Boys will be Girls

The Metrosexual Age

We have dreamt of every woman there is, and dreamt too of the miracle that would bring us the pleasure of being a woman, for women have all the qualities - courage, passion, the capacity to love, cunning - whereas all our imagination can do is naively pile up the illusion of courage.
Jean Baudrillard

During the American Presidential primaries Howard Dean called himself a 'Metrosexual', so how much chest hair has he lost? Perhaps that's the reason for his infamous scream that went across the air waves.


Mascara men outdo girls at garba
TIMES OF INDIA NEWS NETWORK
[ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 07, 2005 10:43:56 PM ]

AHMEDABAD/SURAT/VADODARA: Last year, they were thronging accessory stores, buying bracelets, anklets, piercing their ears. Navratri 2005, they are queuing up outside beauty salons to streak their hair, doing a facial, pedicure, manicure and they are even waxing their chests and backs!

The metrosexual male has arrived. And he is flaunting his 'assets' acquired from frenzied work-outs at the neighbourhood gym.

Like 22-year-old garba-freak, Amit Thakkar, who went through all that pain only to woo girls. "It's all about fun. Girls like men without chest hair. We don't mind bearing a little pain to look good and feel good," says Thakkar, who waxed his chest specially for Navratri.

Urvish Shah, an MCom student who also waxed his chest, bares it all — "It's trendy and looks good under kurtis without buttons." To complete the picture, he coloured his hair and did a facial. Beauticians are beaming. "Business is brisk due to Navratri.

The profit in the men's section alone has soared 40 per cent" claims Sonal Shah of a popular beauty clinic. The demand for highlighting and colouring hair has also soared during the season, say beauticians. And, men are also wearing earrings and sporting the bicep-accessory, the 'kadu'.

Girls can't help but gush. "It looks attractive, especially if you have a physique to go with the clean chest," says 19-year-old Pragya Khatri, a garba enthusiast from Navrangpura. Jal Shah of Vadodara is spending Rs 250 every night to set his hair for all the nine nights.

Hairdressers say they are getting equal number of men, as girls this Navratri. Says centre head of Vandana Luthra Curls and Curves (VLCC), Vadodara, Sujata Gohil, "We have seen more males walk in for hairstyles, streaking and German re-bonding to straighten their hair and they are ready to spend up to Rs 2,500."

Limbachia brothers of Capital beauty parlour, Vadodara, confess that males are waxing their chests. "Some boys want tattoos of bulls and anchors on their chests," says Abhishek Limbachia. "Boys, in fact. highlight their hair according to the colour of their dresses."

Navratri (Navaratri) an Indian Festival :-

Come October and there's just one feeling allover. A feeling of joy & happiness. A time for dance, music and devotion. Yes, we are talking about the most awaited festival by people from all walks of life -Navratri. A festival when the young-hearts throb with excitement and energy and the older generation is full of devotion.

What is 'Navaratri' all about?
Navratri is a festival of worship, dance and music celebrated over a period of nine nights (Nav-nine and Ratri-nights). It is celebrated from the first to ninth date of Ashwin Shukla Paksha of the Hindu Calendar for the worship of the Goddess Durga. Goddess Durga is believed to exist in many forms like Goddess Bhavani, Jagdamba, Mahakali etc. The first nine days of the Ashwin are devoted for worshipping the Divine Mother -'MAA'. These nine days are divided and devoted to the Trinity of God worshipped in a female form - three days for Durga (Goddess of valor) three days for Lakshmi (Goddess of Wealth) and three days for Sarswati (Goddess of Knowledge and Art). On the fifth day (Lalita Panchami), it is traditional, to gather all books, light a lamp and invoke Sarswati . The eighth and ninth day, it is traditional to perform Yagna (sacrifice offered to the fire) to honor Divine Mother and bid her farewell.

In Edmonton a new Mens Spa has opened, aptly titled the Boardroom. The only one in Canada, specifically for men. And it opened in Edmonton not Montreal or Toronto, or even Calgary (they like their men hairy and butch, like Stephen Harper). The Edmonton Journal recently ran a feature on the new trend in Men's grooming, taking advantage of manicures, pedicures, waxing, once the domain of women. Meet the Metrosexual. The age of consumer bi-sexual gender f**k is upon us.

LOLA The Kinks (1970)

I met her in a club down in old soho
Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry-cola [lp version:
Coca-cola]
C-o-l-a cola
She walked up to me and she asked me to dance
I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said lola
L-o-l-a lola lo-lo-lo-lo lola

Well I’m not the world’s most physical guy
But when she squeezed me tight she nearly broke my spine
Oh my lola lo-lo-lo-lo lola
Well I’m not dumb but I can’t understand
Why she walked like a woman and talked like a man
Oh my lola lo-lo-lo-lo lola lo-lo-lo-lo lola

Well we drank champagne and danced all night
Under electric candlelight
She picked me up and sat me on her knee
And said dear boy won’t you come home with me
Well I’m not the world’s most passionate guy
But when I looked in her eyes well I almost fell for my lola
Lo-lo-lo-lo lola lo-lo-lo-lo lola
Lola lo-lo-lo-lo lola lo-lo-lo-lo lola

I pushed her away
I walked to the door
I fell to the floor
I got down on my knees
Then I looked at her and she at me

