# Why aren't Asian men sexy? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 11, 2000, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591 "2000-10-11T20:12:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/1 "2000-10-11T20:12:08Z")
Yeah, in that tv vs. real life thread, Jovius’s remarks made me wonder- Why is it that Asian women are all portrayed as so beautiful and exotic, and it’s all the rage these days to have a fetish for them, yet the media has done very little to portray Asian men in a such a way? I don’t know any non-Asian women who have fetish for Asian men. It’s unfair to both the men and the women. It’s not a very profane rant, but it really pisses me off, and I’m not even Asian. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/2 "2000-10-11T20:27:38Z")
Well, there are an awful lot of Asians. So they’ve got to be sexy to SOMEbody. ---
**Author:** ![Palandine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/958977/32.png) [@Palandine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palandine)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/3 "2000-10-11T20:38:24Z")
Probably a height thing. [generalization]A lot of women can’t seem to find a man sexy unless he’s tall (taller than her, anyway).[/generalization]. I personally have mellowed on that recently, but it used to be a big issue for me (that is, wanting a tall guy). Having said that–Bruce Lee. The man was a god. I also think John Lone (Last Emperor and a bunch of bad movies) is sexy. And, I wouldn’t be surprised if some Food Channel geeks don’t think Ming Tsai or the host of Iron Chef is sexy. ---
**Author:** ![Kepi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kepi/32/7251_2.png) [@Kepi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kepi)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/4 "2000-10-11T20:38:24Z")
I think Ming Tsai on the Food Network is very sexy. But I think it has less to do with him being Asian, and more to do with him having a very sexy voice. ---
**Author:** ![kellibelli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e480ec/32.png) [@kellibelli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellibelli)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/5 "2000-10-11T20:42:24Z")
I…um…have a bit of a cruch on Curtis from Big Brother, and he is asian… YUM! ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/6 "2000-10-11T20:51:45Z")
Because Hollywood panders sex to women and blood n’ guts to men. Exotic = sexy. Ergo, more hot Asian babes than boys. Of course, you’re not hanging out with the Asian men I am - they are _all_ sexy to me… 😉 But if we’re talking famous folk, let’s talk Garrett Wang, Daniel Dae Kim, Von Flores, Jet Li, Bruce Lee, Brandon Lee, Mark Dacascos, and many others I could come up with with more time. 😃 Esprix, a known rice queen ---
**Author:** ![Needs2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5e925/32.png) [@Needs2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Needs2know)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/7 "2000-10-11T21:01:56Z")
I think some of them are, and I’d assume that to Asian women most of them are. Bruce Lee was very attractive and sexy, so was his son, Brandon. The Asian actor, can’t remember his name right now, who plays opposite Jody Foster in “Anna and the King” is very sexy. Oh yeah and John Lone was attractive, I agree. People generally find what they are most comfortable with attractive. This usually means people of their own race or background. Not always true but in the case of Asian men, they have not been portrayed as attractive in our media, entertainment industry or culture. Social conditioning has a lot to do with it. Needs2know ---
**Author:** ![Lucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Lucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/8 "2000-10-11T21:02:59Z")
My husband, an Asian, is the hottest damned stud ever to grace the planet. And no, I’m not exaggerating. I swear to god, he’s **that** hot. Somebody buy me a scanner and I’ll show you. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/9 "2000-10-11T21:03:35Z")
True- if I enter “Asian teen” into my search engine, I probably won’t find any boys… However, I think there are plenty of sexy Asian men out there (if Esprix hasn’t gotten them all yet 😉 ). Bruce Lee, of course The host of Iron Chef Jackie Chan- cute, funny, and can take a bullet Who is that actor, the only thing I can remeber him in is “Nash Bridges” (oh no, bad tv outing…) young, cute, longish hair? Dustin Nguyen John Lone mmmmmmmmmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/10 "2000-10-11T21:05:26Z")
Thank you Needs- how could I forget Chow Yun-Fat? ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/11 "2000-10-11T21:17:20Z")
I have a thing for Jet Li myself. ---
**Author:** ![Palandine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/958977/32.png) [@Palandine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palandine)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/12 "2000-10-11T21:18:31Z")
Esprix, you think Ensign Harry Kim is a hottie? Maybe there’s hope for him yet, since it appears no woman in the Delta Quadrant would touch him with a 10-foot self-sealing stem bolt. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/13 "2000-10-11T21:23:20Z")
I know plenty of young white women with “a thing” for Asian men. Granted, many of these women seem to know nothing about the Far East beyond what they have learned from watching anime, so the mind boggles at what they might expect if they ever got involved with real Asian men. ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/14 "2000-10-11T21:46:38Z")
[disclaimer]I’m not gay…[/disclaimer] but if I was, Ming Tsai would do it for me. Hell, he almost does it for me anyway. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/15 "2000-10-11T22:10:02Z")
Bruce Lee . . . ouch. And Jason Scott Lee, and Brandon Lee . . . you get the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/16 "2000-10-11T22:10:26Z")
OK, so you gals & gay guys think Asian guys deserve a better image in the media, and are quite desirable in real life. But from what I’ve heard, there’re few things as undesirable than how a woman is treated in real life by the Asian mother of her Asian guy. Any input? ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/17 "2000-10-11T22:23:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Slithy Tove \* > OK, so you gals & gay guys think Asian guys deserve a better image in the media, and are quite desirable in real life. But from what I’ve heard, there’re few things as undesirable than how a woman is treated in real life by the Asian mother of her Asian guy. Any input? Well, yes and no. My ex-boyfriend’s Chinese mother (a native of Canton, but widely traveled within China) thought I was wonderful, and used to yell at him for not proposing to me. She tried really hard to do nice stuff for me - we just sometimes had different definitions of “nice.” For example, she would come over and “clean up” our house, throwing away stuff I wanted to keep. When I went to his wedding this past spring, she wanted to know why I didn’t have kids yet, and told me that my life must be too comfortable because I was getting fat. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2000, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/18 "2000-10-11T23:22:02Z")
As far as Hollywood goes, it’s because if we’re not martial artists (sexy), then we’re scientists (not sexy). And IRL, not nearly enough of us are martial artists. As far as RL goes, I think part of it is that we’re all taught by our parents to be very polite (as a cultural thing, y’know?) and it’s difficult to be polite _and_ hit on girls. Though that last part might just be me. Which, might I add, would really suck. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2000, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/19 "2000-10-12T00:08:42Z")
At the risk of sounding terribly post-modernist, I suspect that the reason that asian men are not held up as sex symbols the way that asian women are is that the rise of the asian woman as a fetish comes from a tradition of colonialist sexual fantasies. Colonialism was an institution of `the patriarchy’. But that’s just one hypothesis. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2000, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591/20 "2000-10-12T03:18:02Z")
They’re all sexy in their own way. Paul Kariya’s cute, too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-arent-asian-men-sexy/36591.md?page=2)