Asian men don't have sex! (in the media)

I'm trying to think of Asians or Asian Americans in the media and it's still not the most promising. But I do think that we are currently at a very important period for Asian portrayals on mainstream media. There is probably an all time high for Asian actors and there is even a show all about Asian families and being a second generation kid in America (Fresh Off The Boat, ABC) and it's an amazing thing. My parents were immigrants and I grew up in a predominantly white community. I was always the Asian kid in class, on the sports team and the stereotypes were the only way people could interact with me. One thing that people like to make fun of is the stereotype that Asians have small dicks. This is an on going joke in mainstream media and it also perpetuates the perception that Asian men will never be real sex symbols. And I think this is extremely damaging to male Asian youth. I think that there was a reason I "bloomed" late and that was because there was no Asian male in the media in a relationship.

I wanted to relate this to the reading by Brown, L'Engle, Pardun, Guo, Kenneavy, and Jackson called "Sexy Media Matter" (2006). I thought that the finding that media exposure didn't matter as much for black youth possibly because they didn't see relatable figures in mainstream media. Those who had heavy and medium sexual media diet had almost the same reporting for having sexual intercourse and low sexual media diet youths weren't too far behind. Their average higher numbers could also be due to the overly sexualized models in media for them. But that same effect could probably be used when examining Asian youths. It might also be an interesting final paper topic to look into (but I have already picked mine). 

Currently, I can think of one Asian in the media who has finally "gotten" the girl, and not being the nerdy shy Asian. Glenn Rhee (played by Steven Yuen) in "The Walking Dead" (AMC, 2010) has a romantic relationship with Maggie Greene (Lauren Cohen). He's shown as a leader and not as a the sidekick to a main hero. Steven Yuen was also in People magazine as one of the sexiest men of 2013. I think that it's important to see role models in media that Asian youths can look up to and be proud of. Cultivation effects are important with the growing prevalence of media in people's lives. And also here is this video (Maggie does take the lead in this one, but it's a start!). 

Citation

Brown, J. (2006). Sexy Media Matter: Exposure To Sexual Content In Music, Movies, Television, And Magazines Predicts Black And White Adolescents' Sexual Behavior. Pediatrics, 1018-1027.