Well that’s the way that I want it to stay
And I always want it to be that way for my lola
Lo-lo-lo-lo lola
Girls will be boys and boys will be girls
It’s a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for lola
Lo-lo-lo-lo lola

Well I left home just a week before
And I’d never ever kissed a woman before
But lola smiled and took me by the hand
And said dear boy I’m gonna make you a man

Well I’m not the world’s most masculine man
But I know what I am and I’m glad I’m a man
And so is lola
Lo-lo-lo-lo lola lo-lo-lo-lo lola
Lola lo-lo-lo-lo lola lo-lo-lo-lo lola

Ray Davis and his great rock band the Kinks were always ahead of their time. This metrosexual anthem set the stage for a coming out of the bi-sexual gender f**k in Rock and Roll. Two years later Lou Reed released his famous (drag) Queen anthem, Walk on the Wild Side.

Lou Reed was first known as the songwriter and singer for the hugely influential and acclaimed Velvet Underground. He released his self titled debut solo album in 1972. It consisting of songs originally written during the Velvet years. David Bowie produced Transformer later that year and included a surprise hit, "Walk On The Wild Side." The song reached the UK Top 10 and US Top 20, his only track to enter the pop charts in either the US or UK.

1972 The era of androgynous bi-sexuality,Glam Rock was upon us in the 1970's with Reed, David Bowie, and the New York Dolls, etc.

The New York Dolls were a rock music group formed in New York City in 1971. They found little success during their lifetime, but the New York Dolls prefigured much of what was to come in the punk rock era and even later; the Dolls' over-the-top crossdressing influenced the look of many hair metal groups.

1972 was certainly the year that Bowie began to get a glimpse of the power of the pop. Previewed in London that Spring, his rock and roll creation Ziggy Stardust, put on one of the most spectacular and innovative live shows to date, and the craze that followed was the beginnings of his superstar myth. The summer of 1972 was also a busy one for him in the studio, as he produced albums for Lou Reed ('Transformer') and Mott The Hoople ('All The Young Dudes', for which he wrote the hit title track). The US Ziggy tour began in September playing sold out shows full of theatrically inspired Japanese costumes, snarling guitars courtesy of Mick Ronson, and a bold, daring approach to performance that propelled the audience into a rock and roll fervor. He abruptly put his own creation to rest on June 3, 1973 with, the pronouncement, "of all the shows on the tour this one will stay with us for the longest because not only is this the last show of the tour, but it is the last show we will ever do." This surprised everyone in the house - not least the members of his band.

Rockers were wearing make up, which has always been a bi-sexual gender f**k, and by the end of the era of Glam Theatrical Rock the logical outcome was the Kabuki Drag of Kiss. So that even the toughest long haired head banger macho guy was allowed to like guys in Drag, and even wear drag. Cause bad guy Gene Simmons said so.

And of course I would be remiss if I did not at least reference the Queen of rock and roll, Freddy Mercury. He and Queen have remained enormously popular over the past thirty years. And even more so after his passing in 1991.

Rock and Roll culture was given permission to challenge sexual/gender stereotyping by the emergence of the gay liberation and feministmovements in the seventies. It was gay/feminist movement that transformed the popular cultural definition of masculine. And Rock and Roll was its medium, especially rock n roll coming out of New York city. The ultimate Metropolis, and home to all the above bands sans Queen. And by the eighties the gender f**k bisexuality of rock n roll came out of the closet with a new age Queen, Boy George. Who while not making music is still making the news.

And it is still reflected in the musical culture around us. Ever on the cutting edge of Gangsta Culture and hip capitalism even P Diddy is going Metrosexual. P Diddy Combs To Launch Mens Beauty Line

Today the boys, can care about looking good and being pampered, just like the girls.

Meet the metrosexual
He's well dressed, narcissistic and bun-obsessed. But don't call him gay.

For some time now, old-fashioned (re)productive, repressed, unmoisturized heterosexuality has been given the pink slip by consumer capitalism. The stoic, self-denying, modest straight male didn't shop enough (his role was to earn money for his wife to spend), and so he had to be replaced by a new kind of man, one less certain of his identity and much more interested in his image -- that's to say, one who was much more interested in being looked at (because that's the only way you can be certain you actually exist). A man, in other words, who is an advertiser's walking wet dream. Beckham is the biggest metrosexual in Britain because he loves being looked at and because so many men and women love to look at him: He's the future, but also a way of adapting other, less advanced specimens to that future.

Gender f**k and cultural bi-sexuality have come of age after thirty five years, and we now call it Metrosexual. It is the culture of the subject in the urban metropolis and its objectification. What men had objectified in women has in capitalist urban culture become the mirror of subjectivity, men are now beautifying themselves.

The appreciation of the mirror as object, to push the metaphor, reminds us that however deployed as a metaphor for likeness or sameness, mirrors are actually not at all about similarity, since there is ontological difference (at the very least, ontological, but also epistemological, representational, and political differences) between the subject of the mirror's reflection (image) and the subject reflected before the mirror. Indeed, this difference is crucial for Lacan; his digression on the need of a particular species of bird to perceive another of its species in order to mature emphasizes that it is not the function of the mirror so much as the function of specularity, the seeing someone irreducibly other and yet recognizably similar.To Mirror Tomorrow Reflections on Feminism and the Future by E. L. McCALLUM

Once again capitalism through consumer culture challenges the very 'traditions' and stereotypes of gender that those on the right cling too. Capitalisms revolutionary destruction of all the old moral and conservative traditions, as Dr. Marx pointed out, continues. "The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionising the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society. Conservation of the old modes of production in unaltered form, was, on the contrary, the first condition of existence for all earlier industrial classes. Constant revolutionising of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones. All fixed, fast-frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his, real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind."Those who cling to capitalism as some sort of conservative life saver are sadly mistaken about the revolutionary nature of a system that remakes and resells itself on a continous basis.

