an oddly compassionate exit interview

Thinking more on modern masculinity today following yesterday’s note about GQ with The Queer Art of Failing Better: Laurie Penny’s analysis of Queer Eye in terms of male failure, the REAL sixth member of the fab five, and how women have essentially been Queer-Eye-ing themselves/the rest of society since 5ever (cough, without the celebrity fanfare of polished Netflix specials, cough) is a must-read for anyone still gobbling up Season 2 or in that “men: why?” kind of mood.

Here’s a fave passage:

“This show isn’t about how to win at life, but how to fail with style. It’s about giving straight guys permission to be more gracious losers. It helps that the show doesn’t actually have winners. This is not the ruthless, dick-smacking, alpha-primate pursuit of victory-for-victory’s sake that provides a plot line for most American reality television as well as for American politics, presuming you can still see clear water between the two. No, this is an oddly compassionate exit interview for the middle-managerial caste of straight dudes who are no longer steering a culture that prizes their skill set above everyone else’s.”

Like Deez Links? Forward to dick-smackers.