The Vanity Issue (Humility Calling)

Letters from the Editor•

The Vanity Issue (Humility Calling)

More : Bruce Horlin, Danniel Oickle, Gigolo, Indu Vashist, male models, Photography, ShootMeUp, Vanity

by Jordan Arseneault on December 23, 2011

“Nothing makes one so vain as being told one is a sinner. Conscience makes egotists of us all.” – Oscar Wilde

Self-promotion, self-deprecation. Narcissism, modesty. Outer “beauty”, inner strength. In and out.

The gay world is often accused of harbouring a special penchant for the superficial: we supposedly like shirtless men with abs (ok, a lot of us do), hair and clothing are crucial monikers of belonging – and its opposite – and we watch trends more closely than some people watch their children.

Self-representation takes on a hyperbolic importance for LGBT people, since how we are perceived can often determine how safely (or successfully) we get by, who we feel will be attracted to us, and how closely we resemble certain accepted or hyper-valuated stereotypes. In her brilliant report on grass-roots queer activism in Pakistan vs. self-congratulatory American neoliberal “Gay Pride”, Indu Vashist delineates the contrast all too clearly: real community engagement will tend to suffer in the shadows of glossy, simplistic social hegemony.

But how to take yourself seriously, and love yourself for who you are, without being at least a little vain? Self-love is a survival method, after all.

For this special quarterly Lifetsyle issue, our forth since April, 2011, we gathered a fantastic array of gays who we feel embody more nuanced answers to this question. From Danniel Oickle – whose shirtlessness belies a deep, literary soul – to legendary party promoter Bruce Horlin, to the perhaps too humble Roger Noël, the trick to healthy vanity seems to be finding the Golden Mean. You gotta believe in yourself to get ahead, but you don’t have to be in love with yourself to get noticed.

As we gaze into the languid eyes of Petar Percovic, photographed by London professional scenesters David & L.A. Hart for their SHOOTMEUP project, we wonder if there isn’t something timely (and comely) about their “Gigolo” series, which caught more than just our eye this fall. In the social media saturated world of contemporary homosexuality, don’t we all have something to “sell”?

So don’t hide your talents: be honest, and show us that pretty face! – 2Bmag

Fore more of Shootmeup’s NSFW images, check out gigolodisco.tumblr.com