Oops! My Bad AfterElton!

For those Axe readers with excellent memory, you might recall a post waaaaaay earlier this year regarding a complaint about AterElton's Top 100 men? If you forget, check out their post there and my post here.

Chief concern was AfterElton compiled a group awfully disproportionate relative to including Men Of Color. Disturbed, my intention was to post a well-rounded, more balanced, inventory o' sexiness more reflective of all racial communities...Black, White, Asian, Latino...what-have-you.

Well, after months of tinkering with the damn thing, I finally gathered my own Top 100. Ian's personal catalog delves into handsome and attractive men from all media, not just Hollywood. Assembled, my list was inclusive of sexy men from the News media, sports, acting, and music arenas. Unfortunately, my results became just as skewed as on AfterElton's list. My compilation leans more towards men of African (Black) descent. As the series of names coagulated, people went off the register simply because I couldn't rationalize a more attractive Hayden, Ashton, Brenden, Antonio, Ewan, or Jake; couldn't conceptualize a less divinely handsome Blair, Rockmond, Marcus, Kobe, Hill, Idris, or Wallace. So the list seemed to fall in place, racially slanted, that way.

Is this an instance of partiality? Oh Hell yeah! I'll admit it. But does that make me racist? Um, no. Given my multiple ethnic heritage, definitely not. So how do you explain it? I guess it all boils down to who you're more familiar. Perhaps it's a matter of racial pride? Dunno. Looking back now, I suppose I must retract my criticism. Did the people over at After Elton intend to be non-inclusive? Doubt it. Can't say they did because I know it wasn't my intent. Hm? What does this say about the AfterElton list-compiler? What does it say about me?

As I manufactured my own hottest list, the most desirable men were/are predominantly ethnic, "Black identifying" (not necessarily "dark-skinned" fellas, but men who were proud to align themselves with the Black community...like Boris, Jason, Derek et al), Black/African American, and Men of the African Diaspora (brothers from Canada, France, the UK, and even the Motherland) in my humble opinion. This doesn't dispute the gorgeousness of my White, Native American, or Asian brethren. Nor does it exclude brothers of Spanish-speaking descent. Lawd knows I love a Dominican, Puerto Rican, and/or a Cuban man!

Is it wrong to be attracted solely to people who look, act, think, and share common background with you? Do we all have a natural predilection to people of our own racial heritage? Is it racist? I ask you. Is it wrong for me to want others to recognize the beauty that comes in all shades and hues of Black men, but not include the sexiness of other ethnic groups on my own roster of men? A man is a man, skin is skin, a hard dick is a hard dick, after all!

Seriously, I don't think it matters who you find most attractive, just as long as you can acknowledge have that attractiveness as well. . It's probably is a matter of who've been exposed to your entire life. If you're a person of color, and have never associated with persons outside your community, naturally you'll be attracted to those who look like you. This is synonymous across all social groups. With this conclusion, this leaves me with no choice but to withdrawal my original complaint to the folks over AfterElton, since I committed the same error.

Sigh! OK, that took forever to get out. Took over what I intended to post, which was my list of Honorable Mention Men, guys who just didn't quite make it on Ian's Top 100. This is coming in the next post. Promise! They're already typed; ready to be posted. Only reason they're not post now is because my little rant/apology took longer to explain than anticipated.

Stay tuned brothers...