DADA'S BOYS

Grown men tearing off their shirts and hugging? That’s just what men do, no? As a new art exhibition places the straight bloke

under the microscope. Brian Donaldson lifts his hairy knuckles away from the ground to ponder manliness and misrepresentation.

o-hoper. Halfwit. [)imwit. Asshole.

Arsehole. Bozo. Twat. Prick. Dork. Knob.

Words which conjure up failure. ." humiliation. and pointless existence. None of ‘1 these tags. it will be noted. would be thrust at a woman. Not because they don’t act in a way that would deserve such an insult. but because these words are perfectly ‘male'. Of course. we have an array of insults set aside for the female species. but that‘s a debate for another day: when Mamma Mia gets to its half century. perhaps.

l‘or quite a while now (since the mid-to-late 80s). it’s been widely asserted that British men (specifically. the white. heterosexual kind) are in terminal decline. Under siege from the rampant success story that is post-liberation womanhood. instead of reaching for the stars we have grappled towards the middle shelves for our . greased subscription renewals to FHM and Maxim. the more disceming sleazeball opting for Arena or GQ. Instead of taking the new powerbrokers to task. we have fled to the forest to shoot paint at each other's backs.

While women successfully snapped at the hetero-chap heels. at least The Gays were still trailing in our wake. Not for long. Queer culture easily caught up and overtook its straight counterpart. in the 80s. hetero-male reluctantly gobbled up his girlfriend's Frankie 12"s. but these days Beckham‘s latest hair calamity is met with a laddish tut tut rather than howls of ‘pooftahl' A movie like Ocean's Eleven may hark back to the testosterone-riddled Rat Pack. but in Steven Soderbergh‘s hands and with more gay icons than you can shake Graham Norton at. i it feels like something very different. They even é let Julia Roberts into the club for Pete's sake!

This apparent full-scale capitulation to j womanin and gaydom has left hetero-man feeling a mite confused. Previously his brutish ways were condemned from all fronts: now the , overriding reaction is one of pity. leaving him tired. emotional and very. very confused. So. how can he strike back“? By being himself perhaps. while not fully playing up to the unreconstructed lout of yore. ln little ways. this has already been put in place. Yes. we know more about moisturiser than our forefathers but does this make as bad people?

By and large. men are most at ease with their own kind: like-minded souls with whom they can share petty social grievances. They deal poker and shoot the breeze. happy to return to whatever non- lron John existence awaits them when the bell rings for the end of playtime. Guys just wanna have fun. Just keep that Cher DVD out of sight.

Dada’s Boys is at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, from 27 May until 17 July.

14 me LIST 11-25 May 2006