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men in pink once reviled and used as a marker for perceiving his homosexual status (without effeminate behaviour and other feminizing hints)
So on the weekend I found myself in a discussion at a Lyme of lgbt bloggers where the whole matter of men who are metro sexual are ever increasing here on the island vs. the drip dry male who just looks good despite his natural state, that is without the use of mountains of male grooming products and tight jeans/tops wearing proudly showing the endowed nipples and gifts from God.
The other bloggers asked me to raise the issue in a post to see what comes of it.
The issue came for mention when the guys and I were watching old episodes of Noah’s Arc where a scene had the character Wade in Noah’s bathroom applying facial creams much to Noah’s surprise and dismay somewhat, as the following scene showed Noah explaining his concerns to the other characters.
Interestingly Jamaican men gay, straight or bisexual as the case may be are increasingly conscious of there looks to the point that dancehall culture speaks to it in song about men competing with women over the skin bleaching creams and tight brand named expensive clothing lines worn today.
As we traverse the city streets here in Jamaica one wonders if we are really in a homophobic society as is often said. Gorgeous buffed muscular men attired in the once vilified tight jeans but carefully maintaining the deep voices and a “bad man attitude” to justify the masculinity with puffy or corn rowed dyed hairdos and manicured nails despite social class.
One member of the lyme group (I call him J1) said he didn’t mind his boyfriend being the metro sexual as he found it interesting and he thought it reinforced his homosexuality thus making him attractive in his eyes. The stereotype that gay men overcompensate in personal care with high maintenance which makes him stands out was an attraction factor for J1, the other guys disagreed and I wasn’t sure where I stood as I don’t have a steady boyfriend now and never really allowed it to bother me that much. The other guys (let’s call them J2 & J3) strongly disagreed and seem to play to the general Jamaican consensus that “man muss stay man” (men must be masculine and are to be seen as a real men) they felt that their “Men” must not use grooming products heavily like themselves or like women or look too effeminate as others gays looking on my berate their relationship as we say in Jamaica as “two pot covers slamming shut”
(2 effeminate men in a sexual union is unacceptable and not logical) there must be a dominant man and a passive partner mimicking the heterosexual concept of relationship elements. But even as the landscape changes right before our eyes we now observe men having their hair done with extensions by the street side hairdressers and in increasing salons that are becoming unisexual, men wearing bleaching creams in public or on the streets as well is not a shocking phenom anymore
Are these brothas gay? Or is it a mix of tastes and cultures?
As we are so influenced by things from up north and elsewhere.
There may be a study available on this phenomenon I was told it would be good to see the findings (got to search for it)
Then again the converse may justify the attraction issues as some masculine (heaviots) guys really like their men queenie and deeply femme or as drag queens and it’s the feminine aspects of the behavior that becomes the basis for the hookup.
Some questions:
Do you think that your partner should be deeply masculine?
Or do you mind that metro sexuality is evident in your man?
Do you think that seeing the ways and idiosyncrasies of a metro sexual partner may make him seem less of a man?
Is not accepting metrosexualism these days non progressive in lgbt culture?
The effeminate behavior of ones partner may take some getting used to but when the period comes around to introduce your loved one to people you fear the reaction and have to relive the reality of it being present all over again for just that split second.
What’s on your mind about this?
(Public comments preferred) otherwise lgbtevent@gmail.com
H
I do think that homophobia in Jamaica has been blown out of proportion - partly due to Dancehall, and partly due to the general level of violent crime.
ReplyDeleteThe metrosexual Jamaican is not exactly new. To an outsider, many Jamaican men look gay, since they pay an inordinate amount of attention to their looks: how their asses look, profiling at the mall and so forth.
Remember, I quoted Morris Cargill not so long ago, who said that Jamaican men are very feminized: they have female personalities in male bodies; they are ruled by emotion, not logic, for example. So it isn't that surprising to me that there is this phenomenon you describe. But you say it is even more pronounced now, which is interesting.
As far as acting macho, here in Chelsea, one of the gay neighbourhoods in NYC, it is similarly taboo for a gay man to act fem., although some of them do. A lot of guys are called gymrats - since they spend all their time at expensive gyms, building up their torsos like bodybuilders, to exaggerate their masculinity.
Please, Mr H, send some of those "gorgeous, buffed, muscular men with puffy dyed hairdos" up here immediately, or have me meet some when I come to Ja.
Lastly, what is a Lyme meeting?