EYE CANDY: Pikasso (reprise)

Pikasso has appeared as Eye Candy once before (May 21, 2010). His actual name is Stephan Allen and according to his Model Mayhem page, he is 33 years old, 6-feet tall and 185 pounds. Some people don't like tattoos but I think they are hawt!

Hat/tip to Pop Glitz

GRAPHIC: Crime Rate versus Stop-and-Frisk in NYC

Kevin Drum has an excellent post today describing the facts about stop-and-frisk in New York City which graphically shows the relationship between the crime rate and stop-and-frisk policy (which stopped doing in 2014 after a federal district court judge ruled the NYPD's policy was illegal racially profiling Black and Latino men).

Since a picture is worth a  thousand words, I'll let the graphic speak for itself! But you can also read Kevin Drum's piece yourself.

EYE CANDY: Alan Taurus (reprise)

Alan Taurus has appeared as Eye Candy once before (February 23, 2015). I didn't have much information about him then and I still don't. However, it is still very clear  that he is phyne enough to be Eye Candy.

EYE CANDY: Yusuf Myers (Again!)

Yusuf Myers is one of my all-time favorite Eye Candy models. He has been featured here many times before(September 9, 2012, June 25, 2012, July 7, 2009) even when I did not what his name was, only that he was just one of the hottest member of the "City Gym Boys." According to his Model Mayhem profile, Yusuf is multiracial, black and latino (Blatino!) and is currently 31.

As you can see, a lot of his best work has been done with photographer Dallas J. Logan. He is on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I thnk you can see why he's one of my faves!

EYE CANDY: Philip Baiano from MundoMais (black/white)

MundoMais.Com.br is one of my favorite websites for finding potential Eye Candy models. Phillip Baiano (also known as "Filipe from Bahia") has appeared here twice before (October 24, 2011 and January 23, 2012).

This week he is here again, this time in black and white. The website lists his age as 27 years old in 2013 but that's the only information I have. But I think you can see why he is definitely colírio para os olhos!

EYE CANDY: Pedro from MundoMais

Pedro is another of those hot Brazilian guys I have found at MundoMais. According to the website, he is 25-years-old, 1.75m (5'9") and 95kg (219 lbs). Other Mundomais hotties that have graced us here as Eye Candy are Phil, Filipe, Flavio, Gabriel and many others.

Enjoy!

EYE CANDY: Filipe from MundoMais (3rd time!)

As regular Eye Candy watchers know I have a weakness for South American guys in general and Brazilian guys in particular, and thus MundoMais.Com.Br is a very important website for fellow aficionados of pictures of scantily clad, multi-racial guys.

Filipe from Salvador de Bahia has appeared as Ey Candy twice before (October 24, 2011 and January 23, 2012). The website calls him Filipe and Filipe Baiano and lists his age as 23 years old.

Enjoy!

EYE CANDY: Victor Cruz

Victor Cruz is a 26-year-old football player of African-American and Puerto Rican descent (Blatino!) who plays for the New York Giants. He first came to my attention thanks to the discerning eye of Rod 2.0. This summer he recently signed a huge contract worth over $45 million for the next five years.

As you can see from the pictures above his 6-foot, 204-pound looks good in uniform. However, you can also see how Victor looks phyne in just about anything, by looking at these pictures below.

Victor is today's Eye Candy, demonstrating that not all sweet packages that catch one's eye need to be unwrapped!

DEBATE: Is There Racism In Online Gay Dating?

There is an interesting discussion going on about whether (and how) racism plays a role in online dating by gay men. With the proliferation of electronic means by which gay men can find each other (websites, cellphone apps) the many ways by which men desire broadcast to each other has become clearer, easier to scrutinize, and in some cases, problematic.

On some dating sites, one can search for "dating" partners (and  I use the word "dating" liberally, because what we are really talking about is "hooking up") using various features or physical characteristics of the desired partner. Sometimes one of those features to be searched on is the race of the person you are looking to "date." (Other features are age, height, weight, et ceteraThe primary question for debate is whether it is racist to communicate a racial preference in your desired partner. For example, some people who identify themselves as one particular race may seek to only "date" within that same racial group, explicitly saying they are only looking for that group, or conversely saying that they are not looking for partners from all other racial groups. There are also situations where people who identify with one race only seeks to date from another, different racial group. Is that more or less problematic than the first scenario? In other words, should expressing an intraracial dating preference be considered differently than expressing an interracial dating preference? Or is  excluding consideration of any particular race prima facie evidence of racial animus by definition?

My position is that it is racist to specifically exclude all members of a particular race from consideration as a sex partner or potential date. One must first always remember that racial categories are fictions, problematic figments of the imagination which are used to classify groups of people in order to reify a system of dominance and subordination. Just because race is a social construct, however, does not mean that it is not "real" and that being classified by racial categories does not have real and quantifiable impacts on real people's lives. So, coming from the perspective that race brings with it a maelstrom of conflicting and confusing forces and ideas allows me to say that yes, it is racist to specifically select or exclude partners by race. (To be clear, the definition of racism I am using is this one: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.) By eliminating all members of a particular race from being a potential partner means that you are buying into the belief that race is "a primary determinant" of desirability. Additionally, because of the slippery nature of race there are no traits or features that are indisputably aligned with one race or another, so that to make a categorical statement about people of a certain race is almost by definition, racist in of itself.

