ABSTRACT
The parallel problem that confronts homosexuals is that they set out to win the love of a "real" man. . . . If you ask a homosexual what his newest true love is like, you will never get the answer, "He is wise or kind or brave." He will only say, "It's enonnous." (Crisp 1968)
The central theme of this quote by Quentin Crisp, and by much gay male pornography and erotica, is the search for the quintessential real man. A "real man" must, by definition, be a man who is "real." But what does this entail? How is it expressed? And, more important, does it stand up to any kind of scrutiny?
