Following up on yesterday’s (3/12) posting “Masculine flamboyance” about the political commentator Jon Favreau’s presentation of himself in an advertisement for Crooked Media’s Pod Save America show: as an impish hunk: impish via a half-smile; hunk via a display of his muscular forearms, signs of a ripped body. (I could also have noted his neck muscles and the solid torso beneath his t-shirt):
(#1) JF on display
This is a pose for the camera, so what we see is some mixture of (a) what we might think of as a picture of one of his “natural” personas (unconsciously composed), just being who he is (as if that were a simple thing) and (b) a calculated presentation, with some conscious thought devoted to choosing elements of his presentation for the photo. I would guess that some part of the image was calculated — perhaps, the light dusting of facial scruff, conveying masculinity (in case you might have doubts, given the flamboyance of JF in action, as described in yesterday’s posting).
In actual practice, these matters are often inscrutable. We can feel sure that both things happen:
[unintentional and unaware:] I didn’t shave this morning because I just didn’t around get to it
OR [intentional and aware:] I didn’t shave this morning because I was meeting someone I wanted to impress (with my apparently easy masculinity, with the negligence of my self-care, or whatever); or because the look makes me feel good about myself and who I am, and so on
Both things happen; both have happened to me. Either way plays out as light facial scruff. You can only guess at my state of awareness. And sometimes you will guess (because of course you care about my motives).
One more facial scruff example, where my guess about calculation runs the other way: from my 11/14/25 posting “Eric Swalwell and his facial scruff”:
(#2) US Congressman Eric Swalwellhis character … combines the earnestness of an eagle scout with progressive political positions pretty much right down the line, in a nice-guy empathetic presentation of himself leavened with humor, even self-mockery.
… [meanwhile, his] facial scruff [serves as] a conventional advertisement of masculinity and toughness.
… I am not saying that this presentation is calculated; he chooses how to groom and what to wear and how to act, and he might get advice on these matters from his staff, but he probably just does what suits him, without thinking about the details or articulating what they might convey or what his aims are. I remind you that the Beatles as a group deployed half-rhyme to great effect in their lyrics, but in fact just chose words that sounded right to them (without a clue about the phonological effects they were manipulating).
Three dimensions of presentation. Among (many) others: two personal dimensions (expressiveness: flamboyance vs. equanimity; and involvement: aimless vs. purposeful), and one relational dimension (control: submissive vs. dominant). These combine with the various dimensions of sexual practice (in particular, (anally) receptive vs insertive), of gender identity (in particular, effeminate vs. butch), and of sexual desire (same-sex vs. other-sex). (All these dimensions have been simplified as binary oppositions here. The real world is considerably more complex than that.)
All this as background to some of my explorations into presentations of self. One persistent theme has been the many cases where flamboyance and/or effeminacy — in highly visible gayness — combine with high purposefulness, opposing the common view that highly visible gay men are are in fact sex-obsessed, spending most of their time cruising and tricking. While in fact they generally lead highly purposeful lives, committed to achievement of many sorts. Two postings on the theme:
— from 6/29/24, “Pleasantly gay and deeply serious”, about political reporter Mark Joseph Stern and gay porn performer Beau Butler
— from 10/19/24, “Eugene Daniels”, about the White House correspondent for Politico (flamboyantly gay and deeply serious)
Then, my 8/17/24 posting “Accepting variation, or not”: a note on Richard Vytniorgu’s book Effeminate Belonging: Gender Nonconforming Experience and Gay Bottom Identities (Emerald Publishing, 2024), which treats (anally) receptive, submissive, and effeminate as (linked) sexual identities rather than merely elements in a presentation of self.
Finally, a surprise: my 7/5/10 posting “Vergissmeinicht”: gay, gay, gay XXX-rated magic-realist fiction about my characters Sundance and Butch, all about personas and presentations of self.
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