Gay Skins

This work contests the myths of masculinity that constitute and are seemingly evidenced by the skinhead, and challenges assumptions about class, queerness and "real men". It deconstructs the "authentic masculinity" of the skinhead and draws parallels between the extreme masculinization of the skinhead and homoerotic desire and fantasy, suggesting that straight and gay skins's lifestyles are radically similar. It assesses what gay men have done to the "hardest youth cult" and how this has transformed the gay scene. The text makes use of accounts from straight skinhead culture, contemporary news coverage, subcultural theorists and memories of gay skinheads in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.