ABSTRACT
Let no one say that we have reached every conclusion about human sexuality. The topic remains in the crucible of modern cultural theory and is hody debated in all media. No cultural artefact that addresses this issue should be disregarded; although, all such artefacts should be weighted according to tbeir merits. In November of 2001, a BBC2 television documentary on modern taboos pointed out tbat, roughly since tbe 1970s, male fashion advertisements and icons of pop-culture bave become increasingly homoerotic. Perhaps surprisingly, these adverts are not geared exclusively toward homosexuals. Their primary demographic target consists of those men who would probably identifY themselves as unequivocally heterosexual. This trend of increasing homoerotic representation shows no sign of subsiding in the near future. It is perhaps possible to speculate that certain shadowy members of the gay-male community have perpetrated some cunningly engineered conspiracy-but such a thing seems altogether unlikely. There must be some other reason why homoerotic imagery that idealises tbe male form in such a manner that could readily be construed as sexual is considered to appeal so positively (enough to sell clothes, jewellery, cigarettes etc.) to presumably heterosexual men. The BBC television programme, perhaps wisely, offered no explanation for this queer phenomenon.
