Yesterday we wondered out loud: what’s happening to Maltese men?
They’re enthusiastically embracing that whole gay look even when they’re not gay – and when gay men elsewhere in Europe are moving away from it.
This being Malta, we have a situation where most gay men look straight, and many straight men look gay because they’ve taken up grooming, waxing, eyebrow-plucking and the wrong clothes (then there is the other extreme, where Maltese men look like something you wouldn’t haul out of a skip in terms of grooming, and with a genetic package closely linked to Planet of the Apes).
If only they could just be NORMAL – take a shower and a shave, get a good haircut, and wear some good clothes. Instead of going for the Don Draper look which has driven women wild right across the globe, they go for a look that’s a cross between a Middle Eastern spiv, the member of a boy band, and a gay man in his 20s in Manchester circa 1992.
Now a reader has alerted me to the latest development: the Wetlook Photoshoot for men, organised by something called ‘Glamorous Malta’ (which it really isn’t). Straight women find this kind of thing absolutely repellent, and something tells me that gay men do, too. I mean, honestly. Just look at the man with the gun, and the other one with the octopuses.
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Way too much emphasis on having 0% fat to show off muscle tone and not enough focus on actual muscle building.
It’s easier to starve yourself, I guess.
Great quote I read on a health/fitness site: a skinny dude with a six-pack is as impressive as 200 pound girl with double Ds.
Dude , I don’t know who you are and what you look like, but muscle building is not for modeling. And in , my opinion growing muscle is easier than leaning out. Starving yourself does not always get you to six pack abs. Love the quote though ;)
And in any case getting the body you want is relatively easy with so much steroids going around. I can’t believe my eyes when I see 18 year-olds with 17 inch arms. Not for modelling though
Thanks for the laugh.
What’s with the pool, exactly?
It’s symbolic, actually. It says “this is our gene pool”.
it’s a wet look shoot
Very weird photos. The first photo, the six-pack does not go with that face and legs. It looks unnatural and not sexy.
Set: Splash and Fun water park wave pool.
I have no idea who these men are and I have no idea what the latest looks are supposed to be.
I just hope that these people are making some contribution to society and the economy.
My fear is that many members of the upcoming generation are full of form and empty of substance.
The old values which helped to build Malta out of barren rock – hard work, thrift, investment in worthwhile pursuits – seem to be rather unfashionable these days. I hope I’m wrong, for Malta’s sake.
Are you absolutely sure that these men are not gay? Cannot point at anyone who looks straight.
You need specs, my friend. If you can’t distinguish who is gay or not you have a big problem.
How is it ethical to distinguish between gay and straight based on looks? As Daphne said, “most gay men look straight, and many straight men look gay”. I agree with her.
Do you actually mean to say these guys look straight to you?
Yes I agree with you zagam but Edgar said that they are all gays although a lot of them don’t look like it, ( and i am sure that they arent ).There are a few that make it obvious , ok . But what the heck, let them live guys and mind your own business. If you don’t like don’t look. Ghax Bhal ma jghid il malti, min imaqdar irid jixtri . And if someone thinks that he can do better , should take part next time . U ara ma tahsibx li mu ha jsibu Xejn fuq xiex jghidu n Nies ta. Ghax ahna nsara ta Vera.
… and of course, all this is art …
These shots are repulsive.
I can’t stop laughing. Why? But why? I mean seriously, why? It’s just sad, really.
Aaaand bingo! I’m a lesbian.
What in the flying f***k is this?
God, what some men will do to attract the opposite sex (or is it the same sex?) on this rotten rock.
P.S. I’m a man, and I’m in the middle of this crap. I don’t neglect myself, but I take just the right amount of care so that I don’t look like a haggard caveman.
I can confirm it. I’m a straight 35-year-old woman and these men are total turn-offs.
I mean, if they were the only males left on the planet and I the only female, the human race would become extinct.
They’re disgusting. Totally sexless.
Ghandek good tastes , ukoll! Mela xjogbok xi gorilla kollu suf
Biex ma tkunx tidher qisek gurilla kollok suf m’hemmx ghalfejn tmur l-estrem l-iehor u tidher qisek konkubina f’xi harem. Kulhadd iqaxxar u jaghmel waxing ma tmurx allahares qatt tider xi sufa.
Yes, all the men in these photos are sporting a very outdated and passé gay look.
