'Out' and 'Genre' Take Different Paths

The New Issue: Two Gay Monthlies…

By Andrew Belonsky September 27, 2007 at 5:52pm
outgenremag-1.jpg A recent issue of gay monthly Out pondered whether or not we live in a post-gay world. In that issue, which featured sexually ambiguous Mika on the cover, editor Aaron Hicklin lamented the gentrification of formerly gay ghettos like Fire Island‘s pines:
It would be a horrible irony if the communities and beach resorts that once subverted society’s mores and pieties ended up feeling as privileged and alienating as the culture they were reacting against.
From there, the issue as a whole examined the relevance of sexuality in a fairly gay friendly popular culture. Do we need to be here and queer? The answered seemed to be no. In our discussion of that issue, we wrote, “Gay may not be the war cry it once was; in fact, there may be no war cry.” Sexuality in America seems to be more malleable, hence a post-gay world. New Genre EIC Neal Boulton unabashedly borrows Hicklin’s idea in his editorial for the revamped glossy.
Labels aside, like any American, I like what Americans like. I like a hot car…I want to have a hot body… and I want a walk-in closet full of hot clothes… And sex. Can anyone really ever get enough? Sorta sounds like everyone else on the planet, doesn’t it?
Boulton goes on to chide unnamed men’s magazines that cater to gays, but refuse to acknowledge their queer readers. He concludes:
…A lot of these magazines just need to come out. Until then there is Genre, the new magazines for every man – proud of being gay. The magazine for the American – who isn’t ashamed of anything – G, L, B, or T. Gentlemen mark your calendars and join me in ringing in a post gay America.
Boulton’s proclamation may come three months after Hicklin’s, but the idea remains the same: American gays have entered a new era. The men and their magazines, however, have very different opinions on that era’s landscape. As part of this, The New Issue, we thought we’d have a sit down with Boulton to discuss his plans for Genre. And he certainly didn’t shy away from sharing them. Enthusiastic and confident to the point of arrogance, Boulton explained that he wants to make Genre more of a “men’s” magazine:
I want to take it in a broader direction. It’ll be more of a men’s magazine for every gay guy, rather than just the racier version or just the highbrow version.
Boulton went on to explain that under his direction, Genre will focus on some essentials: clothes, health, sex, booze and cars. Cars? Sure, we think cars are great and we’re glad they exist, but it’s not necessarily something we associate with a gay mentality. (But you do need car editorial for car advertisers.) Boulton, however, says otherwise. He and his staff conducted an “independent” survey to gauge the state of the gay nation. And, according to their findings, gay men and straight men have virtually the same interests. The only difference can be seen in expenditure:
We did a really great study before relaunching this, a really in-depth independent study of the interest of gay men and it’s virtually parallel… Gay men will absolutely spend, for instance, they may not work on their cars and be obsessed with their engines, but they’re absolutely spend more money on cars, the price of their car will be much more than, say, a straight man.
Gays aren’t subjective individuals, we’re a massive marketing demographic! And a rich one!
aaronhicklin0206.jpg Hicklin takes a different approach to his title, for whom our editor has written. When he just started “out” last year, British born Hicklin told Women’s Wear Daily that he’s more interested in content than clothing. He wanted gay readers to have quality, “sophisticated” editorial. We recently asked Hicklin to whom he writes, that his, to whom he gears the gay glossy. His reply:
I’m generally allergic to reader profiling which is more useful for advertisers than editors. I firmly believe a good editor trusts his or her instincts, and my instincts are not to shy away from density, articles of length and depth that challenge the common perception that gay magazines are style over substance. That doesn’t mean that we don’t care about presentation – we care about it deeply – but I want to give my readers compelling, ideas-driven stories that take a certain investment on their part.
Hicklin points out that two of those stories, both by Michael Joseph Gross, won first and second place for feature writing at the NLGJA Excellence in Journalism awards. Hicklin goes on to say, “Part of the mission of a gay magazine is to give readers a sense of their social and cultural history.” Boulton’s less interested in looking at the bigger critical picture. He prefers to what he refers to as the “pay-off”. Emphasizing his high content/page ratio – “Five items at the max, three at the low” – Boulton claims magazines should lead to a certain, consumptive end.
Magazines need to have pay off, more than intellectual pay off… This magazine benefits to the reader in some very clear, physical way. You learned about that watch, you bought it. You bought this there. You matched those two things, your abs are better now, you’re drinking better things. Whatever it is, there’s this physical payoff.
It’s clear to us that to Boulton, who’s made a career of relaunching magazines, magazines are a business. Such a perspective may not please certain editors, but it makes him a perfect asset for Genre‘s financially strained publisher, Window Media. No wonder Windows’ head honcho David Unger accepted Boulton’s uninvited bid to boot Chris Ciompi. What, however, motivated Boulton’s move? “I felt like, “you know, the gay community just doesn’t have a magazine”. Naturally, we highlighted the pink, Out elephant. nealboultongenre1-22.jpg Boulton quickly corrected himself and lauded Out, but also threw in a dash of competitive criticism:
To me, Out is not broad enough or it doesn’t seem like it’s a gay enough magazine. I know that it’s contradictory, but it doesn’t seem like a gay magazine to me. There’s a difference between a gay magazine with a broad interest versus a broad magazine that’s slightly gay. This is a very gay magazine with a very broad interest.
Boulton’s editorial “vision” seems to see gays as a commodity, not communities. The 40-year old’s more interested in selling items than ideas. He admits:
This magazine doesn’t have too much “inside gay” editorial, because there is nothing inside about being gay anymore. Everything is acceptable now, but there is a time and place for a magazine that steps up and starts to compete with the Esquires and GQ and the Details. I’m not competing with Out. Out is Out. …We’re not competing with Out.
Obviously. Though some may not appreciate extensive looks at gay cultures, Hicklin’s notably proud of his magazine’s heftier pieces. He tells us:
These are pieces that can only belong in a gay magazine like ours, one that nurtures an esoteric, quirky, and thoughtful voice. The other word for that, of course, is soul, and I feel strongly that magazines without soul get found out sooner or later.

