All A Man Is

http://groomingguru.co.uk/2011/09/28/aramis-back-to-the-future-with-all-a-man-is-campaign/ According to Grooming Guru, Aramis make wonderful ‘ferociously masculine’ fragrances. Ferociously masculine? You mean, like a LION? Remember, kids, some of the most ferocious beasts in our world are, actually female. But you know how I feel about gay grooming so let’s move swiftly on… GG also makes an interesting point about the metrosexualisation [...]

More Metro-Psychos

There is an interesting – and epic – essay by Elise Moore about representations of men as psychopaths in the movies over at her blog, The Autobiography of  A Soul. http://autobiographyofasoul.blogspot.com/2011/09/monstrous-masculine-and-rise-of-pop.html#comments Elise tracks the development of the psycho trope from the 1940s, to the famous film, Psycho and up to the present day. Mark Simpson [...]

It Aint Half Gay, Mum!

I was sad to hear the news yesterday, about the death of David Croft, co-creator and writer of classic (1970s) British TV comedies such as It Aint Half Hot Mum, Are you Being Served? and Dad’s Army. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11011664 As a child in the 1970s I adored all those shows, particularly their irreverent approach to, well, [...]

The Not So Secret Art Historian

This photo of Matt Lodder, a ‘heavily tattooed art historian’ struck me for a few reasons. http://mattlodder.tumblr.com/ Firstly, it’s just a beautiful photo of a beautiful man, in a setting he looks very comfortable in. Secondly, it gives us a glimpse of some of the accoutrements that go with being ‘heavily tattooed’. The bottles of [...]

The Tiger Is In The Library

I am delighted to find that the marvellous James Maker has been shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize with his searingly honest and sparklingly funny memoir,  AutofellatioAnd I am equally pleased his achievement has been picked up by the press. None other than our favourite Lesbianic Literary Lush (I mean that in a good [...]

In Defence Of…QRG

I was intending to write a post entitled ‘In Defence Of… Anti Gay’.  I have been involved in some altercations online recently, due to my use of the phrase ‘Anti Gay’ to describe my opposition to the elitist, conservative club that is ‘Gay’. In doing so I have referred to the book of that title [...]

Blood Brothers?

Talking of bisexual men, and their erasure in our culture, which we were, here we go again. http://lawandsexuality.blogspot.com/2011/09/gay-blood-ban-to-be-further-repealed.html Law and Sexuality is a brilliant blog by Chris, who writes on a wide range of subjects around sexuality, society and the law. I have an enormous amount of respect for him. But sometimes I pull him [...]

Bisexuality in The Shadows

Last night Tom Robinson, the man who sang ‘Sing if you’re glad to be gay’, way back when, discussed bisexuality on Radio Four UK. He is now married with children, but I am glad he has not presented his story as one where a man went through a ‘gay phase’ before settling down with a [...]

Foucault’s Brain

A huge sculpture of Michel Foucault’s head has been incorporated into the construction of a Dutch Nursing Home: ‘The building of the De Burcht residential nursing home has the form of a panopticon. From the open well on the first floor there is an all-round view of the galleries on the upper floors where the [...]

The Pink Menace

An article in today’s (UK) Telegraph, tells us of some new research. The findings of the study show: ‘that young girls do indeed have a special affinity for the colour pink that appears sometime in the second half of the second year’ and that ‘while girls are developing a preference for pink with age, boys [...]