Clearly, lots of people disagree with my position that racial preference in selecting sexual or dating partners is racist. However, there are also lots of people who agree with me that this behavior can appear pretty icky.

Rick Mula, writing at The Task Force's blog, provides some data to demonstrate that racial categories do appear to impact how gay men select partners:

Based on data published by OkTrends, a blog produced by OkCupid, white gay men respond more often to OkCupid messages from other white men than from men of color. They respond to messages from other white men 44% of the time but respond only 37.3% of the time to men of color. 

White gay men also respond less frequently to messages in general than gay men of color. On OkCupid white gay men respond to messages from all races at an average rate of 41.4%, but gay men of color respond to messages from all races at an average rate of 49.3%. 

Ironically, even though white gay men respond to messages in general less frequently than gay men of color they fail to attract the highest rate of responses to the messages they send. Middle Eastern gay men, on average, will receive about 48 responses for every 100 messages they send, while white gay men will receive an average of 45. By contrast, Black gay men will receive about 36.

This data demonstrates the reality that gay men have racial preferences when selecting partners or dates. This is not a surprise, and has been defended in print:

If you enjoyed and would date all races but had a special thing for lean latino boys, does that extra crush of yours make you racist? If you are an Asian boy and have that “boi” gene in you that has you searching out bigger, older white men does that make you a racist? If you think mixed raced boys are particularly sexy then does that make you especially open-minded or again, a racist? While many would weigh their answer to each question with special thought and care, I personally blanket-answer “Nope!” to all of em’! I’m quite a black or white (forgive the pun) kind of guy when it comes to most issues and unless you think people are genetically/socially/anyway unequal because of their race then I’ll stamp you with a big ol’ R for racist, but being more turned on by a particular set of men to me is totally acceptable and pretty much exactly how we are made to cruise/date/love.

Also at the Homorazzi blog where this defense of racial preference occurs, there is a survey (with nearly 500 responses) that indicates that more than 60% of respondents felt that racial preference is not racism.

This is a complicated topic but I think it is useful to think about the issues and hopefully have  a reasonable and reasoned debate.

What do you think?

Eye Candy: Zenith Harvey (in black and white)

Zenith Harvey has appeared as Eye Candy on the blog twice before (June 17, 2013 and April 22, 2013). According to his Model Mayhem profile, he is a 27-year-old model of Dominican descent who is 6'2" and 184 pounds.

Enjoy these pictures of Zenith (great name!) in black-and-white!

Eye Candy: Zenith Harvey

Zenith Harvey is a 27-year-old model of Dominican descent who, as you can see above, has a winning smile and  a great physique, perfect for photographing. According to his Model Mayhem profile, he is 6'2" 184 pounds and based in New York City.

There are lots of great pictures of him on the Internet, so I am somewhat surprised I haven't featured him as Eye Candy before. David Dust has featured him on his blog before.

Hopefully, we will see a lot more of Zenith (great name!), possibly wearing a lot less, in the future.

Eye Candy: Alexandre from MundoMais

Longtime followers of this blog know that I am an admirer of hotties of many races, particularly multi-racial ones. To me, some of the consistently attractive guys appear to be from Brazil. I wonder how one says "eye candy" in Portuguese? Anyway, my discovery of the website mundomais.com.br was a great delight, because it is a great source for free images of scantily clad muscular young men. (What's not to like?) I have previously highlighted other MundoMais models such as Filipe, Flavio, Gabriel and Xandy.

My latest find is Alexandre. According to MundoMais, he is 20 years old and from São Paulo. São Paulo is one of the 10 states in Brazil which now has legal marriages between same-sex couples.

Make me an offer!

Eye Candy: Gui Costa

Gui Costa is a Brazilian model (and photographer!) that I found at Male Model scene. He has his own Tumblr website, http://slimanizing.tumblr.com/ where he has a large number of images featuring his slim, taut frame and handsome face.

What's curious is that even though there are literally scores of pictures of him all over the internet I have been unable to find basic information about Gui like his age, height and weight, which is usually the bare minimum I like to have for an Eye Candy model. But, since diligent readers will be aware of my weakness for Brazilian men, you can understand why I am making an exception for Gui!

Eye Candy: Yusuf Myers (black/white)

Yusuf Myers is not a well-known name but his face and body are very well-known (and memorable!) He has appeared as Eye Candy several times, although not always under his real name. He first showed up on the blog for the first time on July 7, 2009. He also appeared on the blog on June 25, 2012. looks amazing in color, of course, but in high-contrast black-and-white these images by photographer Dallas J. Logan he is absolutely stunning.

Enjoy :)

Eye Candy: Antonio Vizcaino (black/white)

Antonio Vizcaino has appeared on this blog as Eye Candy twice before (September 12, 2011 and November 7, 2011). It's pretty hard to find information about him. We do know that on his model management's web site they have various dimensions listed such as height: 6'2" tall, wasit: 30" and shoe: size 11. Also, he apparently has his own Twitter account: AntonioVizCali.

Despite wanting to know more about him, one thing I do know is that his pictures qualify as eye candy!