Gay skinhead

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A Gay skinhead, also known as a gayskin or queerskin, is a gay person who identifies with the skinhead subculture, often (though not necessarily) out of sexual interest.

Some gay skinheads have a sexual fetish for skinhead clothing styles; others have a violence fetish. Some are simply attracted to skinheads' outward displays of masculinity. What they all have in common, is that they adopt skinhead subcultural aspects and are sexually attracted to others who do the same. There are skinheads who happen to be gay, but who do not 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.

Gay skinheads figure in the work of gay artists such as Canadian painter Attila Richard Lukacs and filmmaker Bruce LaBruce. Gay skinheads have been featured on the catwalks of fashion designers Alexander McQueen and Jean-Paul Gaultier since the early 1990s.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Subculture

Gay skinheads are a distinct and separate subgroup of the skinhead subculture. It has a unique set of rules for social interaction, which combines elements of generic gay male interaction with skinhead modes of expression. For example, a gay skinhead might engage another in a fistfight or wrestling match to establish who will take the dominant role in a subsequent sexual encounter. Such interactions would almost certainly not be tolerated in the main skinhead scene, so gay skinheads usually practice their subculture in isolation; in private residences, gay bars, and predominantly gayskin events.

Most gay skinheads are not affiliated with neo-Nazism or white power, because those movements usually condemn homosexuality. However, there are some who fetishize Nazism, Nazi uniforms and other Nazi memorabilia; and there are some who subscribe to racist and fascist viewpoints. A a gayskin could be a redskin, anarchist skin, SHARP, traditional skinhead, suedehead or straight edge.