qz | Harvey’s recent comments regarding Asian men can’t be as easily
dismissed. Essentially, Harvey told his audience that he couldn’t
imagine any way an Asian man could ever be deemed attractive—causing a
social media eruption by playing into long-standing stereotypes of Asian
males as emasculated and nonsexual.
And the reaction rapidly expanded beyond the internet. Prominent Asians, from The Daily Show’s Ronny Chieng to Star Trek icon George Takei to Fresh Off the Boat author Eddie Huang, denounced Harvey—the latter in a massively shared op-ed for the New York Times. All of New York’s leading Asian American politicians sent a joint letter to Endemol Shine, who produce Harvey’s show, demanding an immediate public apology for his “offensive, classless comments.”
Within hours, the internet hive mind had posted a staggering array of undeniably hot Asian guys, such as those on this expertly curated list by Huffington Post relationship editor Brittany Wong: “21 Fine-As-Hell Asian Men Who Will Make You Swoon And Then Some.”
This is hardly the first time lists like this have popped up—they’re
generated any time a celebrity or media organization invokes the
stereotypical image of the Asian male. Wong’s is very similar to this BuzzFeed post
published back in 2014. Some of the names and faces have changed, but
the commonalities are clear: Almost all of these men are tall,
shirtless, and have the muscles of a Greek god training for the Iron Man
triathlon.
And as a not-so-undeniably-hot Asian guy—a medium-aged divorced dad
with a one-pack, a molded-not-sculpted face and hair that’s backed
gingerly away from my forehead like it’s afraid of my eyebrows—I find
these galleries a little awkward. Highlighting a handful of insanely
gorgeous genetic-lottery winners doesn’t exactly contradict the
assertion that average Asian men like me are, in the eyes, minds, and
hearts of the West, inherently unappealing.
In fact, these hyper-hot galleries underscore the fact that these guys are exceptions to the rule;
that by reaching an optimal standard of Western masculine beauty, these
Asian men have managed to overcome their racialized lack of appeal.
