Gay? I'm not gay
Romanian youth culture these days is pretty interesting. Now that many Romanian families (and teenagers) are starting to have money to spend, and stores and malls are popping up to give people places to spend it, you can really see their style coming out: designer jeans, professional hairstyles, and so on.
The end result of all this fashionizing, especially for the men, is sort of . . . Balkosexual.
In the Cluj mall, I spotted a trio of three very tough looking guys with the kind of projected attitudes which would result in someone losing a limb if crossing them the wrong way, except . . . well . . . all three of them were sporting designer jeans with rhinestones all over the rear pockets, wrestling-style soft-sole sneakers in colours of yellow, silver, and pink, leather jackets that hit them at about half-midriff to expose their T-shirts covered with amorous french slogans, and topped off (no pun intended) with hairstyles I'd previously only seen on short-haired female Manele artists on TV. So I guess the message is: beware the hooligans — you might mess up their eye makeup.
The even greater irony to all this is that most Romanian men (the young ones being no exception) are fiercely homophobic, and many of them fairly misogynistic as well. So it's okay to look like them, just not to be them. Fair enough.
I'd more or less come to this conclusion on my own already when we had a really amusing conversation with a family friend in his late 20s or so:
Trendy Romanian Guy: When my friend visited Boston, it was a little weird, though. I don't understand Americans. They were driving around the city, and saw these gays walking on the sidewalk, so my friend rolled down the car window to harass them [as if this was the expected thing to do when you see a gay couple]— you know, whistled at them and catcalled and said, "Hey ladies!" and that kind of thing. But those gay men in America, they liked it, and just shouted and whistled along with them.
Matt: Um, you think they thought your friend was gay, too?
Trendy Romanian Guy: . . . It's weird you say that. The whole time my friend was travelling, people kept saying that. That he was gay. You think it's because two men were travelling together with no girls?
Matt: Uh, I doubt it. Guys hang out together all the time.
Trendy Romanian Guy: Hmm. Or maybe because Romanian guys we dress so much better than Americans? We really do, you know. Does that look gay?
Matt: Could be.
Trendy Romanian Guy: Or maybe because the Americans don't shave their chests and armpits like we do.
Matt: What?!?
Trendy Romanian Guy: You know, shave the chest, and armpits, and the pubic hair. You don't?
Matt: Um, no.
Trendy Romanian Guy: It's much better. Avoids the smell, and, you know, more hygenic, and none of the, you know. . . . [makes exaggerated gesture of scratching around in his underpants] Not all men shave the chest, but it's really better, you know. Looks more sexy.
Matt: Yes, that could certainly be it.
The end result of all this fashionizing, especially for the men, is sort of . . . Balkosexual.
In the Cluj mall, I spotted a trio of three very tough looking guys with the kind of projected attitudes which would result in someone losing a limb if crossing them the wrong way, except . . . well . . . all three of them were sporting designer jeans with rhinestones all over the rear pockets, wrestling-style soft-sole sneakers in colours of yellow, silver, and pink, leather jackets that hit them at about half-midriff to expose their T-shirts covered with amorous french slogans, and topped off (no pun intended) with hairstyles I'd previously only seen on short-haired female Manele artists on TV. So I guess the message is: beware the hooligans — you might mess up their eye makeup.
The even greater irony to all this is that most Romanian men (the young ones being no exception) are fiercely homophobic, and many of them fairly misogynistic as well. So it's okay to look like them, just not to be them. Fair enough.
I'd more or less come to this conclusion on my own already when we had a really amusing conversation with a family friend in his late 20s or so:
Trendy Romanian Guy: When my friend visited Boston, it was a little weird, though. I don't understand Americans. They were driving around the city, and saw these gays walking on the sidewalk, so my friend rolled down the car window to harass them [as if this was the expected thing to do when you see a gay couple]— you know, whistled at them and catcalled and said, "Hey ladies!" and that kind of thing. But those gay men in America, they liked it, and just shouted and whistled along with them.
Matt: Um, you think they thought your friend was gay, too?
Trendy Romanian Guy: . . . It's weird you say that. The whole time my friend was travelling, people kept saying that. That he was gay. You think it's because two men were travelling together with no girls?
Matt: Uh, I doubt it. Guys hang out together all the time.
Trendy Romanian Guy: Hmm. Or maybe because Romanian guys we dress so much better than Americans? We really do, you know. Does that look gay?
Matt: Could be.
Trendy Romanian Guy: Or maybe because the Americans don't shave their chests and armpits like we do.
Matt: What?!?
Trendy Romanian Guy: You know, shave the chest, and armpits, and the pubic hair. You don't?
Matt: Um, no.
Trendy Romanian Guy: It's much better. Avoids the smell, and, you know, more hygenic, and none of the, you know. . . . [makes exaggerated gesture of scratching around in his underpants] Not all men shave the chest, but it's really better, you know. Looks more sexy.
Matt: Yes, that could certainly be it.