The irony is that only a couple of them are gay.
Ahjar ma’ nghid xejn.
Some (very few) of them are artistic and I see nothing wrong with them. Some are nothing short of disgusting.
Anyway.. if the female sex can do pose for photo sessions and you see nothing wrong with it, why can’t men do it as well ? In other words what is your point ? It’s not like all women who pose for photo sessions are top models.
[Daphne – It’s precisely because women pose like this that men shouldn’t. How attractive do you find a woman with hairy legs, a hairy chest, a moustache, no bosoms and a boiler-suit? Exactly. That’s how we women react to men dressing, waxing and behaving like girls.]
As a gay guy myself, I completely agree that they are repellent.
Hi Daphne,
Thanks for your views, but for the record this a competition which models had to come up with an original theme or pose to win best original photo.
It is not a shoot to show your style or looks… or how you really are in reality, example the guy with the octopus, do you think this guy goes to the beach like that!?
It was a matter of finding a theme in order to try to have a good looking original photo.
Believe it or not, it is not an easy task to do and the models has to really think to come up with such ideas, obviously some which are just standing there did not give their utmost or just lack of ideas but again this shoot was not to please woman or gays…. Just a photo competition.
Thanks!
So what you re saying is, these are the winners? God help us.
Are you saying they actually tried hard to look that bad?
By Warren Kiomall
What was the photographer (sic) thinking?
Dear Daphne, thank you for the good laugh….God bless you :P
Viva c-cheap underwear UOMO (http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/uomo-underwear). And I must say WOW, they are all waxed. Natius Ola must have been really busy.
Imma int ma titallem qatt ??? Tista tghidli x hemm hazin f dawn ir ritratti ? Tista thalli lil nies ta madwarek jghixu ? X hemm hazin billi tkun gay ? U x hemm hazin billi ma tkunx u tamel photoshoot ? Ghaliex wet look fuq l irgiel mhux tajjeb ? L irgiel ma jmorrux pools u bahar ?
Isma minni mur inalaq gol kastell tal bidnija, u irringrazzja l Alla li zmien l Inkwizizzjoni spicca !
Hansel
Whatever happened to men looking, dressing, behaving like men?
They’d be a whole lot better off developing their mind.
I scrolled down with great trepidation. What would I have done if my brother or husband was in one of them?
I mean, surely these guys keep these photoshoots a secret from their partners/sisters/mothers. Urgh. Been put off my lunch.
Thank you, Daphne. After showing my mother this post, she should no longer wonder why I’m still single.
Maltese men should stop embracing the GAY LOOK and just be NORMAL instead, because STRAIGHT WOMEN find this repulsive?
1) There is no one ‘gay look.’ Even you appear to accept that you can’t tell someone’s sexuality from their appearance. Referring to someone as ‘looking gay’ in this day and age is more or less as damaging as the toxic 1990s slang ‘that’s gay’ (meaning bad).
2) Gay IS normal.
3) You do not speak for all ‘straight women,’ and by presuming to do so you implicitly challenge the sexual and gender identity of anyone who disagrees with you. Even though you are probably just ignorant, this is the implication of your choice of words.
I know you think you are progressive, and you probably are by Maltese standards, but your use of language reinforces the heteronormative status quo that is the source of the homophobia you claim to abhor.
[Daphne – Bollocks. And you know it. If you think there is any straight woman (or gay man, for that matter) who will walk over George Clooney, John Hamm or Rupert Penry-Jones to get to one of these naff idiots, you are out on a limb. Of course there are types and standards. And no, that kind of look and posing, that kind of self-obsession, isn’t normal. Being gay or straight has nothing to do with it. You’re gay. Nobody cares that you’re gay. Get over it. Stop tilting at windmills. It’s 2013. There are rather too many Maltese gay men (or they seem like a lot because they’re so loud) who really don’t get how they come across like Little Britain’s Only Gay in the Village.]
A look that will only work if you’re Raoul Bova….sigh! So much for metrosexuality…epic fail (!!)
And if they want to show off their underwear, they should at least wear a brand with a bit of cachet, not ‘Uomo’.
