Was I homosexual bee so much of what I wore is associated wh gays? And while I don't thk is my sexual beg, I n tell you that gay men as a group are nicer, smarter, have a shload more fun than straight wh. Gay?
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irTIfE byl ContentHearByl-cZqgyJ bqbBYQ"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH ivtvgj byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span><a class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM ByleLk-gEnFiw iUEiRd ggMZaT cXqSTL eErqIx byle__name-lk button" href="/ntributors/naomi-y">Naomi Fry</a></span></span></p></div><time data-ttid="ContentHearPublishDate" dateTime="2019-10-15T05:00:00-04:00" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContentHearPublishDate-eIBicG iUEiRd kYZrFA kEBrdf">October 15, 2019</time></div></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ContentHearLeadAsset-hGbumP iWPCcH lead-asset ContentHearLeadAssetWrapper-hfXHEc fTrSlG lead-asset--width-smallle" data-ttid="ContentHearLeadAsset"><figure class="ContentHearLeadAssetContent-kOfYSG dRGWbI"><div class="ContentHearLeadAssetContentMedia-bLEIpi jjhWdS lead-asset__ntent__photo"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset ContentHearRponsiveAsset-bREgIb khLUzS"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz hdvtkx"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz ContentHearRponsiveAsset-bREgIb khLUzS rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Buzz Bissger." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></div></div></span><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn ContentHearLeadAssetCaptn-hPWmSN kuCzGS"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">At the begng of the documentary “Buzz,” Bissger not that a reporter’s work is an ongog performance.</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Photograph by Hendler Noah / Vany Fair</span></div></div></figure><div data-ttid="ContentHearLeadRailAnchor" class="ContentHearLeadRailAnchor-jYVcDc djtEof"></div></div></div></div></hear></div><div data-attribute-verso-pattern="article-body" class="ArticlePageContentBackGround-cNiFNN kbAoLA article-body__ntent"><div class="ActnBarWrapperContent-lasBkU cAHp"><div class="ActnBarWrapperComponent-cjwxLS bEeSLb"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh kNjTbQ viewport-monor-anchor"><button id="bookmark" aria-label="Save this story" class="ActnBarButton-dyFOZU hQrwCF bookmark large-screen"><span class="ActnBarSendaryButtonPrimaryIn-isbvyN cAwccV bookmark-button-in"><svg class="in in-bookmark" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M20 23.9508L12.5 19.7312L5 23.9508V2.95081H14V3.93211H6V22.1845L12.5 18.5536L19 22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z"></path></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd bkefvo gkccfO">Save this story</span></button></div><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh kAEsuD viewport-monor-anchor"><button id="bookmark" aria-label="Save this story" class="ActnBarButton-dyFOZU cjjxgx bookmark mobile"><span class="ActnBarSendaryButtonPrimaryIn-isbvyN cAwccV bookmark-button-in"><svg class="in in-bookmark" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Save this story</tle><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M20 23.9508L12.5 19.7312L5 23.9508V2.95081H14V3.93211H6V22.1845L12.5 18.5536L19 22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z"></path></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd bkefvo gkccfO">Save this story</span></button></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ArticlePageChunksContent-etcMtP bwyLBj"><div data-ttid="ArticlePageChunks" class="ArticlePageChunks-fLyCVG Uozmo"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa EOneK body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg">In 2013, the Pulzer Prize-wng journalist H. G. (Buzz) Bissger, fifty-eight years old and until then known primarily for his wildly bt-sellg acunt of high-school football small-town Texas, “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Friday Night Lights</a>,” om 1990, experienced a new flh of notoriety. That March, he published a long-form piece <em>GQ</em> that tailed a cloth-shoppg addictn he had been grapplg wh. Framed by the ocsn of a V.I.P.-client trip he had taken that January, to the Gucci show Milan, Bissger revealed the extent of his thrall to rock-and-roll-style, ambiguoly genred outfs, which gave him, once they were his own, the sense of beg “liberated and alive.” Dozens of stretch-leather pants, pair upon pair of knee- and thigh-high spike-heeled boots, over a hundred pairs of leather glov, jackets ostrich sk and pony sk and shearlg—for Bissger, a father of three on his third marriage, wearg the expensive cloth, if but once or twice, allowed for a sexual charge, which he refers to the piece, evotively, if somewhat elively, as “the cematic excement of engg flh.” Between 2010 and 2012, he spent nearly six hundred thoand dollars on signer duds. “The self-exprsn feels glor,” he wr, “an dispensable part of me.” The fancial st of this adventure, which the sartorial be nearly if not pletely synonymo wh the sexual, is almost bi the pot: “The oppose, to reprs yourself as I did for the first fifty-five years of my life, is the worst price of all to pay.”