THANKS FOR THE PHOTOS: There’s Nothing Cuong
UPDATE — Our weekend of showing thanks for all the hunks out there continues! More Classic Morning Goods for the entire family… or just your horny uncles. And out of slight fear of getting Dan Savaged (a.k.a. glitter bombed by trans activists…) we decided to bring you more diverse forms of beauty. We couldn’t get the rights to post photos of Kermit the Frog though. Miss Piggy hordes those cockshots with her life. So Mr. Cuong and his colorful body paint will have to do.
MORNING GOODS — That’s either some carefully placed body paint on Vietnamese model Le Trung Cuong, or some carefully placed forearms. Let’s see which?
What a beautiful asian model to brighten our day. And what a SHAME this being a gay site not one FULL MOON shot. I can understand no erection shots but get real here. What is the harm of showing the cheeks of a handsome guy on a site aimed primarily at gay men?
I have never understood the reasoning behind those decisions.
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This cheesy photo shoot puts to rest the belief that Asians are lactose intolerant.
A veritable cavalcade of Asian tropes.
Dragon Sword? Check. Koi fish? Check. Fu Manchu mustache? Check. Sumo wrestler mawashi? Check. Hand over mouth in display of subservient silence? Check.
If you can stomach it to the final #21, you’ll be treated to the most ridiculous get-up since Ming the Merciless
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They put black models in hip hop gear, i.e. gold chains, baggy jeans etc., white models in cowboy hats and all american boy next door wear, so I have no problem with the Asian art and samurai swords. He’s wearing other items in some of the shots, so I don’t see anything wrong with it. He’s a beautiful man, and it’s nice to get a break from the blond haired blue eyed twinks.
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Do any of you “girls” who thought the shoot horrible care to share with the rest of us how you would have shot this asian model?
I didn’t think so but I will be patient. Oh’ and by the way, anyone can claim to be ANYTHING on this board without verification. But since you volunteered to state your race please share with us how you would have done it if you were “forced” to work with an asian model.
I think the shoot was wonderful, especially the tattoos.
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Let’s review the rules of presenting images of people from non-white ethnicities:
If the non-white model is presented in any circumstance that can, by any stretch, labeled “white” culture, the photographer is a racist.
If any element of design, art, history or tradition, etc. from the non-white model’s ethnic background is used in the photo shoot, the photographer is a racist.
Even when the resulting photo’s mock, reject or condemn racial stereotypes, the photographer is a racist for acknowledging those stereotypes in the first place.
Since this leaves no discernible way to portray non-white models without being labeled a racist, many photographers and editors try to avoid controversy by using the one group of models anyone can freely exploit – those of european descent. But that makes them racist too, supposedly.
Folks, when you create a damned if you, damned if you don’t situation for photographers and editors, don’t be surprised if you get left out of the picture completely.
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This man is sexy. I love Vietnamese men.
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@Cassandra: I tried to comment but couldn’t. ..Cassandra made the point. . . if my Japanese husband covered me with art depicting my russian/swede heritage I’m sure it wouldn’t make anyone call a race card. . .but ..then. .nobody would want to see an old naked man painted with . . .anything.
The painted photographs are beautiful. Art and reflection of cultural heritage is being undermined with an overzealous need to be politically correct.
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@Jon:
Except, Koi fish, Sumo, and Fu-Manchu aren’t Vietnamese, they’re Japanese, Japanese, and a racist fictional character created by the English, respectively, so I’m not sure how that’s a reflection of the “model’s cultural heritage.”
And, for the record, my original post wasn’t intended to be a political critique so much as an aesthetic one.
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@chango:
First of all, thanks to Queerty for the gorgeous representation. It’s nice to see something else for a change besides the usual.
Secondly, while I’m a fan of the artistic body paint here, I feel that the only thing that’s perpetuated here is the notion in mass media that an Asian needs a reason to be there otherwise he is rejected and the premise of the work looses its believability.
While of course the context of this shoot is unknown, I can definitely understand Jon’s feelings on the subject. Asian Americans are in an odd place in the American demographic. We’re under-represented in media, we have to go through websites looking at headlines like “no fat’s, fems or asians” (with due props to Alec Mapa), we don’t have the same protections under affirmative action; in fact we are pitted against other minorities under affirmative action so that a 15% populations in universities means the rejection many asians after the fact. This is true for schools like UC Berkley, Princeton, Stanford, Harvard and Brown. Essentially putting us in a double bind situation where we were at the same “disadvantage” of white people but didn’t have the representation or the voice to really get noticed.
I’ll say without any bitterness or exaggeration: 10 years ago, no one in my age group (that would be 15) gave me a second glance (and I consider it a blessing and a curse that 10 years later, I don’t really look all that different).