Metrosexual is a term coined in 1994 (along with the noun, metrosexuality) by British journalist Mark Simpson, who used it to refer to an urban male of any sexual orientation who has a strong aesthetic sense and spends a great deal of time and money on his appearance and lifestyle. He is the fashion-conscious target audience of men's magazines:

The promotion of metrosexuality was left to the men's style press, magazines such as The Face, GQ, Esquire, Arena and FHM, the new media which took off in the 1980s and is still growing (GQ gains 10,000 new readers every month). They filled their magazines with images of narcissistic young men sporting fashionable clothes and accessories. And they persuaded other young men to study them with a mixture of envy and desire.

Some people said unkind things. American GQ, for example, was popularly dubbed "Gay Quarterly". Little wonder that all these magazines - with the possible exception of The Face - address their metrosexual readership as if none of them was homosexual or even bisexual.

The origin of the term traces to a 1200 word article titled "Here come the mirror men" dissecting the new urbane man by Mark Simpson, published on November 15, 1994 in The Independent, a major British daily. Barely any usage of the term in print publications can be found in the same decade. Beginning around June 2003, the term frequently appeared in the British press. A June 22, 2003 New York Times article titled "Metrosexuals Come Out" inaugarated fashionable usage of the word in the American media. The rising popularity of use followed the increasing integration of gay men into mainstream society and a correspondingly decreased taboo towards homosexuality (and, by extension, the appearance of homosexuality or effeminacy). Over a short span, Canada introduced same-sex marriage legislation, the US Supreme Court struck down anti-sodomy statutes as unconstitutional in Lawrence v. Texas, and gay characters and themes, long present on TV shows like Will & Grace, made further inroads. In particular, the Bravo network introduced Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, a show in which stereotypically style- and culture-conscious gay men gave advice to their heterosexual counterparts.

Macho man has bitten the dust: he's been replaced by something just as tough inside, but softer at the edges. Peter Gotting reports on a new target market.

Lenin once said that 'come the revolution it will be the capitalist who sells us the rope to hang the last aristorcrat'.

Today it is capitalism that sells men mascara to challenge masculine stereotyping and homophobia.

This reification of gay liberation and feminism has upset some on the left, which see it as reducing the revolutionary potential of these movements. However the fact is that it is the result of capitalisms ability to absorb cultural identity movements through making them consumers and consumer sub cultures. Gay culture was and is middle class male culture from the begining, feminism was absorbed into capitalisms cultural hegemony once it focused on its academic and corporate success at getting 'women into power'.

Metrosexuality the Middle Class Way
Exploring Race, Class, and Gender
in Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

The portrayals on the show contain numerous contradictions, some of which contribute to gay visibility. However, ultimately, the show contains gayness by reducing it to a commodity that services heteronormativity. Given the recent decision by the US Supreme Court overturning the Hardwick vs. Bowers case (Lawrence and Garner vs. Texas), and the growing international debate over same-sex marriage, these portrayals serve to depoliticize queerness. Much work in feminist visual culture has explored the gendered power relations in the gaze that is constructed by filmic representation, while critical race theorists have analyzed the colonizing nature of that gaze and queer critics have discussed the commodification of the “gay” hip look. This article brings together these bodies of work in order to suggest that the cultural function of Queer Eye does more than perpetuate problematic stereotypes. Specifically, this article analyzes the interrelated links between the commodification of gayness, the reinscription of the heterosexual imperative, and the problematic racial and class-based constructs of masculinity perpetuated by the show in order to argue that Queer Eye ultimately serves to dramatically limit radical queer resistance.

Only As Pretty As You Feel

Jefferson Airplane Pretty As You Feel

when you wake up in the morning
rub some sleep from your eye
look inside your mirror
comb your hair

don't give vanity a second chance
no no no
beauty's only skin deep
it goes just so far 'cause
you're only pretty as you feel
you're only pretty as you feel inside
just as pretty as you feel

Roz Weston, a 31-year-old reporter with Global Television, shows off his painted toenails on the set of Entertainment Tonight Canada. ‘I find it relaxing,’ he says, and he never allows women to do it for him. (Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail)

The Globe and Mail is behind the times again, see my Boys will be Girls

It appears that years after the fact they have discovered the Metrosexual.

Say didn't Jack Layton call himself that,yep he did.

Straight men eager to polish their image
Cosmetic companies find a fresh market catering to the male workaday dandy

Farid Hassani, a 37-year-old designer, says he regularly borrows his wife's eyeliner to give himself a lift.

"It makes me feel good, it makes me feel different," Mr. Hassani says.

"I'm not gay but I don't want to be perceived as the typical heterosexual male," he says.

"Makeup gives me an edge."

