My initial encounter with recognizable "bois" happened during high school, a regional affair where kids of all backgrounds mingled and you needed a key to unlock the bathrooms. When I wasn't running my mouth about student oppression, I ran my eyes across every sect of the student body, trying to make sense of it all. I observed mostly homogeneous teens in American Eagle and Abercrombie duds, with the occasional Goth or pothead dissenter rallying for more of his own in a dark corner. That's public education in a rich suburb, which certainly has its advantages (like textbooks that don't list the moon landing as a current event). But as Galbraith said, "The greater the wealth, the thicker will be the dirt."

If that's true, LGBT kids must have been buried in a pile of peat moss. I had suspected that a few of my classmates were gay, but the truth came out, for lack of a better term, one day in those ubiquitous bathrooms. There's nothing like overhearing two boys planning a stall-side tryst to confirm a heavy inclination. Over the next few weeks, my heightened consciousness regarding their behavior sensitized me to their every stalled step. Whatever these boys couldn't overtly portray was sublimated into a highly concentrated form of effeminate behavior. One kid switched from jeans to skin-tight leather pants; another betrayed his masculine-sounding voice for a Richard Simmons-like lilt and slur. The transformation from boy to "boi" was complete.

The process was visually jarring, equally as notable for its sheer vicissitude as for its staggering expense. For the uninformed, leather pants don't come cheap. Neither do FCUK shirts, hair tipping and Brazilian waxings.

I don't know where the term "boi" comes from, but I know from the lifestyle choice. For them, it's the beginning of every gay man's most lasting relationship - the one he shares with himself. Considering my own homosexuality, this isn't a dig - it's a reference to the internal fact-finding and genotype-quashing we must handle before we can even hope to handle anything romantic with another guy.

Introspection brings self-assessment. This is a time when life choices are made, regarding both boyfriends and brands. Gay men spend so much of their lives trying to please others, it's only natural they develop a heightened sense of what would please themselves.

Make sure you're on their radar before that choice is made. Make sure your message edifies, rather than anesthetizes. And finally, make sure you order your Marketing Fortunes Kit today or have us call you for more details.