Much of the recent talk at cocktail parties and within the gay e-telligentsia (read: blogosphere) has been around model of the moment Chad White and his cover photo and editorial in the June 2007 issue of Out. The sixteen page editorial was lensed by Francois Rousseau and is an ode to Equus, the equine-themed stage play that created a huge buzz by starring a nude Daniel Radcliffe on temporary loan from Harry Potter.
The play explores one teen-aged boy's obsession with horses and his descent into madness. Greg Marzullo, the features editor of the Washington Blade, describes the editorial as little more than an "erotic, soft-core version of the play" and criticizes gay audiences for ignoring the message:
Taking a story about a child in agony and turning it into a highly eroticized photography exhibit is the worst of gay barrier-breaking inclinations.
I’m sure there are plenty of people who won’t know the play and won’t care what it’s about. Hey, it’s a hot guy mostly naked on a horse! Who cares?
That’s what bothers me most. People will be lusting after the admittedly pretty Chad White without understanding that there’s something basically dysfunctional about the eroticization of deep suffering.
This isn't the first Blade op-ed to critique the messaging around gay porn. Just recently, a writer took aim at the military-inspired Gaytanamo(link NSFW), which fuses XXX-sex, abduction fantasies and the war on terror.
Chad White's Shameful Photo Shoot [Wash Blade]
New Lows in Bad Taste [Wash Blade]
Chad White in Out [Out]
Daniel Radcliffe in "Equus" [Fleshbot-NSFW]
"Gaytanamo": Just a Movie? [Fleshbot-NSFW]
Francois Rousseau Photographe [photographer]
Some Background ...
Chad White Rides "Out" [R20]
L'Uomo Chad [R20]
Chad White for Diesel [R20]
Casting Call by François Rousseau [R20]
Willy by François Rousseau [R20]
This is one time that ignorance will be bliss. I didn't know anything about the play and that fine ass naked boy standing next to the horse is my screen saver.
Posted by: CHARLES | 22 May 2007 at 13:48
Much ado about nothing. If the producers didn't intend to sexualize the play, not sure why we see so much of a nude Daniel Radcliffe everywhere.
Who really isn't that cute, IMHO. He's no Chad White.
Posted by: rex wash | 22 May 2007 at 14:13
I criticized this layout on a few other sites for a more simple reason: it's a complete rip-off of Madonna's Confessions Tour book and W spread.
Posted by: Ben | 22 May 2007 at 14:46
Sorry, Ben. "Equus" is much older than Madonna's "Confessions." It was first published in 1973.
If anyone stole the idea, it was Madonna. Talented as she may be, she has never had an original idea.
But bless your heart for thinking a 34-year old play "ripped off" Madonna.
Posted by: joseph b.a. | 22 May 2007 at 15:15
LMAO.. I needed a good laugh. thanks joseph b.a.
Posted by: CHARLES | 22 May 2007 at 15:28
Honestly, I never took the play that seriously to where I would see this photo spread as problematic. "Gaytanamo," however, is another matter.
Posted by: jbyrd130 | 22 May 2007 at 15:30
..After publicly bullying closeted gay celebs Anderson Cooper and Jodie Foster for the world to see, Out resumes with its usual policy of straight (white) male worship and gay exclusion.
All signs point out to the fact Out and The Advocate have sold out to the neocon/GOP agenda while we were asleep anyway..word is they've been publishing articles by Jeff Gannon (!!), Andrew Sullivan (aight) and Patrick Sammon (hmm) to broadcast a lot of propaganda on how gays are better served by a party whose leadership supports the idea Falwell never uttered a bad word.
Next thing you know these magazines be sold to Ruppert Murdoch, who will fire the gay an liberal staff and turn it into another Faux News for gay-for-pay.
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2007/05/homoquotable-karen-magee.html
Posted by: wen | 22 May 2007 at 16:51
He's got a very real point. Everything needn't be eroticized but I wonder to what end he makes such a fuss.
Posted by: Tyler | 22 May 2007 at 17:36
the Blade has gay porn prominantly displayed in it advertising, and as special inserts. They remind me of Capt. Renault in Casablanca... hypocrites.
Posted by: Bill | 22 May 2007 at 21:46
Who cares?
Chad White needs to KEEP being naked on a horse, naked on a street corner..just naked!
Hell, he should bend over, touch his toes, and cough--NAKED! :)
Posted by: Ryan | 23 May 2007 at 22:36
Why do so many gay men attach so much significance to porn and male images? He's just a hot shirtless guy in a stables. Geez, they want to ignore the war and what happens in Washington but argue about a silly photo shoot.
Posted by: ca | 24 May 2007 at 01:10