Who the hell do you think you are to judge people around you? If I want to dress in such a manner then so be it, why do you have to write about how wrong I’m dressing or how petite my look looks. Speaking as a gay man who has always adored you, you’ve hit rock bottom with his article
[Daphne – You shouldn’t mind what other people think about you, not if you’re going to make a point of modelling in a very public way. I don’t bother with all the criticism I get coming my way, and just look at what I have to put up with. And come on, you have to admit that this is a really bad look, and way too outdated. The equivalent of the wet T-shirt is so 1970s. It’s not even ironic.]
Anon
Come on, don’t take it to heart. Daphne is having some fun and entertaining us at the same time.
Daphne is right in this instance. She is not mocking gay men but straight men behaving effeminately, which is fair game.
There are other issues which I don’t agree on with Daphne, but I won’t take it to heart.
How is straight men acting effeminately ‘fair game’? People should be able to act as effeminately or un-effeminately as they choose without people spewing language such as ‘gay looking’ and ‘normal’ (as opposed to gay). I mean REALLY, people really need to get over it.
[Daphne – The use of the word ‘normal’ in my post is not ‘as opposed to gay’. It is a reference to looks and behaviour. Normal behaviour for men, whether they are gay or straight, is the same: shower, shave, haircut, proper men’s clothes, maybe a bit of scent max. The above is not normal behaviour or looks, whether you are gay or straight.]
to show u dont agree with daphne pls like this page!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Glamorous-Entertainment/397839913661454?fref=ts
Correction: To show you don’t agree with Daphne, please like this page.
Now where’s that unlike button.
VERY GAY :) but what’s with the water?
The guy in the 15th photo is actually rather cute. It’s a pity the photo is so naff.
I doubt anyone would ever look like Don Draper.
[Daphne – No, not in this weather and with your typical Maltese figure and carriage. Rupert Penry-Jones in the BBC’s Whitechapel isn’t half bad, either. I don’t imagine he shaves his armpits.]
You are 100% right. Yesterday I saw that application on Facebook and I was like, wtf is going on with Maltese men. This is so ridiculous. Anyone straight shouldn’t be doing that, and anyone gay who does it is way too fey and outdated. Bdw nice commentary.
Finally someone said it! The current ‘style’ Maltese men are following is extremely gay.
did you have permission to talk about these people like that ? are you fucking serious ?? just because man like all of these are not into you doesn’t mean their gays … it just called taking care of themselves … you idiot
Eunuchs of the harem.
It’s called metro-sexual lol get over it
No wonder the birth rate is down.
The guy in the last pic has just put me off octopus stew.
this is merely a local manifestation of what seems to be a global problem:
http://urbangrounds.com/2009/12/wussy-men/
http://boldanddetermined.com/2011/11/10/the-continued-pussification-of-the-american-male/
http://www.totalityofbeing.com/FramelessPages/Articles/defeminization_of_men.html
What can be done about it? Four things in my opinion:
1. Reform the military and bring it in line with the standards of the British military
2. Introduce obligatory military service for all men – a period of at least 6 months should serve to instill the basic principles a man should follow in life: including discipline, respect for superiors/elders, following a healthy lifestyle
3. Balance out the sexes between male and female roles in the classroom: men should be though by men, women by women.
4. Encourage a diet rich in vegetables and fruit and discourage processed carbohydrates (responsible, among other lifestyle factors, for reducing testosterone).
And don’t forget to revoke women’s right to vote.
Agree totally. And at the other end, we got girls and women who go to extremes to look like prostitutes.
Although i agree that some men are over top with the way they like to show them selves off, if it makes them happy leave them be. Why specifically point out people and comment about their looks? how do you know wether these men are gay or not? Do you have so much time on your hands that you actually bothered to check their sexual preferences? Are you superior over them just because you are well written and can criticise people in such a way that they wont be able to do back to you? i think not.
“They’re enthusiastically embracing that whole gay look even when they’re not gay – and when gay men elsewhere in Europe are moving away from it”. People in Europe are moving away from it and maltese people are moving towards it, maybe its just because of how outdated maltese people, laws and mentalities are, just like yours. “live and let live!” an expression that you should write down every day instead of these stupid articles, so that it sinks in that close minded mentality of yours.
Dak tas-7 inch uncut cock jonqos, u l-album ikun komplut.
Listen; I agree with having an opinion and being able to share that opinion, But do you have to be so negative about everything ? Let them pose the way they please, they’re not doing any harm to anyone. & Look at the bright side.. They’re involving themselves in something they like. They may not be of your taste but that’s your problem. Let people be ! Live & Let Live !
