Is Cargo Magazine Really a Gay Icon?

An Amazon reviewer deems Cargo another magazine that is full of glorified advertising. Sure, but aren't most of magazines out there full of page after page of fashion brand names briefing on their season's newest arrivals anyway? Advertising is key to keep readers updated with the latest trends. But what distinguishes this slim magazine compared to its near-phone-book-size counterparts is the plethora of information it pours on its readers.

Cargo is way more than just advertising. On top of reviews on the latest electronic gadgets (digital cameras, PDAs, MP3 players, car stereos...), the sneak previews of the coming season's trendy looks, Cargo interacts with its readers. You may ask the expert what to wear in your next wedding invitation. The editors will also find that pair of shoes that will match the shirt that you have forgotten about in your closet. After all, the editors are customers themselves, in a more techincal term, a maven, someone who has lots of information and inside scoops on different products or prices or places.

This idea hinges on the fact that mavens like to initiate product discussion with consumers and respond to requests and provide recommendation. This maven logic tugs into the Amazon reviewing business perfectly: there is something about the personal, detached, two-cent type of opinion from a maven that makes us all sit up and listen. Maven's real power derives from the fact that reviews are voluntary, which makes opinion sharing so much more compelling than critics or staff editors whose job is to rate the products.

I think there's nothing wrong with a shopping magazine that comes with sticker tabs to mark on things that interest us and we can come back to items later. Cargo is a fun magazine to read and to while away an afternoon with. Rumor has it that readership of Cargo is indicative of a gay man. Most of my gay friends read, if not subscribe to, Cargo. I think magazine like Cargo alludes to the result is a new gray area that is rendering gaydar - that totally unscientific sixth sense that many people rely on to tell if a man is gay or straight. It's not that straight men look more stereotypically gay per se, or that out-of-the-closet gay men look straight. What's happening is that many men have migrated to a middle ground where the cues traditionally used to pigeonhole sexual orientation.

Cargo somehow carries this undertow of a new convergence of gay-vague style, which is not to be confused with metrosexuality. The magazine steers straight men to a handful of feminine perks like pedicures, scented candles, aromatherapeutic bathing oils and prettily striped dress shirts. Gay vagueness affects both straight and gay men. It involves more than grooming and clothes. It notably includes an attitude of indifference to having one's sexual orientation misread; hence the breakdown of many people's formerly reliable gaydar.

By the way, I like Jeremy Piven too. His ruggedness is appealing.