Monday, June 20

Scrambled Gaydar

The NYTimes notices "gay vagueness," which is not to be confused with the prissiness of metrosexuality. Rather, it is "an attitude of indifference to having one's sexual orientation misread," leading to observation that there is less and less "difference between gay and straight men in terms of how they express masculinity outside the bedroom." (On a related note, the Times did a fashion piece last week on rugby drag.)

Jamie and I have had a name for this for years: scrambled gaydar. The kids were the first to adopt it, but it seems to be spreading through the professional classes. I love it. Chris and I recently hanging out in Cafe Saint-Ex's basement bar with what was undoubtedly a mostly straight crowd, but it was damn hard to tell. My observation: "Ambiguity makes life a lot more fun." Oh, and on that note, the mixed-up crowd will be back at Gate 54 tomorrow night for the BlueStateDC DJ collective. Anyone wanna come with?