[Daphne – There is no bright side to it, Lara. Work it out. If you mean that we’re all better off with them doing this sort of thing than, say, robbing banks, then fine, I agree with you. But it’s not a choice between posing wet with shaved arm-pits covered in dead octopuses and, say, injecting yourself with heroin, is it. There are more constructive and self-improving ways to pass the time than endless self-absorption and narcissism, which is self-defeating because this is not a good look for men anyway, unless they’re posing for a catamite catalogue for Middle Eastern businessmen. Get a grip.]
Look who’s talking about getting a grip ?! You’re a woman of certain age and yet you still haven’t found something useful to spend your time with.
[Daphne – I think you need to keep up, Lara.]
You choose to put down people for your own satisfaction.
[Daphne – No, actually criticism and satire are a democratic necessity. Had you grown up without them, because of fear and oppression (as my generation did), you would understand this. But lucky you, when your biggest problem at 19 is fighting the terrible scourge of people laughing at men photographed in wet underpants or with octopus epaulettes.]
As far as I m concerned you haven’t been of any benefit to society lately. I’ll use your own words Galizia; May You Rot In Hell !
[Daphne – My name isn’t Galizia. It’s Daphne. You’re not the first person to make that mistake, but they’re usually not Maltese. If you wish to address me by my surname, it’s Mrs Caruana Galizia. You’re very badly brought up.]
May I ask did you get the permission from these men to put up these photos because I know some of these men and they do a lot of modelling.
[Daphne – I don’t need permission. They’re not private persons and the photos are public on Facebook, with no privacy settings. Also, given that the aim of uploading them on Facebook was for publicity purposes, they can’t exactly complain about the maximum publicity they’re getting here. Or does seeing them out of context make them realise how ill-advised the clothes and poses are? I wonder.]
John is clearly a liberal. And he is probably also progressive.
Dear straight men in these photos:
Don’t ever shave your armpits. Ever.
Don’t ever shave your chest unless you really do look like Ryan Gosling
Don’t ever take stupid photos of yourself jumping to catch a ball over a pool (??) or standing under a waterfall.
Nothing about the suitcase in the pool or brief-case in the pool looks cool.
When doing a photoshoot that involves wearing glasses, take out the lenses. This takes away the problem of glare from the lights.
Don’t pose like Penelope Pitstop doing her make-up and holding a gun.
Guns? Do we have a gun problem in Malta? Have we suddenly become American?
And finally, the “wet” look makes you look like you love yourself too much, and will land you with deluded girlfriends.
Oh, and one last thing…..SMILE.
The guy with the suitcase is looking for Captain Schettino.
You’re going to kill me, Ciccio.
Welcome to the mainstream.
There must be a soft porn industry in Malta.
Contributors to this industry are usually narcissistic, and somewhat immature for their age. I presume that this applies to other western countries as well, but Malta’s small size, combined with the exhibitionism that goes with such immaturity, gives this phenomenon greater prominence.
Pity.
Daphne Caruana Galizia – Saying what we all think but are afraid to say in public since 1964.
[Daphne – Well, I was born in late 1964, so it would have to be a little after that. Around 1969, I would say, which is roughly when I started to spend lots of my time in the classroom corner, the classroom corridor and the headmistress’s office.]
Referring to octopuses, shouldn’t it read octopi?
[Daphne – No. The root is Greek, not Latin. And in any case, it is now an English word, so it takes the English plural, like cactus/cactuses, referendum/referendums and forum/forums.]
In this case, octopussies is probably the correct spelling. Also permitted: Octokittens.
Ciccio, I refer you to Brouwer’s (1912) seminal result in algebraic topology: the proof of the impossibility of a nonvanishing continuous tangent vector field on even dimensional n-spheres.
Now you know why you could never achieve the slick comb-over on your balls.
Shaved, just like pornstars.
Maaaaaaaaaaa, now I know why I never married, and always thought that cats are best.
Thank you, Daphne. You made my day!
What if most models here are actually gay… hence their gay look?
[Daphne – No, most of them are definitely not gay. Gay men were not invented in 2013, so believe it or not, even women born in 1964, like me, can tell. All but a couple of them are clearly straight, which makes their ‘1992 rent boy’ look even more ill-judged.]
I resent this “gay look” idea. It’s just unattractive. Being gay does not mean that we have to walk around like emasculated tarts from Twinks r Us.