gustafson_wizard_of_oz1.jpg

Speaking with Boulton, we got the distinct impression that he doesn’t find anything unique about being gay today. We’re just like everyone else. Consider his description of gay writer David Levitt: “I was really inspired by how much he just stood at the big table of short story writers at the time and just wrote short stories that were very normal.” We don’t know about you guys, but we’ve never wanted to be “normal”. Sure, gays should emphasize that there’s nothing abnormal about gays, but we’re personally not comfortable saying there’s nothing particular about the gay experience. We don’t want to be culturally “normal” – or average.

There’s nothing more boring to us than gay guys who play down the their gay identities and spend their time shopping, eating and fucking: a population Genre seems content to perpetuate. We won’t say we don’t like shopping, eating and fucking, because that would be an obvious lie, but we’re also pretty keen on thinking. It seems to us that Boulton’s coming at Genre from a mainstream perspective. Here’s a man who’s definitely queer experienced, but not necessarily queer.

Yes, Boulton claims Genre‘s totally inclusive, but his aforementioned editorial suggests he’s not thinking straight:

The magazine for the American – who isn’t ashamed of anything – G, L, B, or T. Gentlemen mark your calendars and join me in ringing in a post gay America.

When flipping through the new genre, we definitely see the G and the B, but what about the T? The content’s aggressively geared to a certain gay: affluent and materialistic, like a lot of mainstream magazines. If cars, cock and clothes alone make the gay man, we’d rather be straight.

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29 Comments*

  • adamblast

    Sorry, but I find all this post-gay stuff little more than self-serving crap. typically from the NYC/WeHo guys who’ve barely felt any discrimination in their lives due to extreme privilege. If you think the fight is over, you probably weren’t helping us much to begin with.

    As for whether expensive cars are worthy of a gay magazine’s focus or not–obviously, this has everything to do with advert dollars and nothing to do with orientation or cultural issues. Out and Genre both are nothing but shopping rags.

  • WWH

    Very nice, Andrew.

  • Eminent Victorian

    Post-gay? Tell that to the LGBT folks who get beat up every day, denied jobs, healthcare, benefits, and marriage equality.

  • Ryan

    I’ve never really read Genre, but I just checked out their website. Boy, is it crappy.

    The only glbt magazine that I’ve thought about subscribing to is The Advocate, but then again all I hear about is how crappy it’s becoming. Given the bevy of reading I do about glbt issues anyway, I don’t think I’d learn enough from a magazine such as The Advocate to really make subscribing to it worthwhile – both in terms of the environmental impact buying the magazine would have in the first place and actual subscription fees. I like free and online better.

  • Qjersey

    The irony really is that the “post gay” weho/chelsea boys don’t read Genre or any “fag” magazine…well except the weekly party rags.

  • Reader

    I saw the website last week and thought it could use a facelift. I emailed Genre’s web team and found out that it will relaunch with the new issue. Finally, someone is listening to the reader. I look forward to seeing how much they heard us.

  • nyboytrbl

    I am not sure where the borrowing came from. I think you need some glasses. These mags and their focus are night and day.

  • Leland Frances

    AdamBlast said it perfectly, with an accurate amplification by EVictorian. My dealings over the years with gays in publishing on both coasts has always left me feeling extremely HOMOcidal [sic]. They’re philosophical nonentities; intellectual invertebrates; or, as the Divine Miss M might say, “vogue on the outside and vague on the inside.”

