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Spend five minutes on a gay hookup app, and you’ll find a version of this dude: He’s ripped, sometimes headless and definitely not into you unless you’re “masc” (read: straight except for all the men you have sex with).
There’s been lots of debate about what it means when gay men express interests in specific body types: Is it a legitimate expression of a sexual preference, or a way of shaming people who aren’t white, cisgender 20-somethings?
Zachary Bergeron, a senior communication design student at CMU, is hoping to bring that conversation to Pittsburgh as part of a thesis project called “Masc Means.”
He’s stopping by gay sports leagues, bars and other events “to initiate conversation about what it means to be masculine as a gay man [and] understand why we make masculinity a priority, why our dating profiles demand ‘masc only’ and why we reject the effeminate.”
Last night, Bergeron stopped by 5801 Video Lounge & Cafe to hand out drink coasters that ask questions like “what makes you masculine?” or “what does masculine mean?”
City Paper multimedia guru Ashley Murray and I followed Bergeron around last night and found out what happens when you ask dudes at a gay bar about about gender norms:
Bergeron says he isn’t sure what he’ll do with the responses but says anyone can participate by tweeting @MascMeans.
This article appears in Feb 18-24, 2015.


