Why Do Gay Men Paint Their Nails

Why does anyone paint their nails?

None of the gay men I know paint their nails (and I know hundreds, if not thousands), so I wouldn't know.

I shudder.

Gross.

I really couldn’t care less if guys painted their nails. The problem is even men with nice hands look like Herman Munster with polish on their nails.

I have to admit I get clear polish. They told me it would help with hangnails and my nails ripping on clothes.

It is noticeable close up (they kind of shine), but not unless they are right in front of my eyes.

Go hang in Bushwick and you'll find plenty of straight hipster guys with their nails painted.

I do not care, but it would never happen here.

Jerry Seinfeld got a no-polish manicure and begged his neighbor not to tell anyone.

It's a temporary, short-term way of saying "Yep, that's right, I'm a cool dude". Less invasive than piercings, less permanent than ink, and unlike severe gay-clone haircuts, can be banished before the next job interview.

Keeps the shit from sticking when you fist someone.

I assume they're just straight pretending to be "queer" or something.

[quote] Plenty of other men as of late have been seen wearing nail polish, including Johnny Depp, Taye Diggs, Seal, Jared Leto, Brad Pitt, Zac Efron, Elden Henson of The Hunger Games, Darren Criss, Harry Styles and more.

[quote] History is actually repeating itself: Men have been wearing nail polish since 3,200 B.C. Following an excavation of royal tombs at Ur of the Chaldees in southern Babylonia, it was reportedly discovered that most men during that era wore nail polish, with different colors signifying different classes. Made primarily with kohl, the darker the color, the higher the class of the man, from warriors to leaders. Lighter colors were reserved for lower class men. In fact, prior to battle, warriors would take hours to primp and paint their nails just so.

[quote] In 3,000 B.C., it's said that in China, nail varnish — which was made from a mixture of egg whites, beeswax and gelatin — was reserved for people in the higher classes regardless of gender. In Egypt, people of all classes were encouraged to paint their nails, again with color denoting status. Members of the upper classes, including icons like Nefertiti and Cleopatra, tended to wear red made from plant extracts.

[quote] There's little documentation of how nail polish turned into a specifically feminine expression as the years ticked on. What we do know is that by 1800s France, it was primarily women who would paint their nails to signify their own cleanliness. By the 1930s, companies like Revlon were marketing red and pink polishes directly to female customers. The counterculture brought it back: Flash forward to the rise of counterculture in the United States and artists such as Iggy Pop, Kurt Cobain, Lou Reed and David Bowie, all of whom were notable proponents of painting varnish on their nails.

R13 so we shouldn't assume a man with painted nails is gay - as they could be straight

R14 What about painting one's fingernails would compel them to suck a load out through a hard cock? These attributes seem unrelated to one another.

[Quote]Why Do Gay Men Paint Their Nails

I think for many gay men, it's another way to affirm their gayness, and be trendy while doing so.

Petey D ain't no homo, bro!

Why do straight men paint their nails?

Why does nail polish exist?

Why does paint exist?

Why does exist?

Why does?

Why?

?

They think it makes them “edgy”

Leaving aside all ideologies, just on a purely aesthetic level, nail polish just does not work on men’s hands.

I am still trying to figure out why, but I know visually it doesn’t work.

Picture it, circa 1972, UC San Francisco Medical Center, one painted nail from a Halloween party. Told to go home and suspended for 10 work days.

I’d say, we’ve come a long way.

Men paint their nails because they are nonbinary, pansexual, whatever. Which means they are gay.

Some gothy/drama boys and a few grunge guys wore nail polish in my high school in the 90s.

It's not a big deal.

It's funny to me that people get all worked up over nail polish and eye liner, which wash off, while those scary permanent ear stretcher things, other piercings and tattoos are common and are actually mutilating.

It can only be because people are afraid it feminizes men. But it's just shiny paint on claws.

I'm a gay man and I do not paint my nails, you stupid whore of a homophobic troll, OP.

I pay someone to paint them.

I used to paint one nail on my left hand black when I was in high school in the 80s. I would change which nail, but it was never the thumb.

I thought it made me look edgy or something.

It's a fad. End of story.

Gooch!