We’ve loved BUTT since we discovered our own... Well, okay, that’s not true. We’ve loved BUTT since its 2001 inception. And it’s grown like a five-year old, too. Only bigger. BUTT’s so big, in fact, even straight men have been turned on to the Amsterdam-based pink-papered lit-porn fag rag.

Nerve's Sarah Sundberg writes:

I began to notice Butt surfacing in unexpected places. The first time it happened it barely registered — a straight friend mentioned he liked the irreverent style of BUTT's bedside interviews.
...
Suddenly it seemed to be everywhere... BUTT, the gayest magazine in existence, is achieving name-recognition that signals more than simple crossover appeal — it is sincerely resonating with straight men.

The boundaries of popular masculinity have broken down - as seen in Mark Simpson's oft-referenced "metrosexuality" and "sporno", as well as with such crazy things as women running for office - and straight male culture has lost its way - and its aesthetic. Luckily, gay men have helped them find it.

The gays have a history of appropriating and thus subverting masculine archetypes. Shit, look at The Village People! (Except copper Victor Willis, apparently.) And, as Sundberg points out, the exponential prominence of gay male culture has become a beacon of hope for the by-gone days of a an all male environment: a place for men to be men. "For anyone younger than a Korean War vet, the exclusively male realm has stagnated for years." BUTT gives that pool a refreshing flick of the hairy wrist.

Unlike so many gay publications, BUTT eschews the primped and plucked: the perfectly coiffed. It goes for the "guy" gusto. Editors Jop van Bennekom and Gert Jonkers even write in Taschen's semi-recently released BUTT collection, the magazine gives you an "amazingly realistic view on today's homosexual man". Their's is an aesthetic to which hetero men can relate. Well, maybe not the big metros. Sundberg:

Gay men have long subverted iconic masculine looks by growing mustaches, riding Harleys and donning tight jeans. Now straight men are re-appropriating the same twice-recycled masculine pose. Will Ferrell, Terry Richardson and American Apparel founder Dov Charney all have solidly hetero personas, but aren't afraid to wear tiny underwear and rock the porn 'stache.

Perhaps it's that non-threatening objectification of men that's the draw. Men are never allowed to be media sex objects; even the models who hawk jeans and vodka from billboards and magazine ads are sterile, sexless props. BUTT is enough to make a straight guy feel important and sexy for once...

So, what does this all mean? Probably not that much for now - there are plenty of straight men who will call gays pansies and the such. But, hopefully, these BUTT loving men will grow just like BUTT. Consequently, the archaic, staunchly straight (yet perhaps superbly polished) men will start to melt away (sorry, Daniel Clark).

Then, we can all love BUTT together! Yes, even you primped and plucked and perfectly coiffed boys out there. Although, maybe not some of you ladies, BUTT but we can see you over at Velvetpark or W, or something...

For The Articles? [Nerve]

Read our interview with Jop Van Bennekom and Gert Jonkers here.
And, of course, head on over to BUTT's website. You'll be glad you did...