As well, this month, Jean Paul Gaultier, one of the pioneers of the male makeup trend, relaunched in select Sears and The Bay stores across Canada, its Tout Beau Tout Propre collection of eyeliner, bronzing powder and coloured lip balm for men.

Along with the clear nail polish that has been available to men since 2003, there is now a chocolate shade.

Actually the LCN Diamond Base gives nails a nice natural fleshy tone. Check it out with Chrissy from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Being the ultimate hockey twink does Sidney Crosby wear toe nail polish? Only his esthetician knows. Sid Crosby Metrosexual

And for the Goth camp in all of us there is always the Midnight Black. As proved by the young androgenous man who served me at MegaTunes in his eyeliner, foundation, lipstick and black nails displaying the subtlety of male drag in public.

In Ancient Egypt the Men were always better made up than the women.

And the Peacock looks better than the peahen.

And unlike Calgary we actually have a Mens Spa in Edmonton, The Boardroom

A tip o' the glitter blog to Calgary Grit

Also See: Bald Facts

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mens-make-up, nail, polish, men, metrosexual, Edmoton, Toronto, eyeliner, mascara

Sid Crosby Metrosexual

I came across this cheescake shot of Sidney Crosby at Jes Gőlbez hockey Rants

While it graced the pages of Vanity Fair poor Macho Jes thinks its eye candy for the girls.

Poor deluded fool, this is homoerotica if ever there was any. But then Jez does have a thing for Sid.

Oh right only straight men watch hockey. Yeah right, boys.

Vanity Fair is the very epitome of Metrosexual, unlike say oh, Maxim.



Is this a cheapshot against Jes?
Yep.
He hates the Oilers.





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metrosexual, Sidney, Crosby, NHL, hockey, cheesecake

SheHe Rights

The authorities in Nepal have granted a man who dresses and behaves as a woman both male and female citizenship.

The unprecedented legal status was given to 40-year-old Chanda Musalman.

Conservative and religious Nepal, like many Asian countries, has a sizeable community of people who are born male but behave as women.

It is unclear how this unique legal status will play out in practice - for instance, how it will affect Chanda's marriage rights.

Nepal has a community of men identifying themselves as women


Nepal is not the only country that has communities of men who are transexual/transgendered or women for that matter, it is a universal phenomena.

But this is a postive blow for human rights, which have been denied to Transexuals in Canada.

Gender bending is as old as humanity and is reflected in the traditions of magick and shamanism.

It is disturbing to conservative moralists because it shows that gender is a social construct.


Also See:

Metrosexual

Gay

Homosexuality

Queer

Sexuality

Gender

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Canada, gender,, sexuality,, metrosexual,, gay,, , queer,, homosexuality,, nepal,, transexual,, transgendered,
magick, shaman, shamanism

It's Natures Way

Gay animals exhibit generates heat

A Norwegian museum exhibit of homosexual behaviour in the animal world has sparked consternation among conservative Christians. A Lutheran priest said he hoped the organisers would "burn in hell," and a Pentecostal priest lashed out at the exhibition saying tax payers' money used for it would have been better spent helping the animals correct "their perversions and deviances".

Help the animals correct their deviances and perversions how ya gonna do that? Shock Therapy like they used on gays back thirty years ago?

So drop the false moral indignation, which says heterosexuality is Natural and homosexuality isn't. Freud already proved that was untrue. Now get over it.

Breaking what is taboo for some, the Natural History Museum in Oslo is currently showing an exhibition on homosexuality in the animal kingdom which organisers say is the first of its kind in the world.

"As homosexual people are often confronted with the argument that their way of living is against the principles of nature, we thought that ... as a scientific institution, we could at least show that this is not true," said exhibition organiser Geir Soeli.

"You can think whatever you want about homosexuals but you cannot use that argument because it is very natural, it's very common in animal kingdom," Soeli added.

Oh yes and marriage is a property relationship it isn't 'sacred' either.

Of course the Christian Conservatives loved their favorite family film; March of the Penquins. They thought it great that Emperor Penquins mated for life proving family values are natural. But as it turns out the Emperor Penguins are also homosexual as well.

Of course as a fallback the Christian Conservatives raise the fear of Islam....Conservative activist Mike Baker said, "Nevermind Christian condemnation. This exhibit won't endear the museum with many Muslims."

Of course all patriarchical religions and sects fear homosexuality as they do women. And poor Mike Baker is confusing Norway with Denmark.

animal species practice homosexuality

Homosexuality is quite common in the animal kingdom, especially among herding animals. Many animals solve conflicts by practicing same gender sex.

From the middle of October until next summer the Norwegian Natural History Museum of the University of Oslo will host the first exhibition that focuses on homosexuality in the animal kingdom.

"One fundamental premise in social debates has been that homosexuality is unnatural. This premise is wrong. Homosexuality is both common and highly essential in the lives of a number of species," explains Petter Boeckman, who is the academic advisor for the "Against Nature's Order?" exhibition.

The most well-known homosexual animal is the dwarf chimpanzee, one of humanity's closes relatives. The entire species is bisexual. Sex plays an conspicuous roll in all their activities and takes the focus away from violence, which is the most typical method of solving conflicts among primates and many other animals.

