculated,
and denied the chance to have romantic
or sexual relationships --
that’s when they’re not openly mocked.
“If you promise not to be angry
I might let you take those pictures we mentioned.”
“When?” “Sometime.”
“Anytime.”
In an inverse of the trend of fetishizing Asian women
through the “lotus blossom” trope, Asian men are consistently
desexualized onscreen.
And this has directly led to the damaging,
widespread perception in U.S. society that Asian men
are less masculine or sexually desirable.
“I did read somewhere that the people that do worst
on the apps are Asian men and black women.”
“Well, it's great white people finally have an advantage
somewhere.”
Here’s our take on how the Asexual Asian trope
has been used to spread stereotypes of Asian men
in real life,
and why it’s more important than ever to move past it.
“I also want, you know, nerdy Asian men to feel
they are worthy of love.
The problem is when you make fun of them in a secondary role
where you don’t explore their whole lives.”
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"His name is Long Duk Dong."
"I gotta sleep under some Chinaman named after
a duck's dork."
Cinema is full of Asian male characters
who have been stereotyped and belittled,
their foreignness frequently
treated as the butt of the joke.
"You gonna f*** on me?"
"Nobody's gonna f*** on you! We're on your side.
I hate Godzilla!"
While today we’ve at last moved beyond the regressive idea
that an accent is a funny joke,
"So Grandpa's hyena don't get disturbed."
"Hernia!"
the “Asexual Asian man” trope is still omnipresent,
coming through in a variety of forms and character types.
“Everybody, please! Han just clearly injured
his vagina.”
The stereotypical Asian male character might be nerdy,
weak or effeminate
(especially in contrast to hypermasculine white male
characters).
He’s typically reduced to a marginal role like sidekick
to a white guy,
“You fool! You raving Oriental idiot!”
mysterious martial arts master,
or cartoonish villain.
“Your brother’s soul is mine!”
And an overwhelming number of these characters have
no romantic relationships in sight.
“If Bruce Banner is driving a rental car
and turns into the Hulk, do you think it's covered,
or does he need to add the Hulk as an additional driver?”
“You really need a girlfriend.”
But it wasn’t always like this.
In the early days of silent film in Hollywood,
Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa became a huge star,
and one of Hollywood’s first, iconic sex symbols --
so why was he also one of the the last leading Asian men
in the following decades?
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which prohibited Chinese immigration
into the U.S., represented an American fear
of Yellow Peril.
“A letter appeared in the pages of "The New York Sun"
written by a young Chinese immigrant.”
“This country is the land of liberty for all men of all nations
except the Chinese."
This was the idea that Asian immigrants posed a threat
to an American way of life.
As a result of these fears, Asian men in early cinema
were villainized as dangerous threats,
often to white women.
In the 1915 movie The Cheat, Hayakawa plays a predator
who exploits a spoiled white society woman.
The Fu Manchu movies also played into this trope,
"I will wipe out your whole cursed white race!"
"Oh no!"
but Fu Manchu himself was almost always played
by a white man in yellowface -- painting Asians as villains
while reminding the audience of who held the real power.
“It is said that the devil plays for men’s souls.
So does Dr. Fu Manchu. Satan himself.
Evil incarnate.”
Meanwhile, in real life, labor and immigration laws
meant that Asian men had to take jobs
that white men didn’t want --
such as laundering, cooking, and washing dishes --
which were seen as “women’s work.”
This was later reflected in onscreen portrayals
that dismissively portrayed Asian men in these kinds of roles.
“He does the dishes and helps with the laundry,
you betcha.”
Over the decades, increasing numbers of Asian men
found success in high-powered fields like medicine and law,
thus solidifying the “model minority” myth.
"I'm telling you, those Asian guys love
crunching numbers."
Yet Asian men’s growing class power was plagued by
a desexualization meant to reinforce
the existing power dynamic, which kept white men on top.
As Matthew Salesses writes for The Guardian,
this emasculation of Asian men was a deliberate way
for white men to show that,
“Societal power may come at the cost of sexual power.
The model minority Asian American male might become
a doctor or lawyer or engineer, but he can’t get the girl.”
Meanwhile, this desexualized portrayal
came in sharp contrast to the hypersexualized depiction
of Asian women through the submissive,
“exotic” lotus blossom trope.
“She say she very happy to belong to handsome captain.
She say she gonna serve you well.”
Asian men were often made out to be inferior choices
or threats to Asian women, who were then available
to be rescued by white men.
“Maybe I can save one of them, with your help."
Ultimately, it was this combination of
the emasculated Asian Man and the objectified Lotus Blossom
that allowed for white male supremacy
over both Asian men and women.
“What's happening, hot stuff?”
There are a variety of different tropes and clichés
used to desexualize, sideline, and emasculate
Asian men in pop culture.