</p><p class="paywall">Now “Buzz,” an absorbg HBO documentary om the director Andrew Shea, which follows Bissger as he rum his attempts at self-exprsn. He is, seemgly, still as tent on nng up astronomil tabs on cloth, and his tast ntue to turn to tight, flashy, and expensive leather separat, the kd that might have been worn by a more genr-bendg <a href=">Pl Manafort</a>. While this time around he don’t shop at Gucci, we do get a scene which he tri on and purchas twenty thoand dollars’ worth of merchandise at the emporium of the German signer Philipp Ple, who is known for his luxur but vulgar black and crystal-embellished togs, a kd of Hot Topic crossed wh Juicy Couture for the one per cent. However, if Bissger’s 2013 article the sexual served as a relative adndum to the ma event of the thor’s shoppg addictn, “Buzz,” the foc shifts. As the documentary opens, Bissger has jt emerged om wrg an explosive <em>Vany Fair</em> ver story which Calyn Jenner, known until then as the Kardashian patriarch Bce, has announced her genr transn. Bissger has now signed on to serve as Jenner’s -thor on the memoir that is set to follow the magaze profile, and this llaboratn serv as a peg for him to qutn the bedrock of his own sexual inty.</p><p class="paywall">Toward the end of his <em>GQ</em> nfsn, Bissger suggted, briefly, that his sexualy is a plited, multi-strand thg. He is not able to figure out. Is he straight? Gay? An S & M enthiast? A Sunday cross-drser? A trans woman? An exhibnist? An onanist? All of the above? This search be the ma theme of “Buzz,” which proceeds, simultaneoly, two arcs. One focs on Bissger’s relatnship wh Lisa, his exceedgly tolerant wife, wh whom he has circular yet admirably hont discsns about his sir, and what they might mean for the tenabily of their lovg but sexls marriage. The other follows the procs of wrg Jenner’s book, for which thor and subject meet Jenner’s Malibu mansn. While the former relatnship is figured as an obstacle on Bissger’s journey to self-realizatn (“It was wrong of me to marry [Lisa] knowg who I am and have been for so much of my life,” he says at one pot), the latter serv as one of that journey’s triggers. All his life, Bissger explas, he has been reprsed, playg the role of the Brooks Brothers-wearg straight male journalist. “That reprsn damaged me,” he says. “I should have explored, I should have been te to myself. That’s the parallel wh Calyn.” In nversatn wh Jenner, he tells her, “You said, ‘I don’t want to die whout livg my thentic self,’ and that has, for better or worse—you have spired me.”</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">That term, “thentic self,” is the one Bissger clgs to most the urse of the documentary, repeatg over and over like a mantra, an end-all and be-all to validate his exploratns, which clu shoppg, cross-drsg, and embarkg on a relatnship wh a domatrix. In a fascatg moment, he reads out, to Jenner, a passage he wrote her voice, reuntg her oime reprsn of her sire to bee a woman: “(I was) a d when me to beg my thentic self,” he reads. “Public figure and private shadow.” “Love that!” Jenner rponds. Then, she adds, “Is there a way to change that around? From public figure to private shadow, to now, uh . . . ” There is a pse. What is the followg step, which once the shadow self fally emerg to the light? Bissger seems unsure what might look like, pecially sce his aims and sir, unlike what is prented as Jenner’s unidirectnal longg for transn, are multifar. “Maybe I like women, maybe I like men, maybe I don’t like any of them. Maybe I really want to fuck myself,” he cri at one pot, trated. “Who the fuck knows? I n’t fuckg thk about anymore, but I also n’t be totally si a fuckg box!”</p><p class="paywall">At the begng of the documentary, Bissger not that a reporter’s work is an ongog performance, which he likens to the moments Bob Fosse’s movie “All That Jazz,” which the choreographer Joe Gion, when <a href=">readyg himself</a> ont of the mirror, announc, “It’s showtime!” Late the documentary, makg his way up the stairs Jenner’s home, Bissger whispers the words as if to himself, though we hear . Over the urse of the film, he performs a wi variety of possible selv a enzied attempt to fd one that fs. It is no cince that luxury shoppg plays such an enormo role this journey: for all s very real plitns, Bissger’s pursu sometim feels like a trip to an upsle mall, which the thor tri on and then disrds inty after inty, dissatisfied. He often ends up returng to an olr versn of himself, donng an Oxford shirt and a baseball p. Paradoxilly, Bissger and, to an extent, Jenner have had both harr and easier than most their rpective exploratns. Harr, bee both were (or still are, Bissger’s se) received the world as heterosexual, succsful, wealthy whe men—an armor whose crackg is perforce trmatic, shameful, and almost always hidn. Easier, bee their social and enomic privilege has, the end, enabled them, both practilly and emotnally, to pursue their sir while remag sulated to a certa extent om the sir’ often-difficult societal repercsns. (It is not much of a surprise that Jenner, as she not durg “Buzz,” is polilly nservative—why shouldn’t she be? The system has, on the whole, worked to her advantage.)</p><p class="paywall">There is honty Bissger’s intarian quandary. It is clear that spe his obv, self-admted exhibnism (at one pot the documentary, he is seen lyg prone and zipped to a leather snood and body bag durg a domatrix ssn, which the mistrs apparently Perisp to her followers), his grapplg is scere, anguished, and, on the whole, sympathetic. “Buzz” do a good, sensive job of prentg his exploratns whout needls sensatnalism. But seemed to me, too, that there is somethg env, almost veto, about the way Bissger approach Jenner’s transn and s seemg simplicy. “I sometim thk that the issue of genr and sexualy has bee only the provenance only of transgenr men and women,” he says. “That’s wrong! Heterosexual people or people general al wh all the time . . . I did not want to die whout havg explored what is a re sexualy.” That re sexualy, however, and the ways n f wh the rt of his life, ntu to elu him. How do we solve a problem like Buzz, pecially when ’s not pletely clear what that problem is, exactly?