Biological Exuberance: Love That Dare Not Squeak Its Name - Homosexuality in animals... (gay animals and a strange bat)

See:

Morality not from animals

Polygamy is NOT Polyamoury

Homosexual

Metrosexual

Same Sex Marriage

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Norway, Oslo, animals, homosexuality, Christiantiy, freud, homophobia, lesbian, gay, patriarchy, Islam, same-sex-marriage, bisexuality, metrosexual

Ed Woods Curse

The angora sweater curse of Ed Wood has struck.....

Hollywood heart-throb Johnny Depp developed an unhealthy obsession with women's clothes while starring in film biopic Ed Wood.

I would never have noticed from his manly roles of late as Pirate Jack Sparrow and Willy Wonka......




SEE:

Metrosexual







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Against the backdrop of rising anti-LGBTQ sentiment, these Nigerian fashion labels feel forced to show in private

Bolaji Akinwande, CNN
Thu, June 13, 2024 

Since its inception in 2011, Lagos Fashion Week has been a twice-yearly highlight of the African fashion calendar, a multi-day showcase attracting the continent’s top design houses, big name sponsors, as well as an international audience.

In a deeply religious and conservative Nigeria, where LGBTQ people suffer extremely high levels of homophobia, intolerance, and even violence, Lagos Fashion Week quickly established itself as an inclusive space for marginalized communities and unconventional brands to be seen and heard.

For more than a decade, Nigerian label Orange Culture has staged catwalk shows featuring male models in skirts, makeup, or wearing ribbons down the runway as a way of provoking conversations about how fashion can be used to break down gender norms. Maxivive — which describes itself as “a Lagos-based fashion organization founded… on ideas of nonconformity and the subversion of norms” — has also made waves showcasing graphic, gender-bending pieces addressing issues around sexuality and identity over consecutive seasons.

Lagos Fashion Week has been running since 2011. The above show is Cute-Saint in October 2023. - Sunday Alamba/AP


Over the past few years however, members of the LGBTQ community in Nigeria say Lagos Fashion Week’s inclusive stance has come under pressure amidst a growing culture of hostility towards non-binary and gay people in the country.

In 2014, despite widespread international condemnation, Nigeria — Africa’s most populous nation — adopted the SSMPA law (Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act) which bans gay marriage, same-sex relationships and membership of gay rights groups with punishments including a prison term of up to 14 years for those convicted. Gay rights activists say these sentiments are filtering down into what was one of Nigeria’s most open-minded industries: Fashion.

Kayode Timileyin is the founder of Queercity Media and Production, one of the leading non- governmental queer organizations in Nigeria as well as being the festival manager for Lagos Pride, a week-long celebration in June to commemorate Pride month in Nigeria. “There is a history of anti-queerness when it comes to fashion week in Nigeria,” he told CNN.

Independent brand Udiahgebi like to play with gender stereotyping and androgyny in its collections. - Udiahgebi

The brand said they were received positively after showing privately away from the glare of Lagos's main Fashion Week. - Udiahgebi

Activists point to the city’s Spring-Summer 2022 showcase, featuring the late Fola Francis — the first-ever transgender person to be cast by labels to model on the city’s catwalk. Francis tragically drowned in December 2023.

While her debut was hailed as a watershed moment in both African fashion and for the queer community at large (she walked twice, for labels Cute-Saint and Fruché), it also sparked controversy. At the time, Francis said she faced a public backlash from some sections of Nigerian society and pointed out that despite her boundary-breaking appearances, no images of her were posted on Lagos Fashion Week’s social media accounts. In an interview with digital LGBTQ magazine Xtra shortly after the event in November 2022, Francis said “I heard the Lagos Fashion Week’s team decided not to post any of my pictures from the runway or include (them) in any press releases. Why am I not surprised?” (The magazine said they approached Lagos Fashion Week at the time, who did not respond to their requests for comment.)

After casting non-binary models to walk on its catwalk during the Spring-Summer 2023 shows, subversive fashion house Maxivive had its show cancelled by organizers just days before it was meant to go ahead. While brand founder Papa Oyeyemi told CNN he would prefer not to talk about the cancellation, discussion within the industry centered around the presentation having been deemed “too gay” by organizers.

A look from Weiz Dhurm Franklyn who say they use "unique cultural styles" and "daring design patterns". - Ofure Ighalo

“For the presentation to get cancelled at the last minute was very disheartening,” one non-binary model booked to walk for Maxivive told CNN (they wished to remain anonymous for their safety). “Queer people exist in Nigeria and fashion is meant to be expressive, not restrictive.”

Tosin Ogundadegbe, a Lagos-based fashion stylist known as “The Style Infidel” on social media said that the fashion industry in Nigeria still has a long way to go when it comes to inclusivity. “The traditional fashion schedule suffers from (a lack of) inclusivity on the runway — we only see representation of marginalized communities at private shows.”
Finding the freedom to be who you are

Indeed, amid what’s perceived as a growing pressure for organizers to adhere to anti-gay laws and increasingly divisive politics around gender, sexuality and inclusivity in Nigeria, an increasing number of fashion labels have chosen to show “off-schedule” via “underground” private presentations where they feel they can be more free to embody the ethos of their brands, rather than in the glare of Lagos Fashion Week.

