Comments on The Great Within: AIDS, Masculinity and the Representation of the (G...

Thank you Davide for your comment. As I said in t...

2010-01-02T17:46:09.000-08:00

Thank you Davide for your comment. As I said in the post there is something very adolescent or "high school" about the need for the masculine, muscle body by gay men. It comes across as obsessive. If there is emotional eating, there is emotional gym going and you are right that some balance needs to be achieved and other things given more importance than just the size of your arms or chest.

Thank you Mark for your comment. I think, indeed,...

2010-01-02T17:43:32.000-08:00

Thank you Mark for your comment. I think, indeed, the muscle/masculine gay body has become a stereotype, but one that still has political and personal implications.

Thank you Matt for your perceptive comment. It is...

2010-01-02T17:41:58.000-08:00

Thank you Matt for your perceptive comment. It is important for all of us to remember that it was drag queens and sissy boys who stood up to the police at Stonewall in 1969. This fact is often overlooked, but it is essential for an understanding of the Gay Liberation Movement. It also reminds me how often the queens of our (fictitious) community are often told to tone it down because they stand in the way of assimilation. This is shameful and speaks to the deep homophobia and misogyny which exists in society in general and in gay culture in particular.

Thanks again, Kelly

It's easy to be accepting of one's own per...

2009-12-31T22:34:44.000-08:00

It's easy to be accepting of one's own perceived "feminine" characteristics once one has the muscle body armor to achieve a balance (that is, within one's own head). It is not an evolved or enlightened perspective. It's like the ridiculous movie archetype: Beautiful school teacher tells put-upon ugly duckling student that "beauty is on the inside". Yeah, easy for her to say.

Acknowledging the sissy inside and saying that you are comfortable with it is easy when you have a hyper masculine physique. The real proof of emotional and intellectual maturity is to have the same sincere response if you were six foot tall, limp-wristed, and weighed 135 pounds.
REMEMBER, the gay rights movement was started by drag queens and sissy boys at the Stonewall Inn. They had a powerful self identity. The muscle leather boys at the other bars who were harassed by the police never fought back.

Because the muscles thing has been so overdone by ...

2009-12-31T08:15:48.000-08:00

Because the muscles thing has been so overdone by gay men, isn't it no longer a masculine stereotype but rather has become a gay stereotype itself...?

I'm sorry but things have gone too far , off t...

2009-12-31T07:06:40.000-08:00

I'm sorry but things have gone too far , off the deep end . I can appreciate his feelings and why he feels this way but as a consequence gay men have now painted themselves as nothing more than gym bunnies and twits. instead of building their minds and their values they have become to use a muscular body as the end all and be all. Do you ever see any gay men anymore who are not all pumped and primped and waxed and like some stautue used as an example of the new gay culture ? things went too far and they need to now stop this destructive trend. gay men like all men should put stock and value in what they are not what size their chest is .

Thank you Holly for a great response! I think you...

2009-12-30T06:40:21.000-08:00

Thank you Holly for a great response! I think your notion that Mackenroth's muscles give him access, value and privilege is correct. As I wrote in the post, a hyper masculine body is on some level his only option because masculinity is already validated within gay as well as the wider culture, both of which are already homophobic and misogynistic. And it is true that possessing this body is as you say "playing by the rules" of the current gender regime and of course there are rewards for that even if you are an effeminate gay man. Reading your response makes me realize I am still troubled by the (gay) body paradigm and its consequences.

This internal tension is familiar to me "as a...

2009-12-30T06:13:37.000-08:00

This internal tension is familiar to me "as a woman" (hate that phrase but needs must). When am I fulfilling my own desires/ambitions/impulses and when am I sleeping with the enemy? This is why some women get nervous around the word 'feminism' - they worry that it devalues their complicity in the system.
Mackenroth may value personally the diversity of the queer world but as a representative of the dominant aesthetic it is his prerogative to do so. He is not despised/ignored for his appearance, so he may travel throughout the whole world of sexuality - gay, queer, straight - as a valued participant, rather than a distrusted spectator. It is his privilege to say where he wants to be; no one will throw him out. This is the glittering prize of playing by the rules.
Courtney Love said that her band Hole only achieved any success after she lost 40 lbs. When she shed her fat cloak of invisibility, she began to interest others in her personal opinions and behaviour as well as her creative expression.
You can be as badly behaved/fascinating/repulsive/brilliant/outrageous/expressive as you like, but it doesn't really matter unless you are invited to the party.
Maybe for the internally queer, the real magic of the external muscle is that it allows you to reject whatever benefits are extended by those who would reject you if you were still a 98 lb weakling.