The Male Gazed: On Hunks, Heartthrobs, and What Pop Culture Taught Me About (Desiring) Men

"In this collection of essays, writer/critic Manuel Betancourt explores queer representation in media in an intensely personal, and uniquely engaging, manner. He recalls a childhood in Colombia as a “soft and skinny” kid whose ideas about masculinity were shaped by a host of disparate influences – including Ricky Martin, Saved by the Bell, Calvin Klein ads, Disney films, Walter Mercado and Pedro Almodóvar – that will resonate with his many readers. Betancourt finds the through line of forbidden desire connecting them all and unpacks how his life as a writer and a gay man exists in an ever-evolving conversation with their notions of manhood."