</p><p class="paywall">Toward the end of the documentary, as Bissger and Jenner approach the end of their work together, Bissger addrs the topic of Jenner’s genr-nfirmatn operatn. “The big reveal of the book is that she has the surgery,” he tells the mera. “So she has to have the surgery... You n’t have the book which the big dénouement is ‘I’m ready to do .’ She’s got to have done.” The story mt have a neat endg, and, ed, the fal passage of the book, which Bissger reads aloud to Jenner (’s unclear whether this happens before or after the operatn actually tak place), also touch on the issue: “Oh, and by the way, I did have the operatn last November. . . . All of you n stop starg. The qutn was never gog to go away.” Now, at least prumably, has. For Bissger, however, the qutns rema.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><asi class="PersistentAsiWrapper-VGrR daRVRt persistent-asi" style="posn:absolute;top:to;height:to" data-ttid="PersistentAsiWrapper"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box ArticlePageSplAdRail-OyjwD jikppc"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="ArticlePageSplAdRailContent-jsltpq iZDmmY spl-ad-rail-ntent"><div class="ArticlePageSplAdRailTop-jUrrVY jzzFg"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="hv8uet"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div 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bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN lapGFj summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Cultural Comment</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM dVrbhU summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/culture/cultural-ment/roy-hn-and-the-makg-of-a-wner-take-all-ameri" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ fzzTdh summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Roy Cohn and the Makg of a Wner-Take-All Ameri</div></a><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd kxnNhB jDyfzW summary-em__k">A new documentary about the famo lawyer and fixer, who worked wh powerful figur cludg Joseph McCarthy and Donald Tmp, reveals a man whose will to power was a reflectn of the society he operated .</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Naomi Fry</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hNpSyX summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below summary-em--layout-posn-image-left summary-em--layout-proportns-50-50 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm hKqhyj" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a 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Hollywood”" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl XMZX summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN lapGFj summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Culture Dk</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM dVrbhU summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/culture/culture-sk/the-btal-logic-of-stardom--once-upon-a-time--hollywood" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ fzzTdh summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Btal Logic of Stardom “Once Upon a Time . . . Hollywood”</div></a><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd kxnNhB jDyfzW summary-em__k">In Quent Taranto’s retellg of the Manson murrs, the relentls sire for fame is the most powerful stcturg prciple of Hollywood, and mak the place both harsh and betiful.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi cuRXdL summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Naomi Fry</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hNpSyX summary-em summary-em--evio summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below summary-em--layout-posn-image-left summary-em--layout-proportns-50-50 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm hKqhyj" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb cPpCwE summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz ktcjQn"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 720w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 480w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Dire to Own Nothg" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl XMZX summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN lapGFj summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Vio</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM dVrbhU summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ fzzTdh summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Dire to Own Nothg</div></a><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd kxnNhB jDyfzW summary-em__k">The filmmaker Sdha Agha explor her relatnship to "stuff" and how a personal trma led to an emotnal versn of the Kondo method.</div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hNpSyX summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below summary-em--layout-posn-image-left summary-em--layout-proportns-50-50 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm hKqhyj" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb cPpCwE summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz ktcjQn"><div 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