Guy Trebay of the NY Times has suddenly noticed that men approaching 30 often have slight bellies, but the big shocker seems to be that they’re appearing in Brooklyn. One explanation — that abs have become “so prissy it stopped being masculine” — implies that guts are just an accessory one puts on, as if the ability to sit down in tight jeans with no, uh, overspill is the default state of man. But none of the speculation is as overwrought and plain wrong as the idea that hipsters are purposely cultivating these flabby bellies in hipsterish opposition to the president’s (allegedly) “conspicuously flat belly” because, you know, hipsters are “by nature contrarian.” Sorry buddy, hipsters will never be contrary enough to even provide a hint of opposition to Dear Leader.

In short, this isn’t a fashion trend, it’s gross and probably only confined in any significant numbers to Williamsburg, where even the gays are gushy (as a trip to Sugarland can attest). Bushwick seems to be awash lately in boys with surprisingly meaty — in the good way — frames. Which is an improvement upon the stick-frames of a few years before.

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