This is how I see all beards. Pogonophiles might call me a pogonophobe – someone with an extreme dislike of beards – but I prefer to think of myself as a lover of the male face. And chin. And jawline. Plus, I’m ticklish. I also like a little mystery: I don’t want to… Read More »Face Furring: How Britain Grew a Beard
‘What is most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful in feminine women is something masculine…’ So wrote the late Susan Sontag, in her classic 1964 essay ‘Notes on Camp’. It’s a great, persuasive line, but of course entirely and deliciously subjective. I tend to agree… Read More »On Feeling Totally Masculine
‘There is no middle ground – you are either heterosexual or homosexual.’ Until quite recently, this statement was regarded as common sense. More than this, it was a kind of widely shared article of quasi-religious faith, as prescriptive as it was descriptive. An Eleventh Commandment. Heterosexuality was the default, normal,… Read More »The Rise & Fall of Monosexuality
Facial hair fascinates me. I’m not actually much of a fan of it personally, but symbolically I’m besotted. Particularly the way that it is no longer a secondary sexual characteristic, a sign of manhood, or a love of Real Ale, but an adorable accessory that men today adopt and discard… Read More »What Do Men Want?