Je déteste tout ce qui est féminin; sauf chez les jeunes hommes

I saw this movie with two very American friends, who really weren’t very comfortable.

Anyway. It’s the title I’m thinking about today. ‘I deteste anything feminine; except in young men.’ Much as I love big tough subs, I’m also fond of pretty young boys, especially pretty young boys who play on their prettiness. How, you may wonder, does this sit with my dislike of the whole forced fem thing? An interesting question. I’ve spent a fair bit of time trying to work out exactly why I like this archetype, and I think, like the cage-fighting thing, it comes down to a lack of power, of having to get ahead on someone else’s terms.

During the reign of Elizabeth I, a lot of things got turned on their heads. One of the biggies was that, because the person of influence and those closest to her (her ladies in waiting) were women, men seeking influence suddenly had to compete on different terms. In her father’s time, they could get ahead by being one of the boys. In Elizabeth’s time, they found they were better off sexualising themselves.

Elizabeth’s fondness for a pretty leg was famous. This is why trousers suddenly got shortened to crotch level – long, shapely legs became the height of male fashion because Elizabeth liked men’s legs. Especially when dancing. All that leaping around and showing off their legs. She gave Christopher Hatton his first court position because he caught her eye dancing.

The whole dark-eyed gypsy thing that became so popular; the long dark curls, the flashing eyes, the louche, insouciant pearl earring; it was all because during her reign men had to play the game that in most periods women had to play: make yourself pretty and smile at the people with the real power.

I think that’s what I like about it. It’s as if pretty, dandified young men are all saying, ‘I have no power; my only hope is to please you.’

In the non-fantasy world, I’m not, in case you hadn’t guessed, a big fan of the Tyra Banks, ‘post-feminist’ (hah), girl-power school of thought that make-up and heels are a kind of empowerment. I’ll have power on my own terms, thank you very much, not by virtue of other people’s physical desire for me. Are you seriously telling me that pandering to the prevailing standard of ‘beauty’ is improving the female position?

Hilliard’s unknown man

Hilliard’s young man among roses