Mark Simpson (journalist)
Encyclopedia
Mark Simpson is an English journalist, writer, and broadcaster specialising in pop culture, media, and masculinity. He has been described by one critic as "the skinhead
Oscar Wilde
" Simpson is a frequent commentator on British television shows.
Simpson has written for numerous publications around the world, including The Times
, The Guardian
, Salon.com
, Arena Homme +
, 'GQ Style, Vogues Hommes International, The Independent on Sunday, Tetu
, the Seattle Stranger
, and Dutch Playboy
. In December 2007, GQ Russia placed him in their 'Top Ten Things That Changed Men's Lives'.
" in a 1994 article. He also introduced the word to the US in 'Meet the Metrosexual' a much-quoted essay on Salon.com in 2002, leading to the global popularity of the term. This was also the first citation of the UK footballer David Beckham
as the ultimate example of the type. Simpson was later credited with introducing the term 'retrosexual' (in the sense of the anti-metrosexual) in 2003.
The New York Times
acclaimed Simpson's analysis of how sport and advertising are both increasingly using homoerotic imagery, in a process he dubbed "sporno" ("the place where sport and porn meet and produce a gigantic money shot") as one of the Ideas of the Year. The Times
newspaper also featured sporno in their 'Year in Ideas' list.
In 2010 the global trend spotting website Science of the Time described Simpson as 'the world's most perceptive writer about masculinity'. The Times of India included 'metrosexual' in their review of the most important words of the last thirty years, commenting: "Much has been written about metrosexuals, but no one has done it as well as the man credited with coining the term, Mark Simpson."
and homoeroticism in the representation of masculinity. Returning to Freud's theory of universal bisexual
responsiveness, it also 'outed' what he saw as the homoerotic subtext of masculinity itself. In particular, he analysed the way films, ads, pop music, and bodybuilding, had replaced 'real' masculinity, if it ever existed, with something 'sexy and simulated'. In his chapter on Marky Mark and his (then) recent Calvin Klein ads he argued that the rapper's appearance on billboards in Times Square
and on the side of buses 'in his prime and in his underwear', grabbing his 'package' to shift product, graphically proved how the commodification of the male body - 'and gay men's love for it' - had become 'eyepoppingly' mainstream.
Famously, it included a chapter arguing persuasively that the real romance in Top Gun
was between Maverick (Tom Cruise
) and Iceman (Val Kilmer
), something which may have inspired Quentin Tarantino
to make a cameo appearance in the film Sleep With Me
later the same year as a party-guest making a very similar argument.
. Led by Simpson, various "non-heterosexual" contributors, such as Bruce LaBruce
& Glenn Belverio
, John Weir
, Peter Tatchell
, Paul Burston
, Lisa Power, and Anne-Marie Le Ble, voiced their criticism of the gay 'one-size-fits-all' identity and the gay media's intolerance of anything that wasn't 'glad' and 'clap happy'. Anti-Gay was one of the first "post-gay" books, appearing a year or so before a series of largely conservative American gay books critical of gay culture, such as 'The Rise and Fall of Gay Culture' (D Harris, 1997) and 'Life Outside' (M Signorile, 1997), 'Sexual Ecology' (G Rotello, 1998).
magazine, and showed how gay and straight culture were converging, a decade before this became a common theme.
's 2004 comeback. Widely praised, the book prompted some comparisons with the subject's style: "Simpson is funny, clever, honest, irreverent and egotistical: quite the match for Morrissey. More biographies should be written this way." (Laurence Phelan, Independent on Sunday Books of the Year')
(2011), is a selection of his essays spanning the last two decades. It charts his theories of metrosexuality, from his invention of the term 'metrosexual' in 1994, to his current work on media and pop culture representations of men's desire to be desired. Metrosexy is an e-book available from Amazon and has been serialised in The Independent newspaper and on Out.com.
