Fresh off of Steve Harvey's nasty comment about the unattractiveness of Asian men, the folks over at BuzzFeed decided to dig into the history behind Asian beauty standards in American pop culture.
Producer Eugene Yang sat down Jeff Yang, Parvesh Cheena, and David Dang and asked "Why the fuck aren't Asian men considered sexy?"
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In 2014, online dating site OkCupid released data showing a clear bias against Asian men when it comes to responses on their dating app. Multiple studies and statistics have affirmed a racial bias against Asian men, but where did this bias come from?
Yang and his panel believe it has something to do with how Asian men are represented in television and media. If you think about the Asian men you've seen on screen (Ken Jeong in Community and Aziz Ansari in Parks and Recreation are the first ones to come to mind), they're often comedic relief and aren't sexually motivated. Yang explains that "if you are an Asian lead, you almost have to be super hot."
BuzzFeed enlisted four guys to tear down those Asian male stereotypes. These "average Joes" recreated underwear ads that have defined America's idea of male masculinity for decades.
The four guys also open up about their own insecurities growing up Asian American, and their nervousness in revitalising such iconic photos.
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The recreated photos include Mark Wahlberg, David Beckham, Justin Beiber, and Jamie Dornan's Calvin Klein advertisements.
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The guys' final shots look smokin' hot and they had a blast doing during the shoot too.
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The experiment showed us that seeing a face that looks like yours as the hot underwear model can definitely change how you think about your own sexiness and self-confidence.
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It is indeed worth a shot. I would love to see guys of all different kinds of body types on billboards and in films. (A boy can dream...)
The panel did have some last words of advice they really needed the world to hear.
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I volunteer!
