Reading List: The origins of Goatse, public sex shaming and more

The Reading List strikes again at Down East.

Check out this first-person account posted in The New York Times by Abdellah Taïa about his life as a young gay man living in Morocco.

An excerpt:

I knew what happened to boys like me in our impoverished society; they were designated victims, to be used, with everyone’s blessing, as easy sexual objects by frustrated men. And I knew that no one would save me — not even my parents, who surely loved me. For them too, I was shame, filth. A “zamel.”

Remember all those guys in high school who taunted you, calling you a fag? Or all those girls who called you a dyke? Turns out there may be some truth to the expression “Methinks my lady doth protest too much”: a study shows that individuals who espouse strong homophobic attitudes may be hiding their own unacknowledged same-sex attraction. Kind of reminds you of Kurt and Karofsky.

Last week, a group of men who have sex with men were caught in a sting operation at a Manhattan Beach bathroom in California. The media were given photos of the men found inside. Well, some activists are taking umbrage at those actions, especially after one of the individuals arrested attempted to commit suicide.

And on the lighter side, RuPaul has released a new video for “Glamazon,” that song you keep hearing during the runway sequences on RuPaul’s Drag Race.

And for something completely different: remember Goatse? Yeah, you do. Well, it looks like Gawker may have found the man behind the ass that started it all.

Journalist, writer, blogger, producer.

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