In 2003, NBC launched a reality-transforming show on one of its cable channels, Bravo, that became a national obsession. The show was “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" Guy." Two years earlier, in December 2000, Showtime had produced what would become one of the most controversial and popular television programs in the network's history: "Queer as Folk," inspired by the BBC original of the same name. here - in a big, bold way. These two pop culture phenomena create discourse for the key word in each title, “Queer.” the term shaped by its invoker, and how is the invoker shaped in turn? "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." Obviously, there aren't many queers lining up to exchange glances with straights. it is the queer gaze that the straight male looks at. However, the queer gaze is disembodied and detached from an actual queer man; is not specifically aimed at the "straight guy", but at his clothing and lifestyle. The strange eye is juxtaposed with what is not – is not straight – and is not fully human. In this way it is a relational category that I will call "passive-relational" because the disembodied gaze cannot actively engage in a relationship with the embodied male. The “queer eye,” ironically, makes the “straight guy” more straight, creating a more sexually desirable figure for the purposes of a heterosexual gaze, embodied in the wife/girlfriend blind date. Essentially, men are sent to Queerville for an afternoon and taught the art of being an attractive human being. Queer desire is completely denied. “Queerness” is lighthearted, witty, and fun; there is no looming presence of AIDS, no hint of "queer-bashing", no sense that the "Fab Five" are victims of repression or persecution: it is an illusion the nation craves. "Queer as Folk". People? Like Ani? Or like people from the Midwest? Or like everyone if you're Bush? The name establishes a relationship between this “folk” imagined by “everymen” and strangeness, creating an inclusive relationship. The name implies that these “people,” whoever they are, are the epitome of queer. I will call this relationship “relational-active,” as the term queer is actively applied to an autonomous, embodied group. The closest we can come to understanding the term in this context is to look