An Ethical Male" I discovered in my early 20s is an anagram of my given name
What’s in
a name?
The journey to self-acceptance is never easy or linear, and the concept of masculinity has been particularly challenging. This lead to an exploration of sexuality and gender identity that has been the subject of personal art + design for years.
”An Ethical Male”, I discovered in my early 20s, is an anagram of my given name while my full initials are “M.A.N”. Undoubtedly, these were unconscious naming decisions on my parents’ part, and yet, they have been a constant reminder of the struggle to accept queer identity while grappling with toxic notions of what it means to “be a man,” and general norms of masculinity. Oscillating between feeling both masculine & feminine—the concept of “gender” became an idea to deconstruct.
Freedom to explore and remix these concepts will be the basis of An Ethical Male Studio’s work, as well as a place to mess around with styles and subjects that have been important to my development (aka sailor moon).
- Michael Natale, Designer & Owner
Our Values
+ Norm Disrupting + Sex Positive + Queer Positive + Awareness of Othering + Anti-Racist + Intersectional + Accessible + Pro-Demilitarization + Pro-Immigration + Quality Design + Mental Health Advocacy + Gender Fuck + A Fucking Party + other shit
Visual Inspiration
There are many subjects we’re interested in exploring in our designs and hope to work with local queer artists as the studio expands... buuuut until then—our initial inspiration draws from band merch; ‘70s aesthetics; the male physique (among other sexes and genders); queer history; pop-media (music, film, magazines, photography, etc), and home town of Toronto, Canada.