TNG Flashback: The New Gay Build?
The work day is almost over. We hope you use your last ounce of concentration to revisit this year-old TNG article. Originally published by Zack on 1/30/2008
The New York Times ran this article last week about skinny boys becoming the new desired body types at NYC fashion week. And we all know that, if its fashion week, we have gays involved. Ergo, I think its safe to say that the media's new standard for hot gay male body is an emaciated one. The article even printed this quote:
“Skinny, skinny, skinny,” said Dave Fothergill, a director of the agency of the moment, Red Model Management. “Everybody’s shrinking themselves.”Oh, how this makes me nervous.
On one hand, I can't help but feel vindicated. I've posted before on the shit I always get for being skinny, so it cool to know that skinny has gotten some fashionista rubber stamp of approval. And in general, after a childhood of being "that scrawny kid" I enjoy the idea of some absolutely jacked 14 year-old getting made fun of for looking too much a certain California governor. But therein lies the rub.
This whole skinny craze developed as a backlash to the days when you weren't a "hot guy" unless you could crush walnuts between your pecs. Initially I enjoyed the move away from unattainable muscularity because it finally seemed that all body types (and I really do love all male body types) would get the popular desire they so deserved.
But if the "hot guy" is again so narrowly defined (pun intended) that means a couple things for the community at large. For one, a whole lot of people are going to be left out in the cold. And more selfishly, I feel like I'm being set up for a skinny backlash thats going to once again leave me feeling just as bad about my body as I did when I was in middle school.
I'm scared that the hipless, shoulderless hipster is going to become just as dominant a gay stereotype as the blonde, square-jawed muscle boy has been in years past. And if you just so happen to fall into one of these categories without really trying, its just going to appear that you're trying to be something you're not.
What do you guys think? Am I whining about something I should actually be enjoying or do you think this should actually concern me?
9 comments:
Yeah, same old: setting up one body type as the dominant ideal to which we must all ascribe is just more of the same. Like Tom Cruise gays are "jumping the couch" again with the new skinny, same couch, different show. I'm a bigger, more muscular type of guy. Those are the genes I ended up with. So, I guess I'm ugly now. Oh well.
"Hotness" is an amalgam. Body type alone isn't enough. There are also many different kinds of hotness.
I like skinny guys. I always have.
I don't see why you cannot complain about having "hot" defined for us and at the same time enjoy your natural hotness until hot is redefined. I'll just suffer silently until slightly-overweight-and-too-apathetic-to-work-out becomes the new hot.
guys just remember one thing: while skinny is hot, emaciated is not.
Blah blah blah, Im a skinny white guy who was HUGE til 17 years old (but thinks I still am), gets told by his family to gain some weight because they think I look ill. Meanwhile some friends say I look good, others say im 'soooo skinny', had some guy in a gay bar tell me that i'd look much better if i did something about my 'paunch', and I've had at least one ex describe me as "well, not fat anyway". So really, I think we all need to step back and re-evaluate, and realize we each evaluate other people and ourselves differently and get over it. We are all self-conscious and all want to claim some sort of body persecution, because none of us are 100% pleased with ourselves.
Articles like this only highlight the ubiquity of dissatisfaction. The point is to realize its the same for everyone and move on with our lives, and not let fads and fashions shape our self-worth/body victimization rating.
I don't have a problem with it. It's not me or my cup of tea, but it's the trend for the moment. I think it is improbable and illogical to assume that there will ever be a time when high fashion and "mainstream" will ever have a equilateral view of the ideal body type. Timing is every thing, at one point having a little pork on you showed you were well fed, another time muscle meant you were dedicated to your body.
I don't know what the appeal is by really skinny, and sometimes I see really skinny guys and wonder how they do it.
Either way the queer scene is full of niches, so while I am sure you may see your body type on the cover of men's vogue. I'm more than sure that there are several website services made for that type.
Do any of you realized the last body type of big and muscular was around for 23 years? It never changed. It also was a response to AIDS: the desire to be strong and look healthy. Sadly some men spent their entire young gay lives chasing an unattainable physique and living in that shadow. It would be interesting to examine the reasons skinny has become popular. Who knows how long skinny will be around but let's hope it doesn't last 23 years.
I never really paid attention to fashion and what the trends of the moment are- "They" lost every shred of credibility with those damn tight-ass pants. (skinny jeans) *yuck* anyway, I've always been naturally buff, and haven't been attracted to tiny-heineys or frail tails. - I need something sturdy. While people do come in all shapes and sizes...I do think that you should be happy with YOU. Enjoy the trend...Go nuts.
I disagree with Anon @ 7:22 because I came of age in the 90s which was the last time that waifs were the thing to be. It went along with grunge and heroin, at least on the west coast.
Given that the trend for skinny jeans started at least five years ago, I think the cart got put before the horse on this one.
Skinny boys tend to be hung.
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