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"  Full disclosure: I am smitten with Simon Doonan. His particular brand of irreverent wit basically sleighs me. So, coffee, a Q&amp;amp;amp;A and a reading of the fashionable scribe&amp;#039;s new tome, Gay Men Don&amp;#039;t Get Fat, was a welcome start to the morning. Satirizing the title of the popular self-help book, French Women Don&amp;#039;t Get Fat, Doonan offers a self-help guide to women from the only perspective that matters, the gay man. After all, gay men are basically, &amp;quot;French women with penises,&amp;quot; according to the Barneys creative director at large. With chapter titles like, &amp;quot;The Fag Hagony and The Ecstasy,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Macaroons are so gay!&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;Hokey Hookers and Gypsy Tarts,&amp;quot; the humor book could easily catch some flack about stereotyping and generalizing \u2014 if it had been written by basically anyone else. Doonan declares it full of &amp;quot;exaggerations, hyperbole, and it&amp;#039;s really, probably the most demented book I&amp;#039;ve ever written,&amp;quot; continuing, &amp;quot;I hope it&amp;#039;s playing to stereotypes. I love stereotypes, sweeping generalizations and everything that is un-PC. I think stereotypes are fun and you sort of diffuse them if you throw them around.&amp;quot; That sense of humor that makes one widen their eyes while laughing out loud is matched by a very real motivation to empower women. The author surmizes, &amp;quot;I do think that it&amp;#039;s a very complex time to be a girl. The expectations on girls are extraordinary now. Like you have to look like Gisele, you have to be professionally successful, you have to have a lifestyle brand... so you have to be like a Gisele and a Sumner Redstone. Then you have to be the old woman who lived in the shoe, you have to start popping out children. I&amp;#039;ve watched the expectations pile up on women and I think, you know if I was a chick I would make sure I had a velvet entourage, you know what I&amp;#039;m saying?&amp;quot; With Gay Men Don&amp;#039;t Get Fat you get your very own personal velvet entourage, with conversations about gay food versus straight food, not to be confused with lesbian food (food is getting gayer, in case you were wondering), thoughts on working out, style icons and Jackie O. Doonan puts a Paul Smith floral glow on pretty much every subject a girl could ever wonder about, &amp;quot;all my books are really encouraging people to just go nuts and not be self-critical and not be masochistic,&amp;quot; Doonan explains. We couldn&amp;#039;t think of a more fun way to start the new year. Gay Men Don&amp;#039;t Get Fat ($24.95) is available for purchase now. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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