Tzar Studios is a "visually provocative" menswear brand that has also embraced the trend to show its collections off-schedule. - Tzar Studios

From labels such as Tzar Studios, a “visually provocative contemporary menswear brand… inspired by the ethos of the metrosexual man,” to ready-to-wear brand Weiz Dhurm Franklyn, these clandestine, “invite only” shows are curated by designers who keep locations discreet and hand-pick trusted journalists, influencers, celebrities and fashion industry figures to sit in the audience.

Udiahgebi, a fashion brand known for its androgynous pieces, has successfully hosted private shows in this way. The house cast five non-binary models to walk in its first-ever runway show in 2022 to a positive reception, brand creative director Chiemerie Udiahgebi Ugwoke told CNN.

“The feedback after my show was alarmingly good,” they wrote over email. “I was not expecting positive reviews from the attendees because… I took gender-neutral clothes (featuring see-through fabrics, animal prints and cut-outs) and played with them in a way I felt was more likely to attract negative reviews considering the society we live in.”

Models walking for Maxivive during Lagos Fashion Week in October 2021. - Sunday Alamba/AP

Aso Nigeria, another androgynous and inclusive fashion label, cast Fola Francis in both its private runway show in December 2022 and a fashion advertising campaign released in February 2024. Brand founder Aanuoluwa Ajide-Daniels told CNN that including a trans woman was “essential to the idea of the brand, and something that will be seen throughout the lifespan of Aso.”

“I see fashion as art, it is meant to start a conversation and also provoke thought,” said Kayode Timileyin. “However, over the years, (Lagos) Fashion Week continues to hush down and limit these conversations.” While championing an inclusive future for the artists and fashion designers of Africa cannot solely be done behind closed doors; for now, many designers believe it is the only — and an essential — way to be able to freely express who they are.

Lagos Fashion Week did not respond to CNN’s repeated requests for comment.

Gird your loins! Jockstraps are still holding up after 150 years

By LEANNE ITALIE,AP Lifestyles Writer

Updated March 7, 2024 




This image released by BIKE Athletic shows a collection of jockstraps in New York on March 6, 2024. (Andrew Werner Photography for BIKE Athletic via AP)

Andrew Wenner/AP


NEW YORK (AP) — Happy 150th birthday, dear jockstrap. How far you've come from your modest but mighty days of protecting the precious parts of bicycle messengers as they navigated the bumpy cobblestones of Boston.

Invented for that purpose in 1874 by C.F. Bennett, who worked for a company now known as Bike Athletic, the strappy little staple of yore has become a sex symbol of sorts with a reach well beyond the athletic world.

Fashion designers have fancied them up for catwalks and store shelves. Kristen Stewart recently pulled on a Bike jockstrap for the cover of Rolling Stone, earning barbs from some conservatives. Some athletes, both recreational and professional, still reach for one. And the jockstrap owes a debt to the gay men who have embraced it since the 1950s, when a hyper-masculine aesthetic in gay fashion was in vogue.

“They’re very coquettish. They reveal, they conceal. It’s like a push-up bra,” said 53-year-old Andrew Joseph in New York.

While many athletes and others with a need to keep things safe and secure have traded out jockstraps for compression shorts and other teched-up alternatives, Joseph draws from his extensive collection to don one every day.

Sean McDougle, 55, a queer nudist-naturist in upstate New York, owns about 40 jockstraps.

“There’s a certain feeling of freedom,” he said. "I remember as a child the first time I wore one and thought, what is this thing? They give you this thing, you know? But the look and feel is just somehow really alluring.”

THE JOCKSTRAP SWAGGER


Jockstraps are all things to the people who love them. For some, they're just utilitarian, part of the gear for sports and exercise. But for others, they're comfy little secrets under clothes. They're cheeky, two ways, with their butt-exposing leg straps and wide waistbands and pouches peeping out from shorts and trousers. And they're worn with or without leather gear at one of the world's numerous bars that host jockstrap nights.

To date, Bike Athletic has sold more than 350 million jockstraps worldwide. Tom Ford, Versace, Calvin Klein, Thom Browne, Emporio Armani, Tommy Hilfiger and Savage x Fenty have put out jockstraps.

Browne included them on the runway for his spring/summer 2023 menswear collection. So did the French label Egonlab. John Galliano showed fur coats and jocks in 2004. Four years later, Miuccia Prada had black, red and blue jockstraps peek out over waistbands of her menswear collection. Niche sellers are all over the internet and in queer boutiques.

“It’s evolved almost into kind of male lingerie at this point,” said Alex Angelchik, who bought Bike Athletic with other investors in 2019. “From the '70s through today, it became kind of a cult favorite within the gay community and expanded to the metrosexual urban community.”

Today, about 70% of Bike's customers are gay men, he said. The company's top seller is a jockstrap that's been around since the beginning, the No. 10. It's the one Stewart wore in the March issue of Rolling Stone. Kim Kardashian got there first, showing off a jockstrap in the September 2022, Americana-themed issue of Interview magazine.

Overall, Angelchik said he sells several million dollars worth of jockstraps a year, primarily in boutiques and Urban Outfitters stores.

Like so much in fashion, the jockstrap had obvious antecedents (the medieval codpiece among them), said Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.

“Once it came in, it had the potential to become an eroticized piece of male underwear, which was unusual because it was really women’s underwear, predominantly, that became eroticized because women were thought of as, you know, THE sex and things were seen from the sort of heterosexual male viewpoint,” she said.