Gay men were NEVER invented They were created by God same as lesbians, trans and str8 people for your information!
[Daphne – Very progressive, talking about God creating this and that. On which day did God create gay men and lesbians – the seventh, in between bouts of relaxation? For crying out loud.]
Well I guess the football one’s pretty cool. Other than that, totally agree.
I disagree. I think it looks like something out of a Looney Tunes cartoon.
Creepy.
As a gay man, I can assure you, none of these men look particularly ‘gay’. ‘We have a situation where most gay men look straight’ – step foot into any gay club tonight and you will be proven colossally wrong.
Daphne, what does ‘NORMAL’ constitute? Are you really going to choose a man from a period drama as the paragon of male normality? Why stop there? Why not someone from Downton Abbey or a Jane Austen adaptation? Have you never seen a straight male with long hair? Are these outdated gender stereotypes (which are the parents of gay stereotypes) never to die out?
[Daphne – Don’t perpetuate them, then. My point here, which you seem to have missed, is that most of these men are obviously straight, yet have somehow been misled into thinking that this look is something that drives women wild. It doesn’t. The only people who get the hots for something like this are the equivalent of those seedy old men who go trawling for 15-year-old girls in Bangkok.]
You ask me not to perpetuate them and yet you say that these men are obviously straight (are they mating with a female in these pictures?) but adopting a ‘gay’ look (do they SEEM to be mating with a male?).
And the belief that appearance is JUST about attracting the opposite sex, or the same sex, is a bit stale, wouldn’t you agree?
[Daphne – If you can’t tell who in those pictures is gay and who is not, and you’re gay yourself, then I’d advise you not to go out on the pull without a minder who’s more perceptive than you are. As for your last sentence, no, I don’t agree. At that sort of age, appearance is ALL about attracting a mate or keeping the mate you have. It’s basic biology, even if some people just won’t admit it. I hate to sound patronising, and don’t mean to, but you’re probably half my age and it’s really not a good idea for a man in his early 20s to assume he knows more about sex, sexuality, human interaction and gender relations than a 49-year-old woman.]
I am not assuming anything, but someone speaks of ‘that whole gay look’ (which means nothing really, for we come in all shapes and sizes) in a negative or mocking manner, that is homophobic, whether you are aware of it or not.
The straight Maltese woman is actually sobbing. Am I really expected to mate with … this?
Who are we to judge?! They might be gay. So what?!
[Daphne – Learn how to read. I’ve said the exact opposite: that they’re NOT gay (well, maybe a couple of them are, but the rest are patently not) and yet they pose, dress and wax themselves like a certain kind of rent boy from another era.]
And the fact that they are NOT gay is some form of saving grace? Oh Daphne.
[Daphne – Having a low IQ moment, are you? No, it is not a saving grace, but a bit of a disaster given that they’re behaving in such a way as to send women running in the opposite direction. It would have been better if they were gay. It would at least have given them a target market (if a target market is what they want) of seedy old pervs – and no, ‘pervs’ not because they’re gay but because any old man who goes after somebody young enough to be his grandchild is by definition a perv, whether he’s gay or straight.]
And being gay is no excuse either. The point here is not their sexuality, it’s how they are presenting themselves and the thought that people think it’s attractive and appealing when it isn’t.
Being gay is not a licence to walk around looking like a himbo from a porn film.
Who are we to judge? Let them be, u say ‘normal’, it might not be normal to you but to them it is! If they enjoy it, why not?
I certainly cannot agree with what you said about ‘taken up grooming, waxing, eyebrow-plucking and the wrong clothes’.
I think at the end of the day it is all about tastes and this is where the Maltese proverb comes in the picture, ‘Ghalhekk il-baqra tinbiegh kollha.’
Having said that, I do believe that most of the photos here are a bit shocking. I don’t understand the need of a guy to pose in water with a gun and a briefcase. Could this be some fetish of the new era? I hope not.
This is the next generation of men to appear on the Labour billboards in 2018.
“Nivvota Labour. Ghax jiena saksi.”
Which means that come 2018, these are the men who will be sitting on the boards of Enemalta (with Lara Billboard), the Freeport Corporation (with Ronnie Pellegrini), the last few months of Valletta 2018 (with Jason), the Valletta Rehab Committe (with Kitten from Malta), the Pharmacy Council (with Joseph Chetcuti)…
At what point was politics brought into this ?
