# A great big unfuck you to Out Magazine **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 19, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691 "2003-04-19T20:35:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/1 "2003-04-19T20:35:43Z")
Let me preface this by making clear that I did not subscribe to this fluffy crap magazine. This is just part of the legacy of the ex-husband who thought I’d actually like such a periodical. So… the new issue came in the mail… among the other subjects on this homo version of Blush magazine was about the winner of their makeover contest and that he was _ **once fat** _. _slow burn_ I read the damn article. They had nothing to do with his weight loss, but they trumpeted it on the cover. After all, it is the goal of every gay man to be thin and wearing the latest fashions, right? Unfuck the lot of you at Out Magazine who felt you had to trumpet this on your front cover. Unfuck you further for feeling the need to tell us how he had an anti-cellulite cream rubbed on his love handles(and where were they?!?) which were then slapped to make them go away. Yes, as you shot a picture of his saran wrapped midsection, the only way love handles could have been found was WITH AN ELECTRON MICROSCOPE! It is such an irony that the opinion columns of your sister periodical, The Advocate, have been about body image. So, just like the 100th episode of South Park, you can tell us we all need to be starving ourselves and working out 'til we drop as long as you also tell us how terrible it is with another arm how we shouldn’t conform to an unrealistic body image. I hope you all go through a dry spell of such epic proportions that your sex lives become more arid than the Sahara desert, you sad pack of superficial, Armani pimping, collagen swilling, insipid motherfuckers. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/2 "2003-04-19T21:28:01Z")
Doesn’t sound too much different from Cosmo. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/3 "2003-04-20T01:59:38Z")
What’s with the unfucking? Wouldn’t a regular fucking suffice? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/4 "2003-04-20T02:57:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Snooooopy \* > \*\*What’s with the unfucking? Wouldn’t a regular fucking suffice? \*\* Think it through, **Snoooopy**. If any of the editorial staff of _Out_ are bottoms, as seems likely, then **Mockingbird** ’s ejaculation\* is the appropriate one for him to use on them. - Yeah, I **have** just been waiting for a chance to use that verb with reference to an imperative in a context such as this. Why do you ask? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/5 "2003-04-20T03:13:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Snooooopy \* > \*\*What’s with the unfucking? Wouldn’t a regular fucking suffice? \*\* Not in this case. See, unfucking _Out_ would actually make it in. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/6 "2003-04-20T03:15:19Z")
But thinking makes my brain hurt! ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/7 "2003-04-20T04:07:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Polycarp \* > \*_Think it through, **Snoooopy**. If any of the editorial staff of Out are bottoms, as seems likely, then **Mockingbird** ’s ejaculation_ is the appropriate one for him to use on them. > > - Yeah, I **have** just been waiting for a chance to use that verb with reference to an imperative in a context such as this. Why do you ask? 😉 \*\* I worship you. Let me kneel in reverance. Hush you. I’m being wholesome here. REALLY. I _cough_ Okay. I’d do him. I admit it. ARE YOU HAPPY!?! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/8 "2003-04-20T04:55:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Snooooopy \* > \*\*What’s with the unfucking? Wouldn’t a regular fucking suffice? \*\* It’s from a George Carlin routine. The idea being, everyone loves having sex, so being told “fuck you” isn’t really much of an insult. Therefore, the opposite, “unfuck you,” ought to be the **real** insult. Not really one of his better routines, IMO. I tend to find Carlin’s pedantic literalist schtick to be tiresome rather than funny. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Mockingbird_\*\* > After all, it is the goal of every gay man to be thin and wearing the latest fashions, right?\*\* Don’t be silly. This isn’t the goal of every gay man, it’s the goal of every living organism on Earth. Why do you think the troops in Iraq were depolyed with racks of Donna Karen outfits and a C-14 full of ThighMasters? Being thin and fashionable is more important than God, family, or country. It’s true: I read it in _Maxim_. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/9 "2003-04-20T06:10:59Z")
This is of course the magazine that once used the title “Gay Bash” to slug an article on circuit parties. ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/10 "2003-04-20T09:54:00Z")
Back in the '70s and '80s _The Advocate_ had plenty of “make sure you stay young and pretty” advertisements. These days, the seem to be a more mainstream news magazine that focuses on GLBT issues. They still run “young and beautiful” advertising, but no where near as much as they use to (YMMV). Now _Frontiers_! That’s a different story. I’ll never forgive them for cancalling _Leonard & Larry_ for no good reason! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/11 "2003-04-20T12:50:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mockingbird \* > \*\*Let me preface this by making clear that I did not subscribe to this fluffy crap magazine. This is just part of the legacy of the ex-husband who thought I’d actually like such a periodical. > > So… the new issue came in the mail… among the other subjects on this homo version of Blush magazine was about the winner of their makeover contest and that he was _ **once fat** _. > > _slow burn_ > > I read the damn article. They had nothing to do with his weight loss, but they trumpeted it on the cover. > > After all, it is the goal of every gay man to be thin and wearing the latest fashions, right? > > Unfuck the lot of you at Out Magazine who felt you had to trumpet this on your front cover. Unfuck you further for feeling the need to tell us how he had an anti-cellulite cream rubbed on his love handles(and where were they?!?) which were then slapped to make them go away. > > Yes, as you shot a picture of his saran wrapped midsection, the only way love handles could have been found was WITH AN ELECTRON MICROSCOPE! > > It is such an irony that the opinion columns of your sister periodical, The Advocate, have been about body image. > > So, just like the 100th episode of South Park, you can tell us we all need to be starving ourselves and working out 'til we drop as long as you also tell us how terrible it is with another arm how we shouldn’t conform to an unrealistic body image. > > I hope you all go through a dry spell of such epic proportions that your sex lives become more arid than the Sahara desert, you sad pack of superficial, Armani pimping, collagen swilling, insipid motherfuckers. \*\* You lost me somewhere re the rationale for your fury. What precisely did you expect from a magazine whose intended audience is primarly gay men? For better or worse mainstream gay male culture (whether it’s Out mag or whatever) has never been particularly embracing of fat or a poor fashion sense. I think you would find Bass Master Monthly to be a far more progressive magazine on this issue. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/12 "2003-04-20T13:47:18Z")
