Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Speaking of Images of Asian Men...


So I was gonna put up the post I wrote for our little "cavalcade of AsAm masculinity" today, but then I followed Angry Asian Man's link to this article of questionable newsworthiness from the venerable New York Times. Apparently, either I don't watch enough t.v. or I'm getting too old for some of this crap, 'cause I was unaware that there existed a show called "Pants-Off Dance-Off." And not only that, but the reigning champion of cable music channel Fuse's populist strip-o-thon is none other than "Masta Wong, an Adonis in an Adidas jacket who strips to the bouncy rhythms of Britpop."

Uh, yeah. O-kaaay... So 33-year-old Howard Wong won enough viewer votes to win on three episodes this past spring and emerge "Pants-Off Dance-Off" champion. Tops off a c.v. that includes med-school drop-out, IT guy, yoga dude, and porn cameraman pretty well, huh? As quoted by the New York frickin' Times, Wong “... had done the naturist thing and I’d been working out, so I was feeling pretty confident about myself by now.”

So, dear readers, does this mark a turning point in the pop-culture image of the (un)sexy Asian American man? First, Daniel Dae Kim on People's sexy list and now...this?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think William Hong set everything back about 15 years.

Whenever I think of Asian men, sadly, I don't think of the hotties - I think of my uncle with those weird wiry hairs growing out of his face that he refuses to shave.

I'm not sure if it's pop culture or just seeing him too much as a kid that did me in :)

Marcie said...

I've always thought of Asian men as hotties. From a crush on John Lone and Russell Wong in my teens, to marrying my good looking, manly, half Korean husband.
But then, that's just my opinion:)

dennis said...

Personally I do not find Asian Men attractive, however my asian wife is quite another story.

I sympathize with you tho. Having an asian man win that strip dancing contest but at least we can assume he did not dance to 'Microbes'.

Unknown said...

Jet Li is pretty sexy.

Unknown said...

On a serious note, did people actually vote for him because he's a hottie, or were they voting for his "wong" behavior as their humorous stereotype of what is silly about Asian men?

I have a gut feeling he didn't win on merits and good looks, but rather the insidious freak show rubbernecking people like to do.

Anonymous said...

Hey, mother. How is it that your experience with your uncle poisons your view of all Asian men? There are probably plenty of creepy, wiry-haired, old men of all races that you saw as a kid.

Mama Nabi said...

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/07/19/google.logo/index.html

I don't know about anyone else but brainy/smart/talented are all sexy to me... here's an Asian (either Korean or Korean-American - don't know whether he's a U.S. citizen yet) man who's up there.

Mama Nabi said...

Ah crap - I don't think that link worked...? Will have to post myself...

Anonymous said...

oh howieeeee ... he is an oracle .... asians ... i donno i dont like real asians but i like asians in the bodies of non asians ... does that make any sense ... nonsense :) hehehehee :)

Anonymous said...

Nope. Sorry. I didn't happen to have any other men in my life with weird long black hairs growing out of their faces.

The Asian men in my family - save my Great-Uncle - don't do Asian men justice.

And as a kid, the folks you grow up around make a lasting impression. It's just common psychology.

Don't worry, I certainly don't judge a book by it's cover and don't run screaming when I see an Asian man.
However, I've never dated one and honestly, they don't seem to be interested in a 6 foot tall half-Chinese girl (with only a few black wiry hairs that I indeed pluck and wax).

Go figure.