Psycho-Sexual Self-History - Our man at the Washington Post Style desk, Hank Steuver, chronicles the life of Art Cooper as the "the Mind Behind the Perfect GQ Man." In passing, Steuver references "that pool where track star Tom Hinthaus posed for that iconic Calvin Klein underwear ad, circa 1983."

Boy, does that bring back memories! I remember reading this Newsweek cover story circa 1984 about the rise of beefcake. (It a school-sponsored subscription, part of our "current events" curriculum.) The author talked about the CK ads, about Richard Gere, and about the prevalence of the new "homosexual aesthetic." AIDS was all over the news at the time, so perhaps that's why gays could begin to be mentioned as a cultural phenomenon. (Contrast that with what young homos can read about these days -- or watch on TV!) It was also around then I was able to surreptitiously watch Making Love on our sole cable movie channel. That sure made me think of Perseus from Clash of the Titans in a whole new way.

But aside from those things, I think it was actually reading the good parts of Judith Kranz's novels my mom owned that really turned me gay. That plus a Gay Talese novel that I found at my great-grandmother's beach house. He wrote about orgies! And Kranz wrote about tea room action! Then there was my dad's copy of The 13th Valley, a gritty and meditative first-person soldier's novel about Vietnam that had a shocking gay scene (if only in the lead narrator's imaginings) that really captured my fancy.

Oh, my poor tender young self! I never had a straight snowball's chance in hell. :-)