Gradually, however, things got better and it wasn’t odd to meet someone who found us attractive. I’m glad we can be seen as sexy or attractive now, much more so than we were in the 90′s when you didn’t need an asian in a movie unless there was some wire-fu going on… oh wait, that’s still going on.
Anyway, in the grand scheme of things I’m optimistic, pictures like these – while very slightly questionable – are still going in the right direction for us. I’m now confident in myself and my appearance and am enough so to smile and walk away whenever someone approaches me with that wonderful pickup line: “I’m not usually into asians but…”
Cheer up, Jon. Progress is progress.
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very attractive don’t be so jealous….
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He shouldn’t wear so much makeup!
He looks best in 7 and 8.
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** rolls eyes **
Ah yes.. Once again, this threads proves that most of
you sullen whores only see the world through the prism
of RACE. All of the comments about this young beautiful
man makes mention of his ethnicity. Notice when a WHITE guy
is posted, NO ONE highlights his Race! The comments speaks to
everything BUT his race! But when a person of color is featured,
you bitches just can’t help but to make comments which points to his race (be it positive or negative). And before one of you bitches try to come at me, Click on any thread featuring a White model and look for one single comment mentioning the model’s RACE.
Good luck in proving me wrong!
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Dirty Ole Man, I feel you, but the majority of the posters here are white. Anything that is even slightly “different” from most of the posters here, they are going to harp on it. It bugs me too, but I am not surprised…I’m a minority myself.
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“Notice when a WHITE guy
is posted, NO ONE highlights his Race!
It took me fewer than five minutes.
No. 14 · NYGay
Thirty-three pictures and he doesn’t smile in a single one of them?
Man, what a sad little Guido.
http://www.queerty.com/photos-.....-20100210/
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And another two minutes to find another. Proving you wrong clearly had little to do with luck.
No. 9 · Lukas P.
Fee Fi Fo Fum, I’m a fann of the Finnish mann. Great smile, lickable lips, and good strong arms & hands.
Read more: http://www.queerty.com/photos-.....z0hQRHbgM6
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@Lukas P.:
Semantics. It’s not like “guido” is a race. Anyway, the gist of Dirty Ole Man’s critique is that posters don’t make an issue out of white guy’s heritage/race/ethnicity, etc.
I think I did a pretty adequate job of disproving his theory, but if you disagree, it’s not really a big deal, considering it was a pretty lame critique in the first place.
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@chango: You’re arguing *about* semantics, and in quoting me as an example of using racist language, your semantics were wrong.
I absolutely agree with you that *race* gets pointed out by commenters here on Queerty whenever a “minority” is depicted in the Morning Wood (g) segment, but I don’t want my comment to be construed as an example of racism. There are other remarks here that might prove your point better.
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@akn: BE proud of your heritage and these photos that is a beautiful man covered in beautiful art from a beautiful culture…
Any compunction you feel is your own insecurities but i must tell you, there is nothing to be insecure about!
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UGH May I go out on my first date with him please?!?! I’m 22 going on 23, gay, male, African American, single, love going on long walks on the beach, even though I have yet to see a beach in real life lol. Yes, all that was mentioned above is true though -_-
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He is beautiful; some of the shots are stunning.
I was intrigued by the race comments so I tried to find out if there was a story behind the photos with the body paint. Alas, no luck in finding out the purpose of the shots, however, I did read on one blog that it takes the artist 7-8 hours for the painting.
I think that before critiquing whether there is a racial issue, you should know the background and purpose of the photos. As I could not find that out, I will point out that, at the very least, the model himself was not so offended that he refused sitting 7-8 hours plus the modeling session. Since he poses in different body paintings, it seems pretty clear that he is not offended.
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@chango: Your point is not particularly accurate. Queerty regularly mentions the ethnicity and/or country of origin of many models, white and non-white. They feature models from Australia, England, France, Italy — and make a point of pointing out that information. They also make reference to Nordic and Latin looks as well as Eastern Europeans, Russians, and Semitic.
In this case, Queerty did not lump the model into the generic “Asian” category completely ignoring the significant and diverse cultures and ethnicities among the Chinese, let alone, the Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Thai, the Poly-Asians, the mountain countries, the many Indian ethnicities, and on and on, as Asia is such a large and diverse continent.
As a quarter Hindu, quarter Dutch, quarter Welsh and quarter Hungarian, myself, I find it interesting to know the cultural and ethnic backgrounds of others.
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I just love how almost (about 95%) of people who complained about how “racist” this photoshoot is are non-Asian. Like you people have nothing else to do but bitching about Asian racism. There is NOTHING offending about this. Take those needles out of your asses, won’t ya?
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“Asian? That means Yakuza tattoos and samurai swords, right?”
I could almost be offended except the last set of photos is hilarious. The Vietnamese do sort of romanticize American period gang culture and fashion.
