VOICES OF THE NEW MASCULINITY
VOICES OF THE NEW MASCULINITY
VOICES OF THE NEW MASCULINITY
VOICES OF THE NEW MASCULINITY VOICES OF THE NEW MASCULINITY VOICE
At 25, Jaboukie Young-White is
the millennial correspondent
for ‘The Daily Show’—or, as the chyron
once read, an “actual young person.”
His pathbreaking comedy, informed by
his identity as a queer person of color,
uses jokes to find what he calls “freedom”
and “lightness” in the heaviest parts of
the zeitgeist.
GQ: Your stand-up includes jokes about
being perceived as “masc”—which
you have defined as “basically just gay
for ‘I’m not like other girls.’ ” Is that
part of how you see yourself?
JABOUKIE YOUNG-WHITE: I would say
it’s more something I’ve been made to be
aware of. My dad is a barber, and I grew up
spending most of my days after school
in a barbershop. I remember there being so
much casual homophobia. That environment
is where a lot of my behaviors that are coded
as “masc” come from. It was a survival
technique. Growing up in so many of these
hypermasculine, super-homophobic
environments, I think that just naturally
became an extension of who I am.
I always find it weird, especially in the
queer community, when people fetishize
“mascness” or masculinity. Because for
so many people, those are actually scars,
you know. They’re battle scars on your
personality. Which is tragic in a certain way.
Do you see any positive sides
of masculinity?
The positive aspect of masculinity, to me,
is just being sure of yourself. Getting to
a point where you can take care of yourself
so well that you can also be of service
to others. That’s always been so tied up
with masculinity, for me. Even though
I was around a lot of people who were
homophobic or exhibiting these toxic
mannerisms, there was also this high level
of chivalry, where if a woman walked into
the barbershop, you would make sure
she had a seat, or if someone differently
abled walked in, you would make sure they
had a seat. There is a code of ethics that
JABOUKIE
YOUNG-
WHITE
VOICES OF THE
NEW MASCULINITY
The
Comedian
Pushing
Wokeness
Forward
With Jokes
How masculinity is morphing and modernizing according to
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A LOT OF THE
THINGS I JOKE
ABOUT ARE
THINGS THAT
AT ONE MOMENT
REALLY FELT LIKE
QUESTIONS I
WAS GRAPPLING
WITH.”
“
84 GQ.COM NOVEMBER 2019
