On top of this, Asian men seem to be accidentally or intentionally
placed along the bottom of the masculinity ladder. We're either asexual
nerds, or evil Dr. Fu Manchus, or railroad diggers/launderers. We don't
have leads in movies, and when we do, we're still asexual fighting
machines (Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat). In real life, many Asian
men are making money and ascending the professional world (God knows
there are probably tons of Asian male lawyers and doctors) and yet,
that doesn't seem to be helping, does it?
Reading the post, and its subsequent comments and responses, I get the
idea that Bryan and many others feel the pressure to be more "manly"
and that mainstream culture and maybe even our own communities don't
support that. I feel you.
And I don't know about you, but I'm pissed.
I'm
pissed about having to buy into the dominant culture's ideas about what
is sexy. This whole "let's make money and everything will be alright"
mentality is downright insulting considering the predicament of the
national and world economies. I'm pissed that a man's physical
attractiveness can be boiled down to his height, and a women to her
bust. I'm pissed that being a responsible, caring person is laughed at,
while being a callous, bigoted womanizer is glorified.
So
here's the problem: we have a culture that overly values aesthetics
over character, selfishness over community, and perhaps even purposely
puts Asian men in the backseat. If only there were an organization that
flipped those ideas. Perhaps a contest that put strong Asian males at
the forefront, real men who cared about their community, had substance,
and might even look nice in a suit. A contest measured by deeds and
thought. A contest that challenged stereotypes and subverted the
dominant in everything it did, even through its very existence and
format. Yes, if only there was something like that. Oh, wait.
Mr. Hyphen tickets can be bought here.
See you Saturday.
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