This song is about gays in America and Punks in England. Townshend was making fun of them because they dressed alike, as the fashion for both groups was leather and military-style clothing.
This started rumors that Townshend was gay or bisexual. In the November 14, 1990 issue of Newsweek, Townshend explained: "I know how it feels to be a woman because I am a woman, and I won't be classified as just a man." Regarding "Rough Boys," he said, "In a way it was a coming-out. That it was a real acknowledgment of the fact that I'd been surrounded by people that I really adored - and was actually sexually attracted to - who were men. And that the side of me that responded to those people was a passive side, a subordinate side."
This attracted a new audience of gay men for Townshend, many who thought it meant he was coming out.
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