Skinhead
A skinhead is a member of a subculture that originated among working class youths in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and then spread to other parts of the world. Named for their close-cropped or shaven heads, the first skinheads were greatly influenced by West Indian rude boys and British mods,...
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
" Simpson is a frequent commentator on British television shows.
Simpson has written for numerous publications around the world, including The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, Arena Homme +
Arena Homme +
Arena Homme + is a fashion magazine for men published biannually since 1994. It is published by Bauer and editor-in-chief is the writer Jo-Ann Furniss....
, 'GQ Style, Vogues Hommes International, The Independent on Sunday, Tetu
Tetu
Tetu may refer to:* Têtu, a French gay magazine* a name for the Oroxylum indicum tree in the marathi language...
, the Seattle Stranger
The Stranger (newspaper)
The Stranger is an alternative weekly newspaper in Seattle, Washington, USA. It runs a blog known as Slog.-History:The Stranger was founded by Tim Keck, who had previously co-founded the satirical newspaper The Onion, and cartoonist James Sturm. Its first issue came out on September 23, 1991...
, and Dutch Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
. In December 2007, GQ Russia placed him in their 'Top Ten Things That Changed Men's Lives'.
The term "metrosexual"
Simpson is credited with coining the term "metrosexualMetrosexual
Metrosexual is a neologism derived from metropolitan and heterosexual coined in 1994 describing a man who spends a lot of time and money on shopping for his appearance...
" in a 1994 article. He also introduced the word to the US in 'Meet the Metrosexual' a much-quoted essay on Salon.com in 2002, leading to the global popularity of the term. This was also the first citation of the UK footballer David Beckham
David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
as the ultimate example of the type. Simpson was later credited with introducing the term 'retrosexual' (in the sense of the anti-metrosexual) in 2003.
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
acclaimed Simpson's analysis of how sport and advertising are both increasingly using homoerotic imagery, in a process he dubbed "sporno" ("the place where sport and porn meet and produce a gigantic money shot") as one of the Ideas of the Year. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper also featured sporno in their 'Year in Ideas' list.
In 2010 the global trend spotting website Science of the Time described Simpson as 'the world's most perceptive writer about masculinity'. The Times of India included 'metrosexual' in their review of the most important words of the last thirty years, commenting: "Much has been written about metrosexuals, but no one has done it as well as the man credited with coining the term, Mark Simpson."
Male Impersonators
Simpson's first book Male Impersonators (1994) provided the background for his theory of metrosexuality and looked at the role of narcissismNarcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
and homoeroticism in the representation of masculinity. Returning to Freud's theory of universal bisexual
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
responsiveness, it also 'outed' what he saw as the homoerotic subtext of masculinity itself. In particular, he analysed the way films, ads, pop music, and bodybuilding, had replaced 'real' masculinity, if it ever existed, with something 'sexy and simulated'. In his chapter on Marky Mark and his (then) recent Calvin Klein ads he argued that the rapper's appearance on billboards in Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
and on the side of buses 'in his prime and in his underwear', grabbing his 'package' to shift product, graphically proved how the commodification of the male body - 'and gay men's love for it' - had become 'eyepoppingly' mainstream.
Famously, it included a chapter arguing persuasively that the real romance in Top Gun
Top Gun
Top Gun may refer to:* Top Gun is a 1986 film starring Tom Cruise.**Top Gun , soundtrack to the movie**Top Gun , a number of games based on the movie...
was between Maverick (Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
) and Iceman (Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer
Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...
), something which may have inspired Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
to make a cameo appearance in the film Sleep With Me
Sleep with Me
Sleep With Me is a 1994 film starring Meg Tilly, Eric Stoltz and Craig Sheffer who play good friends who become involved in a love triangle, a relationship complicated by the marriage of Tilly's and Stoltz'es characters...
later the same year as a party-guest making a very similar argument.