“But this period, in the late 19th century when the jockstrap was supposedly invented, was right when women’s lingerie was becoming much more elaborate,” Steele added.

Working out of Chicago, inventor Bennett set out to solve a problem in Boston for its so-called “bicycle jockeys” when they rode on the city's uneven streets. In that day, “loose britches” were the norm, offering little in the way of support.

From there, the lowly jockstrap found massive success as the men's underwear industry grew.

The slip-in cup came later, as the little piece of fabric and elastic moved into the sports world, around the 1920s. Now, some compression shorts also can accommodate a cup, and help with chafing.

“I guess the biggest change is when I started playing, we had steel cups. In fact, I still have a couple of those around the house and my grandkids didn’t know what they were. Now they have made things a lot more comfortable for the players,” said baseball’s Bruce Bochy, the Texas Rangers manager who guided his team to a World Series championship last year.

Nostalgia is in play, Angelchik said.

“When I first bought the brand, I talked to a lot of my cousins and friends, guys that were in their 50s, 60s, some of them in their 70s. I was shocked how many of these guys kept their jockstraps from high school and college, and still had them in a drawer or somewhere in a box,” he said.

The variations of jockstraps today are endless, said Timoteo Ocampo, a Los Angeles-based designer who sells them online and in boutiques around the globe. His company, Timoteo, puts out men's underwear, swimwear and other clothing.

“There's detachable fronts, zipper fronts, colors,” he said. “Some companies are doing diamond chains on their jockstraps. ... People get very creative. It's more personal and showing who they are and being proud of that.”

A DEBT TO GAY MEN

Mark Mackillop, an actor-singer-dancer in New York, is a jockstrap enthusiast. In 10 years, he has raised nearly $400,000 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, a nonprofit serving those in need in the theater industry around the U.S.

He's done that primarily through the auctioning of underwear, jockstraps included, for the organization's annual Broadway Bares. Broadway Bares is a burlesque-esque show that features, you guessed it, jockstraps, along with other gear and lots of peekaboo nudity. Mackillop, who is gay and the show's top fundraiser, also performs in it, wearing a jockstrap.

“Things like Kristen Stewart wearing a jockstrap are making them more mainstream,” he said. “But I know gay men are the reason that there is a jockstrap industry in the underwear world today.”

Bike Athletic is the largest sponsor of the Atlanta Bucks, a rugby team that plays under the International Gay Rugby umbrella. Another sponsor is the Eagle bar in Atlanta, where there are frequent jock events.

“There's definitely an integral history between Bike and the gay community,” said the team's president, Jonathan Standish, who's also a player. Do he and his teammates prefer jockstraps?

“A lot of people, me included, will do both. We wear jockstraps as a way to have support without having too much fabric, and put compression shorts over to take care of chafing. I have thick thighs," he laughed.

___

Freelancer Jack Thompson in Surprise, Arizona, contributed to this story.

One solution being offered is the Real Man Training Club in Beijing.

THE RETURN OF THE METROSEXUAL 

QZ.COM

K-pop’s rise in China is fueling fears of a masculinity crisis

“If you are promoting these effeminate figures, it’s a calamity for our country.”

METROSEXUAL COMRADES

Beauty products become increasingly

 popular among Chinese men

(People's Daily Online) 13:07, May 20, 2021

Men's grooming is becoming an emerging market in China, with the group's adoption of beauty products already starting to take off.

The country's male cosmetics market has registered an average annual growth rate of 7.7 percent over the past four years in the country, with the total value of the market standing at about 16.7 billion yuan (about $2.6 billion) last year, according to statistics. The market is expected to exceed 20 billion yuan by 2023.

From May 1 to 3, sales of men's makeup products soared by 1,692.6 percent year on year in county level cities, indicated statistics from a subsidiary App owned by Alibaba Group's e-commerce platform Taobao.

According to data released by iiMedia Research, a data mining and analysis organization, stock for imported men's makeup products during last year's "Double 11" online shopping festival increased by 3,000 percent year on year. Meanwhile, sales of men's skin care products jumped roughly 30 percent.

Among them, sales of liquid foundation and eyeliners for men born after 2000 grew twice and four times as fast than those for women, respectively.

In a survey conducted by Alibaba, 18.8 percent of post-95 male respondents said they used BB cream, while 18.6 percent have at some point applied cosmetics such as lipstick and eyeliner.

In addition to makeup products, Chinese men are also increasingly turning to medical aesthetic procedures. A report from iiMedia Research indicated that men accounted for 30 percent of all consumers who went under the knife to improve their physical appearance in 2020.

A young man surnamed Liu in Beijing is one of them. To remove his acne, he became a frequent visitor to an aesthetic medical services provider.

"I was a bit uncomfortable when I first went there for acne treatment. Then I found out that there are many male customers there," said Liu, further disclosing that "to my surprise, after learning about my treatment, many of my male friends also want to have a try." 

GENDERFUCK

'He didn't want to be pinned down': Layton Williams will perform in a dress on Strictly Come Dancing


BANG Showbiz
Sun, 20 August 2023 

Layton Williams will perform in a dress on 'Strictly Come Dancing' credit:Bang Showbiz

Layton Williams will become the first male 'Strictly Come Dancing' contestant to dance in a dress.

The 28-year-old star is planning to break new ground on the hit BBC show and has asked to be partnered with a male professional when the programme launches next month.

