One of my pet blog subjects, obviously: that strange subgenre in "romantic" turn-of-the-century French postcards (Gauziness is All) in which the "men" look so much like women they probably are women. Witness, indeed, the first two of the three exquisite images here: one might infer that the foppish creature (left), sniffing a perfumed letter, and the "man" in the couple below are in fact the same woman. Whose fabby idea was this?
The whole perverse business suggests a not-so-hidden collective disbelief in the existence of any "real-world" male pulchritude -- as in who would ever want to snog with a real man?
My own choice for favorite waltz partner would be the stellar eunuch in the third image. I have lots of other cards in which "he" appears. It must be admitted that "he" also resembles one of my better-looking male colleagues.
