GQ USA - 11.2019

Iggy Pop

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

seismic change is indeed under way—
and that we still have a lot of work to do.
As I think you’ll find, this issue is
the beginning of an open-ended con-
versation. We’re not attempting to be
comprehensive on the subject of mas-
culinity or o≠ering a strict how-to for
being a better man. Instead, this issue
is an exploration of the ways that tradi-
tional notions of masculinity are being
challenged, shifted, and overturned.
It’s also intended as an exploration of
how we can all become more generous,
honest, open, and loving humans—
especially if we rebuild masculinity on
a foundation of traits and values like
generosity, honesty, openness, and love.
Needless to say, one of the voices
in the mix is that of our cover subject,
Pharrell Williams, who is an icon of
progressive thinking, music making,
and dressing. Pharrell has a long his-
tory of shattering cultural norms—and
he has also shown a profound ability
to adjust as the world around him has

Givenchy designer

Clare Waight Keller

Painter Jonathan

Lyndon Chase

(right) and

his husband,

Will Chase

Model Casil

McArthur

changed. That dynamic combination of

leadership and responsiveness is aspi-

rational, and exactly why we wanted

him on the cover.

Before I step aside and let all the

many thoughtful voices in this issue

speak, I want to unpack one word that

keeps coming up in these pages as the

antidote to toxicity: empathy. Empathy

is our ability to feel what other people

are feeling. It is the foundation of love

and of the Golden Rule.

If Pharrell, Tarana Burke, and

Hannah Gadsby are right, it’s also

something that men urgently need to

cultivate right now.

I’ve thought about empathy a lot

over the course of editing this issue.

And it strikes me that before you can

feel what others are feeling, you must

first be in touch with how you feel.

In other words, you have to have empa-

thy for yourself. And then you can turn

that hard-won superpower outward

and do unto others as you would have

them do unto you.

It might seem counterintuitive that

the people we need to learn to love

first and foremost are ourselves, but I

believe it’s true. Toxicity simply cannot

thrive in the golden presence of genu-

ine self-love.

With that, I’ll pass the mic. Time,

once again, to listen.

Will Welch

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Artist

Al Freeman

16 GQ.COM NOVEMBER 2019

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