    One of the most insipid was always Jeffrey Epstein, who last we heard [and we never cared] had left [been shit canned?] from OUT for “US Weekly.” Apparently creepy cocksuckers still stick together like crusty cum in your Calvins. US is owned by that Big Ole Mo Jann Wenner who also owns “Rolling Stone” and “Men’s Journal” which is where, ta da, new OUT fag-in-chief Boulton came from and who has allegedly been boffing Wenner despite Wenner’s longterm male partnership and Boulton’s wife and kids. The current US cover story is on “Revenge Plastic Surgery.” Isn’t that what Reichen had done to his jug ears after leaving the Air Force Academy?

  • hisurfer

    Wow, a magazine for every man, even if he is a lesbian! I think he forgets that half of GLBT are women.

  • David Hauslaib, Queerty

    @Leland Frances

    For the record, Neal Boulton went to Genre from Men’s Fitness, which is published by American Media Inc. (also publisher of Star) — not Men’s Journal, which is, as you said, from Jann Wenner’s Wenner Media. Some more details on Jossip.

  • Leland Frances

    Thanx for the clarification. I just can’t keep my phallocentric magazine men straight. Or is that Boulton’s problem, too?

  • eireapparent

    I agree with adamblast, e-vic and others who posted here. It only solidifies my arguement that these magazines are whores for advert dollars and have become increasingly didactic instead of reflective. The best thing that their disatisfied readers could do: Ignored them! Don’t purchase these mags, don’t visit their sites, don’t talk about them, don’t recommend them. Only with a loss to their bottom line will they change – or go out of business. Either way is fine.

  • mozzer13

    I think part of being an alleged post-gay gay is not reading irrelevant rags like OUT and Genre, but instead getting your gay news fix from sources like Queerty.

  • ehaller

    Post-gay is a reality for me, and something I have been noticing for a year or so now. To me it feels like the novelty of gay has worn off in popular media; it’s not unlike pop culture’s infatuation with blacks in the 80’s, and the subsequent disappearance of black culture from mainstream media. Sure, you still have Ebony and BET, but things like Diff’rent Strokes and The Cosby Show are history, replaced by an noninclusive niche black culture. The same thing is happening now, as the public tires of the flag toting gay rights brigade and the effete queer characters on sitcoms aren’t as funny as they used to be.

    Many people will argue that this is preposterous when so many gays are still being forced to deal with intolerance and a lack of understanding. I am not saying that post-gay is for everyone, but I live between a few gay-centric cities (NYC, Austin, etc) and this is the feeling that I get. These sorts of cultural things tend to trickle down from the larger cities and centers of culture, so many everyone won’t feel the effect for a few more years, even a decade or so. Everyone to their own, but from where I stand post-gay is already here.

  • KnowItAll

    I appreciate the fact that a magazine can be pure entertainment. Not every gay magazine has to be politically resonant.

    That said, if I want to look at clothes and pop culture, I’m going to read GQ or Esquire instead because there’s more stuff in them. Boulton’s saying that they’re his main competition shows off a) his delusions and b) his distance from his readers. He should realize that he has the unique opportunity to cater to people who AREN’T just like every other guy, who DO have special interests. The only thing that will make Genre a must read is if they start including material that can’t be found anywhere else.

    And no, a boner on the porn page doesn’t count.

  • KnowNothingAtAll

    Thank you for that insight KnowItAll. I am sure you stay up at night wondering how to make fag rags must reads. I love that you’d read GQ or Esquire because of the “stuff” in them. I am sure you’d be happy with some “stuff” up your dumb ass.

  • MeanGirls

    No, you di-int! That Know It all is a real confused cat!

  • startagain

    A different view on this topic. I remember when OUT mag was first on the newsstand back in the early 90’s. I was thrilled to see a mag geared toward me! Same as ADVOCATE. Why was I thrilled? Because it reinforced the idea that I was not alone, that there was a way of living gay without living underground. While these mags do have heavy advert and gear more toward the ‘wealthy, affluent’ (BOTH of which I and my partner are not!) they still serve the purpose of exposure.

  • BoyonCrack

    startagain – maybe you should get a job, make something of your life and become wealthy. Get you stupid ass off of the computer and do something to make some income. Then, you can afford all sorts of magazines. Maybe find a partner with money – be a whore, crack-whores are cool. We read this site.

  • hisurfer

    Anybody want to play a game with me? It’s called “out the fake posts.” Most are easy to find: just look for outdated Sex and the City references, talk about how good Boulton is in bed, a cliched idea of what’s cool (Parties in Hell’s Kitchen! And he’ll arrive on a motorcycle! With J-Lo!), and slang words from 1986 (see No. 17).