No, I take that back. Asia is a continent. Our cultures differ as much as Latin or African cultures differ. And your “95% non-Asian” comment is asinine. For your information, I am Vietnamese and I have no issue with people taking offense in my place. The photos aren’t racist but they sure as hell are ignorant and condescending.
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@Phil : How are the photos “ignorant and condescending”?
–/
I found the body art beautiful. Reminds me slightly of a old Greenaway film called ‘Pillow Book’ which involved Ewan MacGregor (spelling?) getting various calligraphic designs written ALL over him. Pour some sake and enjoy!
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@xander: The photos say to me, hey, ethnic models get ethnic props. And Asian cultures are pretty interchangeable, right? So stick some yakuza body paint on him, dress him in fundoshi and give him samurai swords because JAPANESE culture is more readily apparent than VIETNAMESE culture, and god forbid we’re culturally aware when shoehorning in -something- Asian will suffice. As a people, our culture is more similar to the Chinese than to the Japanese and even then we are distinct.
It would be offensive if you stuck an English person in Irish garb because they’re both part of the UK. It would be offensive if you stuck traditionally Egyptian garb on Nigerians because they’re both from Africa and it would be offensive if you stuck traditionally Italian garb on the Greeks because because they’re both Mediterranean. So why is it okay to say, “Hey, he looks pretty so don’t sweat it” when it’s Asian cultures being confused? Which. We. Do. Not. Drink.
You can make the argument that hey, maybe they just wanted a Japanese photoshoot and the model happened to be Asian, but that’s a ridiculous point. How often do white models get stuck dressing in Asian clothes? I mean, there’s tons of them and the answer is very, very, very rarely.
(Also, seriously, looking for diversity and the best you could do was rehash an Asian model? Couldn’t find a new Asian model? Or a black model? A LADY model? A trans model of any type?)
Seriously, comes down to this. “Enh, close enough.”
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THIS IS TWO DIFFERENT MODELS. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE FIX IT?
THAT is offensive.
The model with the sword is not the same as the model with the monster .
A photo shoot is a photo shoot. There is nothing racist about it.
BOTH of these models wanted to participate.
But PLEASE QUEERTY, I’M BEGGING. Fix this!
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@Dirty Ole Man: I really thought you were here earlier, but for a dirty ole man you’re just a noobie. This site is notorious for racial squabbling and whining about some perceived racial sleight is de rigueur in the posts. When a white guy is featured, the other ethnicities whine that they’re not treated as equals. Vice-versa when some admittedly more seldom racial minority gets a spread, The white folks get cranked out of shape. I never really ever thought I’d agree with (shudder) @Cassandra: , but she’s spot-on with this one.
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@Pickles: Which photos show two different models?
I think this kid is beautiful and some of the photos are stunning. So I googled the model’s name, found many posts of pictures of him, and most of these same photographs, along with many others, are all there under his name. I don’t see two models, just one in different poses and make-up.
So, Pickles, please share with us that there is more than one model.
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There are two separate models in this slide show. There is nothing wrong with having two models except that whomever posted them apparently couldn’t TELL that there were two models.
The one with the sword is Obert Sharon , you can find more photos (including the ones above)
here
http://menspictures.blogspot.c.....-from.html
and here
http://vn.360plus.yahoo.com/bo.....cle?mid=83
The other model is Cuong
The models don’t look alike and they aren’t interchangeable and I noticed it the first time I looked through the slide show and it took me 1 minute to find out who the other model was by using Google “Search by image”
I’m Black from NBC so it’s not like I have some special insight, they are just obviously two different men.
I guess I just think it feeds into the “All Asian People Look Alike” attitude.
I don’t see how someone couldn’t notice unless they just weren’t paying attention and given the talk about wanting to have more diverse models, etc, it just seems rude.
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So the photographer wanted to do an Asian-themed shoot and hired an Asian model for it? Okay, not so surprising or bad. What sucks is that we rarely see Asian models outside of something Asian-themed. (Here on Queerty or anywhere else.)
For audiences whose tastes are shaped by what they see in the media, it means that Asian men continue to be seen as “exotic” (at best), rather than simply “hot” (which this model clearly is).
And I am Vietnamese-Canadian, if it makes any difference.
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@Dame Helga von ornstein: We didn’t get any butt shots because the term “ass bleaching” takes on a whole new meaning for an Asian model.
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@Yttrium: Well you can read it as “really effeminate” if you want; but, perhaps, you should consider that he is a model being posed by an artist, the photographer. Should he be gay and/or effeminate, is certainly okay with me; each to enjoy their own. What I do not understand is folk like you Yttrium, you clicked on all the pics just so you could rag on them? Weird.
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The body paint is truly amazing. Such a handsome man also.
David
Pat Bateman -
http://jjadams928.blogspot.com/