Perception about Asian male's sex appeal

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Well, regarding the movie itself, they did cast a very attractive young pop star (Wang Lee Hom) in a lead role. Regardless of whether you're into Asian guys or whatever, most people would say that Wang Lee Hom is a good-looking guy (relatively tall and well-built, which seems to refute the stereotypical Asian male). The character is also quite appealing, smart and has that whole fighting for freedom thing going for him. That's not a bad image for an Asian male at all.

I think someone like Wang Lee Hom could easily make a credible Hollywood leading man even paired with non-Asian love interests. For some reason, the Asian actors in Hollywood right now just don't have that going for them. Wang Lee Hom doesn't seem too interested in it even though he was raised in America and speaks perfect English. I think he crosses that threshold in that his race is almost irrelevant because he's just overall a handsome guy. It's like with Halle Berry-- even if you're not attracted to black women, pretty much everyone thinks she's beautiful.

Now if the main love story of this movie had been between Wei Tang and Wang Lee Hom, I think it'd be like "Titanic". Two young, attractive people hooking up in a movie works for audiences regardless of race. However, the focus of the film is on the young woman and the older man, who is I would say less attractive, shorter and overall, less sexually appealing than the young resistance leader. It makes for a more interesting story instead of the generic "two pretty people fall in love".

Ooooh that was Russell Wong. Even though he played an evil bastard in that film he was still hot.

Speaking as an Asian woman, I myself have never found many Asian men attractive, at least not the ones I've been around. I've had nothing but bad experiences with Asian men in my life, so I guess you could say I've been conditioned to not be attracted to Asian men from experience, not from popular media. I don't think media representation started or contributed that much to the stereotype of Asian men being nerds or asexual. There are quite a few sexy Asian guys whom most Americans would be familiar with: the two actors on Lost (forget their names), Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan is kind of sexy in his own quirky way, Ken Watanabe, Chow Yun Fat. That's not a lot but none of those vey famous Asian men are dorks or lack sex appeal at all imo. Stereotypes are based on some reality but then become generalizations due to lack of actual experience. It's like someone saying all gay guys are fruity and talk with a lisp, or all asians are good at math.

There are nerdy, perhaps asexual Asian men, sure. There are also very sexy Asian men. But that exists within any group, regardless. So why are Asian men perceived one way more than the other? Maybe the problem is imo many Asians feel they have to conform and not be different, and bad boys or rebels are usually perceived as more sexy. There's also the suppressive aspect, my experience growing up was that you never showed your emotions. That leads you to being more introverted which is not exactly helpful in attracting or getting close to someone. There was an Asian guy in my school who was very dorky but for some reason had a multitude of gfs, white included. He was a funny, extroverted guy, and girls are attracted to extroverted types.

I agree with what another poster said about Americans liking their sexuality obvious and cartoonish. I think American culture is way over-sexualized, whereas most Asian culture is more modest when it comes to sexuality, even if you're second generation.