Leather and Lace
Spring awakening mini-transmission: Tom of Finland & April's Angel-of-the-Month
His pants are pulled down over his feet like a ruched satin shade. His hips are slung to one side in classic contrapposto, showing off the bounciest bubble butt you ever saw. His tiny waist is just glimpsed beneath the bottom of a sailor’s white shirt, which covers an improbably broad back that curves in a long “S” from neck to pelvis. His head, perched in profile as he looks over his right shoulder, has features of exaggerated, cartoonish masculinity: short straight nose, full pouting lips, strong jaw, pronounced chin, angular sideburns. His cap slides down over his forehead with an attitude of arrogant nonchalance as he revels in the pleasures of being beautiful and being seen. It’s so hypermasculine that it bends toward high femme, the pose and the voluptuousness recalling the Venus Callipyge—“Venus of the beautiful buttocks”—a Roman marble statue of the love goddess lifting her dress and allowing mortals to marvel at otherworldly perfection.
As we welcome spring flowers and bird songs, here is your slightly delayed monthly Transmission (are Angels ever not on time though?) announcing my long essay on Tom of Finland over at the New York Review of Books. It’s behind a paywall online (subscribe!) but I highly recommend picking up the May 9th print issue which features TOM OF FINLAND ON THE COVER! As my beloved Genesis Breyer P-Orridge would say: CULTURAL ENGINEERING!
Next month promises to be jammed packed with announcements and events! Phew….
But, you’ve already waited long enough, so without any further teasing, I’m pleased to announce April 2024’s Angel-of-the-Month:
Angel BetBEASTIE xoxoxo