Bringing Sexy Back: Asian/Asian-American Men as Romantic Leads

Although the image of an Asian/Asian-American woman has been a hypersexualized one, the Asian/Asian-American man has been a desexualized figure in American history. In contrast to Black or Latinx men, Asian/Asian American men have been represented as asexual or gay. They are the Other who does not pose a sexual threat to the white man because they lack sexual power or prowess. These stereotypes have created an imbalance in what minimal representations exist for Asian/Asian Americans in American culture, including romance novels. As a result, there are often more representations of Asian/Asian American women in interracial relationships with white men than there are of strictly Asian/Asian American couples. My presentation focuses on the history behind the sexless Asian/Asian American man stereotype and how trends in American popular culture towards Asian/Asian American men may be changing perspectives of them, which may be impacting the romance industry and could also be impacted by the romance industry. I will provide examples of how author ethnicities and audience reaction to Asian/Asian American men may be catapulting Asian/Asian American men to lead roles in romance novels for the American market. These Asian/Asian American leading men present a new option for masculinity, where sexual attractiveness and ability are not reliant on the abuse of the power dynamic between men and women because there are comparable oppressions (interracial coupling between a white woman and an Asian/Asian American man) or whiteness is decentralized (Asian/Asian American couple or an Asian/Asian American man with a woman of color).