There was a lot of buzz yesterday in my email inbox about the article I posted about gay masculinities. It's worth clarifying a few points:
1) I said that ToF is "highly stylized" -- but this is somewhat confusing in meaning. What I mean to say here is that it is more obvious as a performance of gender because it involves such elaborate costumes and "queer" rituals that to a hetero-eye are obvious signs of performance / difference / etc. This does NOT mean that A&F masculinity is any LESS stylized, it just means that A&F masculinity is able to present itself as more "natural" because it relies on a symbolic order that is highly hetero. Thus, guys taking it up are more able to believe it to be "the way they were born" -- even though it takes just as much effort to achieve. As I said yesterday: "Rather than the gruff, exaggerated masculinity stylized by Tom of Finland, this version was "All American" and seemed as natural and sensible as Apple Pie. Instead of collars and harnesses, it fetishized football gear and Aryan features. Indeed, it relied on a symbolic order that was not special to gay men's communities. The "sexy" found in "Abercrombie and Fitch" is just as hot to gay men as it is to heterosexuals."
2) The A&F moment is over. What I was trying to trace was a move from the 1970s to the 1990s. I would say that we need a new lens to understand why a kind of bear culture-informed masculinity has taken over as the dominant mode of gay masculinity. Bear culture was chewed up and spit out as something that looks very similar to the muscle-queen, but with added facial and body hair (and perhaps a bit more fat -- but not too much!). Now I want to note here that bear culture as it actually exists and the way bear culture has informed gay masculinity are two separate beasts. I think the fact that so many gay men have beards today is a reflection of bear culture's impact -- even though the guys with beards may not necessarily identify as such.
Hope that helps clarify quesions! THANKS for all your beautiful input over email, on Facebook, and here!
xoxoxo
Trevor