I’m half your age & yet I know better then writing such comments which by the way only make you look dumb and naive ! Grow Up !
But it sells, Daphne.
Look, mating rituals and alpha male predatory behaviour are just like chemistry. You get enough particles to meet other particles, and you’ve a higher probability of the reaction happening.
The Maltese market for normal-looking males is crowded out, and you need a girl as a crutch in order to carry off the look. But they’re all taken.
So everyone else goes camp, because it’s average, which means you fit in even if you’re single. And because it’s average, it means you’re perceived as mainstream, which increases your chances of mating.
I tried it myself, and it worked. I went all rent-boy and within half an hour I was made CEO and got hitched.
Should I laugh or cry? Why would a guy hold a guitar on his shoulders above water with an umbrella in the other hand?
It sounds even funnier than the picture itself.
Modelling? Really? More like get “creative” with every piece of material you could find and snap a picture of it.
I know a thing or two about guitars and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know how to play it.
Some people have no respect for anything.
Avolja ma accetajtx li tippublika l-kumment precedenti fuq tal-Amerikana, hawnhekk inpoggi ideja flimkien ghall-applaws, ma stajtx titkellem ahjar. cheers.
From what I read here, I got a huge impression that you have something against anyone being gay. If these men want to embrace their gay look, who are you to judge them? Even if they’re not gay, which most of them aren’t, I’m sorry to say, but your ignorance has got the most of you. If you haven’t noticed, we live in a world, where by time it evolves, and we are in 2013, where, in these days not only women take care of their appearance. Men nowadays, have found new ways of grooming and looking better, and feeling cleaner. If they want to shave their armpit hair, so what? Let them be for goodness sake. It is true that everyone deserves an opinion, and has different tastes, but I believe that there is no sense in the word NORMAL, as everyone has the right to be as they please, and no one is here to judge, not even you.
[Daphne – That’s what I’m telling you, darling: it’s 2013, and that look is OUT. “I got a huge impression that you have something against anyone being gay.” Well, I got a huge impression that you have trouble understanding what you read. “If they want to shave their armpit hair, so what?” Not if they want to appeal to women – it will freak them out.]
As I’ve already said, anyone can disagree on their tastes and opinions. If that freaks YOU out, maybe some other woman out there, won’t even look at a guy wit armpit hair, who knows darling?
[Daphne – Then that should freak him out. A woman who wants her man with shaved armpits? Ooooh. I’d stay well clear.]
In today’s world anything goes, and you would be surprised to what people may find appealing to them.
[Daphne – At the age of 49, it’s most unlikely that anything about people’s sexual tastes is going to surprise me. It will, however, probably surprise you to find that nothing about those tastes has changed throughout the entire course of history (and probably beyond that).]
http://images.sodahead.com/polls/003690169/Smooth-Male-Pits-108584140944_xlarge.jpeg
A social pariah in Daphne’s world.
[Daphne – Not only in my world. I’m guessing you don’t have the perspective of age. How do you think somebody like this is going to end up? Where exactly do you imagine he will be, 10, 20, 30 years down the line? I could tell you how the equivalent type of earlier generations ended up, but it’s not pretty.]
Il madonna allajbierek kemm ghanda nies perfetti malta :)
Hasra li ilsienom mhux perfet ukol ax VALENU JAQQ
Nisthi nghid li mil listess pajjiz tijak daphne ax iggelna nisthu blimgieba u ir ragunijiet tieghek !!! Get a life!! Or do better just stop live and just die you’ll make everyone in peace …
Il-fatt li ma tafx tikteb bil-Malti ma jgeghlekx tisthi?
Lili cwiec bhalek, ta’ l-istess mentalita u kultura tieghek, igeghluni nisthi. Twaqqghuli wicci l-art.
Daphne I think you should start to mind your own business and let others live their lives peacefully. You are in no position to judge others because as far as I am concerned these people aren’t effecting your personal life. Maybe you should think twice before you post something and I don’t know but have you ever wondered that maybe YOU are the problem and not others? :)
Lol daphne you really suck. Can you not butt into other people’s lives for once? Seriously you’re the only one making a big fuss that “that look is out” ! Just drop it, if ur not interested in that look then maybe other women are! Just mind ur own business and keep ur unimportant and pointless opinion to yourself!