> [@](#): > > What precisely did you expect from a magazine whose intended audience is primarly gay men? Excuse me? Why would the fact a magazine is marketed to gay men somehow make it right that it’s actively encouraging dreadful body image? I know it’s _common_; gay bashing is also _common_, but that doesn’t mean we don’t get to be furious about it. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/13 "2003-04-20T14:09:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\*Excuse me? Why would the fact a magazine is marketed to gay men somehow make it right that it’s actively encouraging dreadful body image? I know it’s _common_; gay bashing is also _common_, but that doesn’t mean we don’t get to be furious about it. \*\* Matt with all due respect while I am not gay, I have a _lot_ more experience being tubby than you do and yo-yoing up and down between an acceptable “hard muscle” weight of 225 and being the size of a Volkswagen. Being substantially fat is dangerous to one’s health and is not fun in any way, shape or form. Being dangerously fat is becoming a pandemic in the US. We are becoming nation of grotesque, overfed blimps waddling from one fast food outlet to another. If Out magazine wants to glurge about how good someone looks because they lost weight more power to them. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/14 "2003-04-20T14:22:36Z")
I had a subscription to _Out_ magazine. I got it for free when I signed up with [classmates.com](http://classmates.com) ages and ages ago. I found it almost wholly worthless. I asked a gay friend why the hell anyone would bother with a subscription to that magazine. He picked it up, walked into my living room, and flung it onto my coffee table. “That’s why,” he said. Just to be sure I understood, I said, “You mean it’s a coffee table mag?” “Yeah. It’s made for pretty gay man to leave on their pretty coffee tables so other pretty gay men will see it.” “Oh. Okay.” Therefore, I find it wholly UNsurprising that the mag is 99% fluff. If you want to read about actual issues, buy something else. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/15 "2003-04-20T16:05:34Z")
> [@](#): > > If Out magazine wants to glurge about how good someone looks because they lost weight more power to them. What they are advertising is the furthest thing from a healthy way of living or thinking about one’s body. They are advocating a mentality characterized by spending huge amounts of money on gyms and cremes and protein, and it’s not so you can have better cardiovascular health, it’s so you can be an A-list pretty person and be cruised at the fucking White Party. To review, it has got _nothing_ to do with health and _everything_ to do with highly profitable poor self-image. And it’s not directed towards people who are actually obese, but to gay men with ordinary bodies in a culture where the perfect is required. ---
**Author:** ![UWmite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UWmite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UWmite)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/16 "2003-04-20T22:54:26Z")
Yeah, I had the same reaction. Why on earth did they take two (the runner-up chick was also pretty damn good looking on her own) really attractive people and make them over? Makeovers are for utterly unfashionable schmoes like me who couldn’t apply eyeliner properly if Helen Gurley Brown herself had a gun to our heads. But really, what do you expect from a mag that, as near as I can tell, does nothing but interview extremely popular straight actors about what it was like to play a gay character in their latest project? Now, if anybody wants to lament the decline and fall of Bust magazine, I’ll be weeping silently in my room. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/17 "2003-04-20T23:17:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hamadryad \* > \*\* > Therefore, I find it wholly UNsurprising that the mag is 99% fluff. If you want to read about actual issues, buy something else. \*\* Note: I said that I did not buy it, it was a subscription legacy from the ex. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/18 "2003-04-20T23:23:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > \*\*You lost me somewhere re the rationale for your fury. What precisely did you expect from a magazine whose intended audience is primarly gay men? > > For better or worse mainstream gay male culture (whether it’s Out mag or whatever) has never been particularly embracing of fat or a poor fashion sense. I think you would find Bass Master Monthly to be a far more progressive magazine on this issue. \*\* _sigh_ Silence equals complicity and agreement. I do not agree, and thus have vented my spleen here and in a letter to the editor of their magazine. And to assume that this is what gay men want or are about is ludicrous. To add to what Matt said(and very well I might add), there is also the opposite ends of the spectrum: those who are fat and those who are mega skinny. Generally neither of these types can expect to look like the image they are being sold and told is the thing they should be. It is oppressive and pervasive to be sold an image using a fear appeal to make us believe that if we don’t fit this image, we will be alone and sexless for life. I know many of my friends and many that I have talked to about this sort of issue do agree with me. The problem is that most of them would not take the time to speak out because they don’t think they could make a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Cap\_n\_Crude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Cap\_n\_Crude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Crude)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/19 "2003-04-20T23:23:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miller \* > \*\*It’s from a George Carlin routine. The idea being, everyone loves having sex, so being told “fuck you” isn’t really much of an insult. Therefore, the opposite, “unfuck you,” ought to be the **real** insult. Nitpick from left field. It was Lenny Bruce, not George Carlin. Carlin was still working clean when Lenny was reimagining standup comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691/20 "2003-04-20T23:25:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cap’n Crude \* > \*\*Nitpick from left field. It was Lenny Bruce, not George Carlin. Carlin was still working clean when Lenny was reimagining standup comedy. \*\* I give my thanks to whomever I have paid homage to. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-great-big-unfuck-you-to-out-magazine/169691.md?page=2)