A source told the Sunday Mirror newspaper: "Layton made it clear very early on that he didn't want to be pinned down to just wearing male costumes.

"He wanted his Strictly outfits to reflect different sides of his personality and everyone fully supports him on that. So he will have a chance to wear Strictly dresses, as well as the men's sharp suits, when he performs. There are some really exciting looks in there. Layton can't wait to get started."

The 'Bad Education' star feels that he can "go the distance" on the show after previous same-sex couples - including Nicola Adams and Katya Jones as well as Richie Anderson and Giovanni Pernice - were voted off in the early weeks.

An insider told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "This year, everyone is hoping for a same-sex couple who can go the distance.

"Layton is a phenomenal performer and the pros will probably queue up to work with him."

The West End star's participation on 'Strictly' is said to have "ruffled a few feathers" as he is "professionally trained" in dance and was cast in the stage version of ‘Billy Elliot’ at the age of 12.

A source told the MailOnline: “He is professionally trained and has extensive experience with learning difficult choreography, which many of the contestants, especially those from a sporting or political background, will at first find impossible.

"The show has been criticised in the past for recruiting contestants with a background in dance and this year will be no different as Layton is a star in his own right and known for being an impeccable dancer on stage."

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for METROSEXUAL 

RETURN OF THE METROSEXUAL

Man-icures: How and why men are embracing nail varnish

Gregor Tholl

 Nov 15, 2021

© picture alliance / dpa

If you see a man wearing nail polish, he might be sending all manner of message, from a socially conscious one to a statement about his own masculinity. It's a trend that's growing.

Berlin (dpa) - Gianni Versace made it clear years ago: The men wearing nail varnish are "nice and witty."

It was 1994 and Versace was explaining the business of fashion to a journalist after being asked who was walking around like 'that.' 'That' referred to male models on the Milan catwalk, clad in miniskirts over their trousers, embellished with bright red lips and sporting nail varnish.

Thirty years later, it's not every young man who is painting his nails. But some are. And they are often "nice and witty."

Designer Marc Jacobs said a few years ago that nail polish was the perfect finish for men who sought to achieve the perfect look.

Some may think it silly to cover their nails with chemicals - while others say it is super sexy. Take Portugal football star Cristiano Ronaldo, known for painting his toenails.

American rapper Lil Yachty has gone a step further, launching a nail polish line for men. However, the Negatives 001 man-icures collection is initially only available in shades of concrete grey, matte white and matte black.

"I always thought painted fingernails were beautiful," German actor Lars Eidinger told dpa. "It's the level of exaltation I allow myself, so to speak." He says putting on nail varnish is not a statement and does not indicate he wishes he was a woman.

When it comes to choosing a colour, Eidinger says he usually opts for blue or black, with a classic red occasionally to shake things up.

A look at the world of celebrities reveals further fans beyond Eidinger and Lil Yachty, from glam rocker Damiano David of the Italian band Maneskin, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, to queer rapper Lil Nas X, British pop singer Harry Styles, US actor Ansel Elgort and Brooklyn Beckham, oldest son of the football star David.

Meanwhile Instagram offers thousands of posts under hashtags such as #guynails or #malepolishedtoes.

Of course, there have been male celebrities in the past who wore varnish - think of David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Johnny Depp and Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler. But their use was generally considered a quirk.

"Right now, we see that male influencers have become more enthusiastic about decorative cosmetics," says Birgit Huber, who works for a German consumer products association. More and more often, actors show up to red carpet events with their nails done, she says.

Nail polish has also brightened up the Polished Man Challenge, a social media campaign seeking to raise awareness about sexual violence against children. On average one in five minors is a victim of sexual violence. To heighten awareness, participants paint one of their five fingernails. Chris Hemsworth, his brother Liam, Zac Efron and Shawn Mendes have all joined in.

Surveys show people are noticing, says Huber. Men tell pollsters they see make-up and nail polish becoming increasingly trendy on Instagram. But that does not mean they will take to the nail polish themselves. Yes, they have seen it, but no, they would not feel confident using it, is a frequent response, she says.

But for young boys who like the look of nail polish and may feel like trying it, few receive a positive response and instead are bullied or told off. Occasionally, though, fathers put on some nail polish out of solidarity with their sons.

Overall, men wearing nail polish has its own distinct meaning, different to when women paint their nails, say observers.

"Nail polish is a way for men to signal flexibility and openness to social change without seriously challenging the standards of masculinity on the street," says male fashion expert Marco Nikolaj Rechenberg.

Nail polish for men comes from the mostly straight punk, rock, grunge and skater worlds, rather than drag queen culture, says Rechenberg.

"The motivation is not the suggestion of queerness or gender-bending, but, on the contrary, rather the emphasis of one's own heterosexuality or masculinity by breaking the rules, which is perceived as courageous," he says.

Wearing nail varnish is a good way to do this, as it is a relatively low risk product, he says.

Using nail varnish seems less feminine than other cosmetics, as it does not emphasize a feature in the way that lipstick and eye shadow do, says Rechenberg.

Historically, nail polish has been less about attractiveness and more about social status, with wearers showing off the fact that they do not have to work with their hands.

"Nail varnish is completely artificial," Rechenberg points out. "People have red lips by nature, but not shiny nails."