Aw Daphne, billi dak li Jkun irid iqaxxar lhemm u lhawn ghax joghgbu hekk ma jfissirx li huwa gay. Aktar nista Nahseb li inti gay ghax biex tghid li mhemm hadd li Ogbok Jew gie sew ma nafx xtip ta gosti jista jkollok. Don’t generalize cause there are some good looking models that look straight and are straight and did a great job. Keep it up guys and good luck.
You, yourself are a disgusting figure.. I am not referring to appearances.. no i am referring to the how you disgust me in how you describe people. For the record, I am a girl and I too would prefer to have a straight man with body hair.. But I wont ever think of posting pictures of people I have no idea about and talk like that about them. You should be ashamed of yourself. Who do you think you are?!! Just because you’re getting old and didn’t seem to get any guys back in your days doesn’t mean you should do this to MY generation.
Advice from a 19 year old with ACTUAL BRAINS… ‘GET A LIFE AND START WRITING SOMETHING THAT MAKES SENSE AND DOES NOT HURT NO ONE! YOU LOW SELF CENTERED EXCUSE OF A WOMAN’ .
Amen. Love, Denise.
[Daphne – Denise, pray that one day you will grow up and that Lidl will begin selling actual brains and perhaps also straight men with body hair. At 19, I had both and still do at 49 (the same brains and the same straight man with body hair). Amen. Love, Daphne. P.S. Everyone who is 19 turns 49 in the blink of an eye, unless calamity strikes in the interim. So keep calm and carry on.]
“But I wont ever think of posting pictures of people I have no idea about and talk like that about them”
Denise,
Perhaps you fail to understand why those pictures were put on the internet by the photographer to begin with.
He put them there to show his work, and perhaps to show off the models he thinks were the best ones.
This shows the public what he thinks is good quality photography, good modeling, creativity and masculinity. What we are seeing is his brains at work.
However, this time round he failed miserably. The public, as in the people he sought approval from for his work, does not like his pictures. To many, they give the wrong impression of beauty and promote the wrong values.
Or maybe they just look funny and stupid when taken out of the “We all know each other so let’s not say bad things about our friends” context.
The artists have failed in their attempt. What they should be doing right now is taking as many notes as they possibly can to learn from this mistake.
Next time, why don’t they use men who actually are masculine, are not made to look silly dragging a suitcase through a pool, and think of communicating something else other than sex and superficiality?
To be honest though, I think that the only reason these guys went into this competition is to become “famous”. Well, fame is a machine that does what it likes. You cannot control it. You can easily become famous for all the wrong reasons.
‘And does not hurt no one.’ In other words, ‘hurt someone.’ At 19 you are old enough to know about a double negative; or at least you should, unless you are just a graduate of Facebook university.
It’s straight men like these who give gay men a bad name.
God, how I hate those plucked eyebrows on men. They look so fake and distort the facial features.
Give them a shot of testosterone.
Be honest DHC! … Do you have anything against gay men? Because everyone is a human at the end of the day!
[Daphne – Who is DHC?]
Daphne, what do you think about the girls with one side of their head shaved? I honestly don’t like it, girls look more beautiful with long hair than having the side of their head shaved. How stupid it looks.
[Daphne – I suggest you ask a straight man or a lesbian.]
Judging by a number of comments made by people who seem to be taking offence because they do not even understand plain English clearly shows that the stupidity rate, in Malta, must be actually higher than I thought it was.
And yes, I totally agree with Daphne – women cannot possibly feel attracted to this type of man.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2348480/Why-modern-men-hate-chest-hair-Wives-laugh-vanity-Their-dads-think-effete-So-todays-men-wax-pluck-shave.html
So I guess you were wrong, Daphne. Tastes DO change through the entire course of the history of the world.
[Daphne – Yes, and that’s why you’re no longer wearing tight breeches with a cod-piece, pointed silk shoes, an embroidered jacket and a long, powdered white wig, dear sir. Fads are fads, but the rest is permanent. A fad for men looking, dressing and behaving like girls is followed almost immediately by a very strong plain masculinity backlash. It happened in the late 18th century (my earlier example) and it happened again in the early 1970s, as symbolised by Robert Plant (at least he was properly beautiful), David Bowie and Marc Bolan (both very pretty).]
Dear Ms Caruana Galizia,
A few points:
Who of us has the right to define NORMAL on behalf of the rest of the population? You don’t. I don’t. No one does.
