may S. 2000 *
and Other Matters of Size
Bov bodies: Just Out gets to the bottom ot buns, boners and being butt
in M arc A ci ro
Part 1 of a two part series...coming score the female perspective on body image
eaders of the Model/Escort ads in
Los Angeles’ Frontiers magazine
know the shorthand by now: 30”?
Easy, that’s the waist. 52”? Chest,
bien sur. 19”? Arms. 9” x 6”? Well, duh.
This and a headless photo are how we
measure perfection today, which speaks
volumes about how much gay men
value brains.
“Gay men are evil when it comes to
bodies,” says Aaron, a 22-year-old
barfly (Trampolina to his friends).
“Find one flaw, and that’s it—you’re
out. It’s worse than high school,” he
claims.
Is gay life in Portland really that
bad? Are we obsessed with perfection?
Does size—waist, chest and else
where—really matter? I endeavored to
find out for myself and I must say, dear
readers, that the research was simply
exhausting —searching for well-hung
men on the Internet, interviewing
strippers in bars.... It was a tough job,
but I thought of it first.
Personally, I’ve struggled with my
own body image since I was a kid. For
the record, my driver’s license lists me
as 5 feet 10 inches and 175 pounds—
that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
By my calculations, in the 17 years
since I got my first driver’s license my
weight has fluctuated up and down so
much I’ve managed to gain and lose
my entire body weight. At this point
in my life, I’d like to think I’m a
mature, spiritually evolved person
whose outlook transcends appearances,
but the simple fact is I’d love to look
like the guys in the Model/Escort sec
tion of Frontiers and have arms the size
of my thighs.
i
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