Doonan makes a powerful case in his new satirical book
Gay Men Don’t Get Fat
, a spin off of the mega-popular French Women Don’t Get Fat. Only, expect to laugh a lot more — just as we did this past week at his book launch atop Barney’s glitzy Genes@Co-op café. Sitting at the head of the table, Doonan read excerpts from the book, challenging us to "weigh in," and promising we'd burn away the pounds by the end— belly laughs burn calories, right?
Gay Men Don’t Get Fat
is, after all, meant to embrace stereotypes and then dress them up in frilly, brazen generalizations. Over a breakfast of fruit and yogurt, mimosas and coffee, Doonan admitted that this is “probably the most demented book I’ve ever written,” abbreviated with one-liners like “Macaroons are so gay!” and "Gays are like French women with penises." His eccentric sense of humor lacks the seriousness of the “heteros,” yet he aims to liberate straight women (“I feel your pain, girls!”) from serious expectations to look like Gisele, act like Mother Theresa, and live like, well, a design-conscious gay man.
Gay Men Don't Get Fat by Simon Doonan, $24.95, available at Barneys.
Photo: Neil Rasmus/BFAnyc.com/Courtesy of Barneys