In America, we’ve known of nudity for decades — but male nudity is increasingly becoming acceptable in art and culture, and it’s hard for us to get too mad at that.

Related: Stuart Reardon is the latest rugby hunk to bare it all

The latest case in point is a new pictorial spread and interview in Paper, which is bolding trying its hand at the softcore genre just in time for its Pride issue.

The subject of the spread, which has been speedily making the rounds on the Internet for unsurprising reasons, is Milan Christopher, an openly gay rapper best known for his stint on VH1’s Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood. He says full-stop he wanted to pose nude for Matthias Vriens-McGrath for his very own Kim Kardashian “break the Internet” moment:

“Well, I just feel like in our culture it’s so taboo for a guy to show their bodies but it’s ok for a woman to do it. I just kinda want to break that. I think I have a nice body and I think it’s art and I just think that it should be celebrated like they celebrate women’s bodies. So you know, I could be a guy and be gay and be black and be artistic and be artistic in a nude fashion shoot in the same way that anybody else could….

I want that “break the internet” moment. I want people to look at this and be like, “Oh, wow, it’s ok.” This guy is a musician, he’s on TV. He’s doing this, he’s doing that but it’s ok.”

You can see uncropped versions of the photos — that aren’t being patrolled by an imperious Miss Marple — in the original Paper story.

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