A gay skinhead, also known as a gayskin or queerskin, is a

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

person who identifies with the

skinhead A skinhead is a member of a subculture which originated among working class youths in London, England, in the 1960s and soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in th ...

subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...

. Some gay skinheads have a

sexual fetish Sexual fetishism or erotic fetishism is a sexual fixation on a nonliving object or nongenital body part. The object of interest is called the fetish; the person who has ''a fetish'' for that object is a fetishist. A sexual fetish may be regard ...

for skinhead clothing styles. Gay skinheads figure in the work of gay artists such as

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

painter Attila Richard Lukacs and filmmaker

Bruce LaBruce Bruce LaBruce (born January 3, 1964) is a Canadian artist, writer, filmmaker, photographer, and underground director based in Toronto. Life and career LaBruce was born in Tiverton, Ontario. He has claimed both Justin Stewart and Bryan Bruce as ...

. Gay skinheads have been featured on the catwalks of fashion designers

Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen CBE (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen label in 1992, and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His achievements in fashio ...

and

Jean-Paul Gaultier Jean Paul Gaultier (; born 24 April 1952) is a French haute couture and prêt-à-porter fashion designer. He is described as an " enfant terrible" of the fashion industry and is known for his unconventional designs with motifs including corset ...

since the early 1990s. Not all skinheads who are gay fetishize the skinhead image. These individuals may prefer not to be referred to as gayskins because of the sexual connotations—and they may not associate with self-identified gayskins for the same reason, but to traditional skinhead culture. There exists a vibrant, gay skinhead social scene, both online and at events, particularly in parts of Europe and the United Kingdom.

References

Bibliography

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External links

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Non-Fetish Queer Skinheads - internets oldest place for gay skinheads (on various platforms since 1998)
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Queer Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice
" Network of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans & Queer Skinheads and friends worldwide. {{Skinhead Gay masculinity Gay culture Skinhead

References

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Further reading

See also

External links