Anti-Gay
Simpson's controversial collection Anti-Gay (1996), described on the jacket as 'The shameful antidote to feelgood politics', 'divided the gay community' according to The IndependentThe Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
. Led by Simpson, various "non-heterosexual" contributors, such as Bruce LaBruce
Bruce LaBruce
Bruce LaBruce is a Canadian writer, filmmaker, photographer and underground gay porn director based in Toronto, Ontario.-Biography:...
& Glenn Belverio
Glenn Belverio
Glenn Belverio, born 1975, is a journalist and editor based in New York, New York.In the 1990s, Belverio was a filmmaker and performance artist, whose 1993 collaboration with best-selling author Camille Paglia on the short film "Glennda and Camille Do Downtown," gained international attention...
, John Weir
John Weir
Sir John Weir, GCVO, Royal Victorian Chain , MB ChB Glasgow 1907, FFHom 1943, Physician Royal to several twentieth century monarchs....
, Peter Tatchell
Peter Tatchell
Peter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British political campaigner best known for his work with LGBT social movements...
, Paul Burston
Paul Burston
Paul Burston is a British gay journalist, author, broadcaster and curator-Life:Raised in Bridgend, Wales, Burston attended Brynteg Comprehensive School, studied English, Drama and Film Studies at university before becoming an activist with the gay London policing project GALOP and the AIDS...
, Lisa Power, and Anne-Marie Le Ble, voiced their criticism of the gay 'one-size-fits-all' identity and the gay media's intolerance of anything that wasn't 'glad' and 'clap happy'. Anti-Gay was one of the first "post-gay" books, appearing a year or so before a series of largely conservative American gay books critical of gay culture, such as 'The Rise and Fall of Gay Culture' (D Harris, 1997) and 'Life Outside' (M Signorile, 1997), 'Sexual Ecology' (G Rotello, 1998).
It's a Queer World
It’s a Queer World published the same year, described on the dust jacket as 'hilariously perverse' and 'taking a warped look at fin-de-siecle pop culture where nothing is as straight - or gay - as it seems', collected Simpson's popular columns of the same name which appeared in AttitudeAttitude (magazine)
Attitude is a British gay lifestyle magazine owned by Vitality Publishing. It is sold worldwide as a physical magazine and a digital download for the iPad and iPhone via the App Store. The first issue appeared in May 1994....
magazine, and showed how gay and straight culture were converging, a decade before this became a common theme.
Saint Morrissey
Saint Morrissey was Simpson's 'psycho-bio' of the former Smiths front man, written at the nadir of the singer's career, and published the year before MorrisseyMorrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
's 2004 comeback. Widely praised, the book prompted some comparisons with the subject's style: "Simpson is funny, clever, honest, irreverent and egotistical: quite the match for Morrissey. More biographies should be written this way." (Laurence Phelan, Independent on Sunday Books of the Year')
The Queen is Dead
The Queen is Dead (1998) collected his colorful and confessional correspondence with cult American writer Steven Zeeland. According to the jacket blurb: 'A chance letter sparks off an hilariously doomed transatlantic literary romance involving Marines, glory holes, cats, intellectuals, transsexuals and a bizarre love-triangle rivalry with gay serial-killer and Gianni Versace's assassin Andrew Cunanan.' Despite its openly offbeat subject matter, it went down well with reviewers: 'Something of a masterpiece' (Roger Clarke, The Independent).Metrosexy
Simpson's latest book, MetrosexyMetrosexy
Metrosexy: A Twenty-First Century Self-Love Story is a 2011 book by the UK author and journalist Mark Simpson. The book is a selection of Simpson's essays spanning the previous two decades...
(2011), is a selection of his essays spanning the last two decades. It charts his theories of metrosexuality, from his invention of the term 'metrosexual' in 1994, to his current work on media and pop culture representations of men's desire to be desired. Metrosexy is an e-book available from Amazon and has been serialised in The Independent newspaper and on Out.com.