June 1st is the start of Pride Month and National Nail Polish Day.
Hit up your local LGBTQ+ parade this Pride Month, and you’re bound to see men wearing nail polish—maybe even in rainbow manicures—whether you like it or not.
And a surprising number of people don’t like it when men paint their nails, even here in the year of our Lord 2024 Anno Domini.
How about we take this to the next level?
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We saw the homophobic hate when Duke college basketball star Jared McCain and newly-minted Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams showed off their nail art—not that the two athletes are letting the gay slurs get to them.
“I like to get manicures and pedicures. I take care of my body,” McCain told Complex last year. “Some of these people hate, I don’t know if they do take care of their body. So, I just like getting the color, and it’s always been myself. I’ve always been big on just being yourself in any situation possible. And never letting somebody tell you what you can and can’t be. So doing the painted nails is kind of a part of me now.”
Related*
No. 1 pick Caleb Williams defied homophobes by showing up to the NFL Draft with painted nails
He also delivered a poignant speech about why he’s unapologetically himself.
You’d hope that by now we’d let people do whatever they wanted with their bodies—and that we’d have freed ourselves of the binary thinking that claims men can’t use cosmetics.
Even gays can be narrow-minded about other men’s gender expression, promoting the same kind of misogyny that results in femmephobia.
In a 2016 essay for HuffPost, Connor Doherty recalled going on a date with someone who, upon seeing Doherty’s nail polish, said he “didn’t seem like that kind of guy”:
I was disgusted by his crude comment and the implications behind it. I knew when he said “that kind of guy” what he was really saying was “flamboyant and effeminate gay guy.” He was spewing internalized homophobia, emasculating me, and effectively invalidating trans, gender nonconforming, and queer people. He was effectively saying that femininity was bad, and that I was less attractive because I didn’t adhere to his rigid expectations of gender.
That was almost eight years ago, but the discourse hasn’t improved much since.
Just check out the hate in these X posts from the year so far—and the support from those who aren’t bothered by a little lacquer.
Unvarnished hate
Polished support
Related*
Nail polish for men? We love to see it!
If you’ve noticed a surge in men wearing painted nails and male celebs launching nail polish brands, you’re not alone. Nail polish for men is in – click through to discover why.
LeeG
I have no problem with nail polish–I use a clear coating on mine because I inherited a tendency to brittle nails. Been doing that for years. Looking for just the right color as a topcoat.
someplace
I don’t care for nail polish and makeup on anyone, but I understand that’s my problem, not other people’s.
@LeeG I feel your pain. If I give my nails a hard stare, they break.
JOJO
Everyone has their flavor of ice cream. To each their own. If the shop is out of my flavor, I simply find another shop.