“Straight women find this kind of thing absolutely repellent”. What an incredible generalisation!
You state “and something tells me that gay men do, too.” You make this statement on what basis? Have you conducted a statistically valid survey of gay men? Since you state “something tells” you, we can only assume you didn’t ask even one gay man his opinion. Another incredible generalisation.
Society has always been, and God willing, will continue to be varied and interesting; hopefully it will become more tolerant. These young men are not hurting anyone; they are either in a competition or earning some money modelling.
The photos may be out there in the public domain but by publishing them with your article, you are making it PERSONAL. Just because these young men are modelling and appearing to be confident, it is sometimes not the case. I hope these are strong young men who will not be adversely affected by your negative and uninformed comments.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
[Daphne – You’re welcome. And do stop getting defensively uptight, or you’ll be fitting right into yet another stereotype/cliche. Those photos are ridiculous. Laugh at them and move on. I don’t feel the need to justify straight women posing like idiots, just because I’m a straight woman and they are too. Gay men have achieved ‘normality’ – as distinct from being really chippy, nothing to do with sexuality here – when they can look at the behaviour of other gay men, and like everybody else think, “bloody hell”.]
You seem to have an overwhelming desire to categorise people, which is quite sad really. I was expressing my opinion, as indeed you did, not getting “defensively uptight”. I have never before left a comment and based on your response to what were valid points, I will not waste my time in the future – and now I will ‘move on’ – and away from your blog/column forever. Now into which category might that place me Daphne – ‘discerning’ perhaps?
[Daphne – And then you take offence because I describe you correctly as defensively uptight. God, what a drama queen. Honestly. ‘Forever’ indeed, Miss Scarlett O’ Hara.]
While I really enjoyed your turn of phrase describing the current look “amongst Maltese men”, I’ve got to disagree.
My own Maltese man and literally all (!) other Maltese men of my acquaintance – straight or gay, aged 25-50 – actually dress very well (‘normal’), and I’d say a few of them are decidedly hot.
[Daphne – Well, that’s probably because your demographic is different. It’s the same with me (though I’d go easy on the ‘hot’ because most Maltese men really aren’t) but it doesn’t blind me to the fact that there’s a different and strongly emerging aesthetic in other social groups.]
The tight-glittery-spiv look still seems to be a massive thing in Sicily though.
[Daphne – Among people of the same social background, yes. This is very much a working-class aesthetic.]
Also enjoyed the pictures! Of course as a straight, red-blooded woman I’m all for a man looking good in the shower – but that’s not how wet look glamour shots should be done.
It’s a simple fact that Malta is fast becoming one of the most LGBT-inclined societies on the planet. It seems the male population are all giving it a try.
Which is fantastic news all round for a straight guy.
I think not only girls are made of plastic these days.
I think Barbie had found her match.
I’m sorry but I don’t think there is anything exciting about having my man shaving his legs next to me.
Although these maybe a little too much for some …. One can’t stop and wonder about all the extremes women take on a daily basis to look that good. So on a side note, for both men and women, respect for the good job done, but don’t try and impress too much.
And then we wonder why the birth rate in Malta has been in the decline for the past few years….
yesss daphne edt xi haga sura al darba
Are these young people being exploited, in a modern way, for the sake of gaining confidence in oneself. How much are they paying to participate in such photo sessions and competitions?
And why do these young men need to assert their beauty by means of competitions? instead they could be participating in healthier sports and learning how to be profitably enterprising and innovative (same like the photographer and company who enticed them to participate in photographic competitions).
and what’s with the dead octapus?
None made me shake, rattle and roll. Anzi.
I work at fashion store (International franchise), and I’m thankful that I get a proper insight into upcoming trends. I had a particular hair cut two summers ago that got quite a funny looks; fast forward to now, and everyone has it. Without intending to sound too hipster, I think there’s a general lack of creativity among Maltese people, not to mention a crippling fear of being different/ one’s self.
As regards the photos…no…just..no.
ESPECIALLY the octopus.
Kemm tiflah taqa ghan-nejk ! You should be ashamed of yourself, if I were you I go on Google and search the term Modelling. But knowing and understanding hopeless state of mind you have, I know that that would be a state of mind because you create your own ”definition” of modelling.
PS- search as well the term gay, maybe you’ll get a better view of the term ”gay” is.
….The only good thing in this shitty article are the photos you choose,