International Male
» Marketing to gays
Before A&F International Male was surely America’s favorite homoerotic mail order catalog. They are fading away.
Though I was having difficulty understanding how wearing a ruffled shirt might be considered any more masculine than, say, owning a Persian cat, I surrendered to Doonan’s counterintuitive premise. I’d always fantasized about being that tough, sleazy, straight man, but I never had the confidence to pull it off. I am at heart a highly insecure, fearful person. I’ve strived for invisibility in my dress, chosen conformity rather than running the risk of standing out and being scrutinized for my noticeable physical attributes: recessed hairline, hirsute paunch, one eye that sits on my face considerably higher than the other.
Adventures of an International Male