    *******

    Post-gay always amuses me. I had an email exchange a couple years back with a columnist who announced that we had won the culture wars. I wrote that things looked a bit different away from the major cities. He wrote that all we had left was “minor mopping up.”

    Then came all the legislative setbacks, Bush won a second term, anti-gay marriage votes … and Mr. Columnist is no longer post-gay, and no longer thinking that we just need to mop up a few minor spills.

  • KnowItAll

    I agree with startagain. The thrill of a gay magazine is that it feels personal. Genre, Out and The Advocate are supposed to be pieces of media geared toward us, gay people.

    Boulton’s saying that there “is nothing inside about being gay anymore” because “everything is acceptable” makes me livid. Instead of using his ridiculous “post-gay” rhetoric to pretend he doesn’t have to relevantly address his unique readership, he could spend the time to figure out what it actually means to be gay today.

    Because yes, Neal, there is still something “inside” about it. Maybe you forgot that while you were busy siring children, snogging females and feeding items about your own “affair” with Jann Wenner to Page Six.

  • MusicGal

    None of the boy or girl magazines make a personal connection,

  • Gianpiero

    Is sexuality in America really “more malleable”? Not much fence-jumping going on among my gay or non-gay friends lately. Just checked in my own libido–still gay. Also checked the gender of my partner–still the same as mine. Post-gay? I don’t think so. Maybe when I’m dead.

    Being gay is a bit more fundamental than the ambiguity of some celebrity cover-figure of the moment and more durable than the tenure of a magazine editor who wants to demonstrate his or her new direction.

    Is America changing? Definitely. Are we a distinction without a difference? Hardly.

  • Gianpiero

    …or rather, “checked on my libido”

  • Steve Hansen

    60+ pages of advertising for clothing and alcohol, with a few column-inches of articles about nothing, just isn’t interesting. Politics, business, technology, and architecture have been entirely missing from the “gay” press for a long time. There are issues in politics and business that are actually important and interesting to GLBT people. There are interesting design issues in technology and architecture. But, given that these mags are still edited to attract advertisers of clothing and alcohol, I just don’t see them covering any of that stuff.

    Gay people are whole people, not flat stereotypes. The editors need to get that simple fact through their thick heads. Many “mainstream” editors (and TV producers) already have. Most large companies already do, both in their employee relations and in their product design and advertising.

    Considering that mainstream media have become very gay-aware, offer a wide variety of content, and pick up on the gay angles where they occur, I just don’t see a need for these magazines any more.

  • neal boulton

    Dear Queerty readers:

    First of all, I’ve been humbled by the interest and attention the new issue of Genre has gotten. I appreciate everyone who has commented–good! Bad, evil, and bogus–I awlays do.

    Thing is, I knew when I relaunched Genre that sparks would fly because I have been married to a women, and have kids and all.

    Back in my day, not every gay and lesbian couple COULD adopt or get married. I came out in 1985, and from age 17 knew I wanted kids. Luckily for me, I met someone who I loved, and still love, who had the same alternative mindset as I, and, who also wanted chidren–with me. The LGBT community is a vast one—and B is just as legit and G or L. Though, sadly, many of y’all might not agree.

    For four years in college I criss-crossed the quad getting hollared at all the time, “Fucking Faggot,” so a little internal LGBT jabbing rolls right off of me.

    What I believe everyone who’s written should know is that I want gay men to finally have their own magazine that they can USE to improve their lives. One that looks and feels and reads and delivers better than the leading straight magazines (many of which I relaunched or worked at).

    We deserve it.And it is time.

    I also want straight America to SEE US getting it, too.

    The white seats on the bus where no better than the black ones–but white America had to SEE black folks in them for the fight for integration to make an impact.

    Gay publishing has at times felt like a big ole back seat.Thanks to Out and Advocate, the needle was moved.

    I just wanted to finally put gay guys up front—with the new Genre, and keep us moving FORWARD.

    Buy it and see what I mean. You just may like it.

    Until then–thank god for the ability we have to engage in ANY kind of discourse like this with each other online as a result of such a cool site as Queerty.

    Respectfully,
    Neal Boulton
    Editor In Chief
    GENRE

  • KnowItAll

    The black seats on the bus were considered worse because they were at the back, dumbass.

  • Knowitall2

    Thanks Chris Ciompi for everything you gave to gay journalism. You tell ’em.

  • Alan

    Post Gay America is very emprowering. I am 54 and find being an American who is pround to be gay
    much healther than being a gay American. Sure I am gay, sure I have a loong time domestic partner, I also an an exective in a large Corporation, where the present knows that my partner is a special education teacher. Sure the gay bars are closing and RSVP in now merging…. It’s still nice not to be limmited by a label.
    The world has changed and now it’s our turn to give back.

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