Let’s take a look at some of the most common ones:
“This time I'm warning you! I am definitely this time
going to calling the police!”
The FOB or “fresh off the boat”
character is primarily used as comic relief.
"So what's your name?" "Dong."
"What's your first name?' "Long."
Cinema is full of offensive examples of this,
like Mickey Rooney’s yellowface portrayal
of Mr. Yunioshi in 1961’s Breakfast At Tiffany’s,
and 1984’s Sixteen Candles’ Long Duk Dong,
an exchange student whose broken English
and inability to assimilate into American culture
makes him a laughingstock for his peers.
“No more yankie my wankie. The Donger need food!”
The FOB character is especially damaging
in how it depicts Asian men as bumbling and stupid --
ignorantly suggesting that having an accent is a sign
of low intelligence and turning the difficulty
of the immigrant experience into something to snicker at.
“The little boy take knife. Big boy take a doughnut.
Bad boy!”
Any sexual or romantic interest these characters display
are usually part of a larger joke
made at their expense.
“People with boobs touch me!” “She means aside from your mom.”
“Then, no.”
The television series 2 Broke Girls came under fire
for its depiction of Han Lee, a Korean immigrant
whose difficulty adjusting to American culture
-- and getting girls-- is a constant,
running joke for the main cast.
“With this costume, my chances of getting laid
are higher than ever!”
“So zero?”
The Sidekick is another popular way Asian men
are portrayed in media.
“Can I be your guy in the chair?”
“What?”
“You know how there's a guy, with the headset,
telling the other guy where to go?
Like... like if you were stuck in a burning building,
I could tell you where to go!”
One of the earliest examples is the character Kato,
played by Bruce Lee, in the 1966 series
The Green Hornet.
Kato serves as the Green Hornet’s valet
and martial arts expert.
“Hornet sting... check. Let's roll, Kato!”
As a sidekick, the Asexual Asian
usually doesn’t have the opportunity to experience
romantic relationships, as these are reserved for
the usually white protagonist.
Even a modern example, Ned Leeds in
Spider-Man: Homecoming, initially plays into this,
though it corrects the problem by giving Ned a romance
in the sequel.
“We actually got to talking on the plane,
and it turns out we have a lot in common.
So, uh, we’re boyfriend and girlfriend now.”
Similar to (and sometimes overlapping with)
the sidekick, The Nerd is another
common portrayal of an Asian man where he’s typically
in the background, playing a supporting role,
and notably desexualized.
The nerd plays heavily into the model minority stereotype,
assuming that Asian men are naturally smart --
especially in STEM fields -- but this intelligence comes
at the cost of being socially awkward and unable
to have relationships.
“She asked me a question. I should probably nod.”
They’re painted as awkward and never seen as a
real romantic threat.
“You mind if I sit over here? I was married to Linda Cooksey--”
“No, why don’t you sit over there, I prefer that.”
Another variation on the Asexual Asian is The Guru.
The guru is wise, sometimes mystical,
and most importantly, old.
His age and wisdom seemingly puts him above the triviality
of romantic relationships, and he almost always lives alone.
The guru also often takes on the role of mentoring
the white protagonist, usually in martial arts.
“Wax on, wax off."
Similarly mystical, cartoonish, and asexual-feeling
is the Asian Male Villain.
“You insult my honor again, I kill you.”
He serves as an obstacle for a usually white,
male protagonist to overcome, often representing an ambiguous
Eastern threat to Western supremacy.
“The Americans are fools. I offered my services.
They refused.”
Playing into the idea of Yellow Peril,
villainous Asians can also pose as threats to helpless
female victims, providing an opportunity for
the protagonist to display his superiority physically
and sexually when he succeeds in getting the girl.
Finally, the Asexual Asian has also been repeatedly portrayed
as a Martial Arts Star:
“Is it true what they say about Hong Kong?”
“What's that?”
“You know, all you guys do Kung Fu.”
“Of course. State law.”
This particular portrayal -- and the popularity of
the Kung Fu movie -- began in large part with
Chinese martial artist and actor Bruce Lee.
“My style? You can call it the art of
fighting without fighting.”
Lee’s departure from the portrayal of the weak
and submissive Asian man helped audiences see Asian men
as strong and masculine,
"A good martial artist does not become tense,
but ready."
and gave a lot of Asian men confidence and pride
in their heritage.
Still, Lee’s popularity also helped perpetuate
stereotypes about Asian men -- for example,
their innate knowledge of martial arts
or other “Asian” forms of fighting --
and he was rarely given love interests or
romantic partners in his films.
In Lee’s most famous film, Enter the Dragon,
his co-competitors Roper and Williams
both spend the night with prostitutes,
“I’ll take you, darling. And you."
while his character stays focused on the mission.
