Male Impersonators: Men Performing Masculinity - Tapa blanda

"This is queer theory without the jargon and is a must for anyone interested in things male." -"Choice "Simpson pulls the pants off popular culture and wittily winks at the Freudian symbols lurking beneath. Arnie's rumpsteak in cute combat cut-offs, Markey Mark as the Calvin Klein kid, Elivis's pomaded pompadour, Tom Cruise's baseball bat--there's a homo-erotic panto playing near you.." -"The Modern Review "Discussions of masculinity have hitherto been characterized by a timid tone of pious apology--here at last is the antidote to that all-too-sombre debate. Sharp, astute and decidedly spunky, Simpson's essays are guaranteed to amuse, provoke and illuminate.." -Andy Medhurst, University of Sussex

In Male Impersonators, Mark Simpson explores the range of male life and masculinity, posing witty and important questions about bodybuilding, tattoos, pornography, cruising, advertising, and team sports. Simpson looks at how gay men appropriate the skinhead phenomenon and why; how Marky Mark exploits the hustler mystique and what it says to gay and straight men; how the Men's movement is being sought out by men--straight or gay--who feel alienated from a macho culture, and compares the participation and reactions of men to various "manly pursuits." Throughout, Male Impersonators examines the roles of homoeroticism and narcissism in the male world, and the performativity of masculinity itself.