gaysianstruggs:

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Jimmy Nguyen articulates his experiences regarding racism (otherwise expressed as “lookism”) in the LGBTQ community. According to his opinion piece in the Advocate, Asians are generally regarded as the bottom of the race-attraction hierarchy, usually rejected with non-race-related groups such as “fats” or “femmes”. It’s also entertaining to see the comments by readers, criticizing him about being a “potato-queen” (or a gay man mainly attracted to Caucasian men) whilst commenting on this racially-driven construct of attraction.

My take:

I’ve seen this far too many times. I don’t consider myself ugly, nor do I consider myself to be a model. However, there is an undeniable hesitance to be attracted to Asian men as an American gay man. I’ve heard it countless times before: “I’m just not into Asians/Asians just don’t do it for me…no offense.” A phrase uttered with the knowledge that I would be possibly offended. And why not? Why are we grouped as one entity - does it speak well for the gay community to be so driven by what turns them on that we’ve made a social hierarchy of what is ideal? I think not.

Nguyen continues to say that he is mainly a “potato-queen”. I, myself, would consider myself that way. However, as those queerly educated in the history and sociology of homosexuality, much of being gay is constructed. How exactly? Nguyen touches upon the influence of power structures and media - guess who has the power in media? Truth be told, Caucasian men. Without any ill feelings towards any racial group, it is simply a truth for many gay men - the media and our society has socially constructed their groins to point towards men that the American media deems attractive = Caucasian men. 

So, let’s change it. For those out there who are in the media or plan to be - let’s do our part in diversifying the gay social spectrum. Perhaps each color needs a little more good light on them, let’s do our part as Asian to rep our people and show that Gaysians truly are beautiful.