The film Romeo Must Die is also infamous for its
desexualization of its Asian male lead.
Despite the film being a literal retelling
of Romeo and Juliet, the film’s version of Romeo
(Han Sing, played by Jet Li)
isn’t even allowed an onscreen kiss with
his co-star Aaliyah.
“You didn't really think you was gonna get
them panties, now did you?”
“What?”
“Trish. You didn't really think
she was gonna give it up to you, now did you?”
When the studio showed a test cut of the film
that did include a kiss scene, the audience reacted so poorly
that the scene was changed to a platonic hug
in the final cut.
Despite all the superficial differences between
these categories of stock Asian male characters on-screen,
we can see how, as a group,
they’ve led Asian men to be consistently perceived
as nerdy, effeminate,
and not interested in -- or a poor option for --
romance.
“I have made a big decision.”
“You're having a sex change? I totally support you,
but be careful, Han—female-to-male
is very tricky.”
All these portrayals shape our opinions of
Asian men in real life -- and have real-world consequences.
"Excuse me. Do you like Asian men?"
"No."
"Thank you.”
Asian men and Black women are viewed as the least desirable
racial dating groups, according to a 2014 OkCupid study.
And the lack of romantically desirable Asian male characters
on-screen can also lead to Asian men internalizing
this narrative themselves.
"Paxton Hall-Yoshida, the hottest guy
at Sherman Oaks High. Look at this kid's jawline."
In 2016, a social media campaign
called #StarringJohnCho went viral,
Photoshopping images of actor John Cho as the leading role
in popular film posters.
While Cho went on to play the lead in movies like
Columbus and Searching, the campaign highlighted
how rare it was to see leading Asian men onscreen,
especially in films with romantic elements.
In recent years, we have at last seen evidence
of this trend changing.
"You smell really good."
There are now more positive, well-rounded Asian male characters
who experience onscreen romantic relationships.
Crazy Rich Asians launched Henry Golding’s profile
as one of contemporary Hollywood’s rising sex symbols.
“Wherever you are in the world, that’s where I belong.”
Always Be My Maybe and Mulan highlight the romance between
an Asian woman and a non-stereotypical Asian man.
“Hello my name is Marcus, with lyrics for your carcass."
More and more examples also pair Asian male leads
with non-Asian women, moving away from the stereotype
that only Asian women are interested in dating Asian men.
“I am your bride.”
Kumail Nanjiani co-wrote and starred in romantic
comedy-drama The Big Sick, which looks honestly at how
an interracial relationship between a white woman and a man
of Pakistani heritage has to reckon with complex
cultural baggage.
"You know how we have arranged marriage in my culture?
These are those women."
"These are women in Pakistan who want to marry you?"
"They're not in Pakistan."
Insecure’s interracial relationship between Molly and Andrew shows
Molly’s initial bias in dismissing Andrew as a romantic partner,
"Why aren't you excited about him? Is it 'cause he's Asian?
'Cause no judgment! But judgment."
before she eventually comes to see him as a highly romantic
and sexual man, as well as a true catch.
"What that dick do? Or do it don't do?"
"Oh, no, it do. It definitely do."
The relationship between Steven Yeun’s Glenn
and Lauren Cohen’s Maggie is one of the longest-lasting
romances on The Walking Dead,
“Maggie, I love you. I should’ve said it
a long time ago and it’s been true for a long time.”
and one that features Glenn as just an ordinary guy,
without any qualifiers that elevated him above “normal”
Asian men.
Additionally, the rise in popularity
of k-pop bands like BTS among young female audiences
shows us that society is open to redefining what kind of
masculinity is attractive, opening the door for Asian men
who are not traditionally masculine to have opportunities
at romantic relationships in media.
"We’ve been partnering with UNICEF’s End Violence program
to protect children and young people."
In the end, Hollywood’s countless
desexualized and dismissive portrayals of Asian men
have served to subconsciously reinforce Asian male inferiority
and white male superiority.
The Asexual Asian trope as an inescapable,
ubiquitous cliché limits the representation of Asians
onscreen and in our culture’s collective mind.
“We got an ATM.”
“I thought we already had an ATM.
‘Asian transgender male.’”
“Well, thank you for saying ‘male."
Perhaps most importantly, it sends a damaging message
to an Asian male viewer about himself,
which is based solely on false myths
and a purposeful attempt to marginalize an entire culture.
Romantic relationships are not a necessity in order
to tell a story about a fully-formed,
three-dimensional character of any background.
But it’s important to portray Asian men as viable options
for romance, to present their desirability
as one realistic aspect of their full humanity,
and to remind everyone just how much they have to offer.
“Will you marry me and make me the happiest man
in the world?”
“Yes! Yes! Yes! She will marry you!”
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and click the bell to get notified about
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