Throughout the year, the DNA team keep a personal list of the men who ping on our radar, and we watch the DNA website and social media to see who is cutting through. A couple of months before we start work on the issue, we ask our regular contributors to send in a list of their hot picks. Then we compare notes and reach our conclusions.
It’s always fascinating to see who’s making an impression on the greater gay consciousness. Sometimes, one of us will nominate a guy we think is a bit out-there or left-of-field, only to discover we’ve all got him on our lists. Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) and Nick Robinson (Love, Simon) fell into that category this year. What I find interesting is that even though there’s only about 15 people who contribute to the list, there’s a lot of diversity. (Although, our only lesbian contributor, Vanessa McQuarrie’s suggestion of an obscure, existential crime writer did not make the cut this year.)
Working out who gay men think are hot isn’t that hard. Working out which men straight men think are hot is endlessly more challenging and fascinating.