ISSUE: DNA #268 – Modern Man | Buy
How do you define the Modern Man?
That’s the theme of this issue and, as we’ve been putting it together, discovering the depths and subtleties of the lives of the men featured, the answer seems to suggest having a multifaceted approach to career and life.
For example, our cover story is on Evan Peix. He doesn’t fit neatly into a box. He’s a respected musician in the Cuban Guaracha scene. He’s an OnlyFans star. He’s a volunteer for his local LGBTQIA+ charity in Miami. He’s also a fundraiser for an orphanage he supports in Colombia. All this after starting his career on The Mickey Mouse Club in Bolivia.
It’s difficult to make generalisations about Evan. Is he a porn star? A musician? An activist?
All of the above. And where once a musician may have attempted to protect the “credibility” of their music career by keeping their porn past a secret, not today! The Modern Man is operating on all channels and each one interfaces and supports the other.
Where specialisation was once the key to success, now, the convergence economy, the internet, connectivity, and the rise of the Creative Class are bringing more positive options for generalists and “multipotentialites”, a word used by Jake Chapman, an academic who studies such things.
The Modern Man must look good on Instagram, be a social media manager, a public speaker, and be able to analyse data. Oh, and make porn for his fans account, too! Well… that’s me out of the running! But perhaps Chapman’s definition is a bit limited. Take Steve Pieters, also featured in this issue, as another example. If you’ve seen The Eyes Of Tammy Faye, you’ll recognise him as the gay reverend with AIDS who was famously interviewed on the televangelist’s show in the mid-’80s. Well, he survived AIDS, and we have a fascinating chat with him in which he vividly recalls his encounter with Tammy Faye and its repercussions for them both.
For me, Pieters is also a Modern Man because, at 70, he’s a survivor, and a link from our history to now. His prognosis was that AIDS would have killed him decades ago. But here he is, inspiring a contemporary actress, Jessica Chastain, to revisit the Tammy Faye story – and win an Academy Award for her trouble!
If we think about modernity being something that is not just current but still evolving, then Justin Jedlica is literally on the cutting edge.
He’s had over 1,000 surgical procedures and is now one of the most recognised and unique looking men in the world. Some regard his body augmentations as freaky and unnatural. He likes it that way. I found his interview absolutely engrossing because I was expecting someone vain, superficial perhaps. He’s quite the opposite. He sees his surgeries as his art and his otherworldliness as a kind of liberation from the tyranny of “normal”.
He’s funny and down-to-earth, articulate and thoroughly likeable. And now the groundbreaking surgeries he has helped pioneer are also helping those who have been injured or suffer from birth defects or illness. Plus, in true Modern Man style, he’s on a reality TV show, and in a polyamorous relationship!
Elsewhere this issue we meet other Modern Men: Mario Andrion –a fashion model-turnedstand-up comedian, and David Hernandez musician, OnlyFans content creator and American Idol survivor!
Our reviews of Jane Campion’s The Power Of The Dog and the short documentary Alone Out Here also address the question of modern manhood, masculinity and finding meaningful connections.
This month we also review Madonna and Kylie, hear opinion on the sexual racism conversation, cheer on Sheldon Riley at Eurovision, check in with our Jason Arrow, star of Hamilton and this month’s Straight Mate, chat with BenDeLaCreme on the eve of her US tour, and check sexy new fashion from Modus Vivendi and ThePack shot by Blake Yelavich and Wu Fan Love2.
And the Last Word goes to… Reuben Kaye, who has more than one practical use for a tight little twink!
As always, thank you for reading, and be kind, especially to yourself.
Andrew Creagh
Founding Editor
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
