Michel Foucault described the emergence of “peripheral sexualities” from the end of the 18th century: “An entire sub-race was born, different…from the libertines of the past…They were children wise beyond their years, precocious little girls, ambiguous schoolboys, dubious servants and educators, cruel or maniacal husbands, solitary collectors, ramblers with bizarre impulses…This was the numberless family of perverts who were on friendly terms with delinquents and akin to madmen.” – from M. Foucault – The History of Sexuality
Tag Archives: Culture
Sights seen at SF Pride 2011 – The Leather Contingent – Big Slide Show!
Milling around before the parade, a collection of characters…bikers, new Leather, old Leather, handballers, cock-suckers and boot-lickers, old and young hippies, Sadists, masochists, Dads, boys, dogs, Leather families, Masters and slaves, cigar men, watersport lovers, Faeries, ponies, and perverts of many other stripes…
Posted in Leather, Photography, San Francisco, Sexy Holidays, Subcultures
Tagged BDSM, Culture, Foucault, Gay, Kink, Leather, Parade, Pervert, Photography, San Francisco, Sexy, SF Pride
“Hey, Soldier!” New Gay Cali Style Manga from JoJo Mendoco
Story adapted from a true story originally published in Meat: True Homosexual Experiences from STH. “How men look, act, walk, talk, dress, undress, taste & smell.” Published by Gay Sunshine Press, 1981. “Sex for an Armless Vet.” Edited by Boyd McDonald, the STH: Manhattan Review of Unnatural Acts were a series of compilations of true stories and reader photographs. Literary porn with big props from the likes of Gore Vidal, William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, who wrote:
“Everybody loves the first glimpse of naked love. Everybody’s story is the most thrilling in the world. Everybody tells their best friend their tale of the raw behind. First time they discovered an open heart with their pants down.”
For more from JoJo Mendoco, click here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Posted in Comics, JoJo Mendoco, Military, Subcultures
Tagged Allen Ginsberg, Amputee, Art, Bara, California, Cartoon, Comics, Cruising, Culture, Gai Comi, Gay, Hey Soldier, Iraqi, JoJo Mendoco, Kink, Manga, Rough Sex, Sexy, STH, USMC, Yaoi
Endangered Leather Species Alert: SF Eagle gone, NYC Eagle threatened…
Gay marriage passes in NYC. On the same night, the Eagle NYC is raided. Some insiders think this is the beginning of the end for the bar. Will this be the latest Leather institution lost to the forces of gentrification? Jeremiah from Vanishing New York seem to think so. Unicorn Booty reports from Gotham. For the death throes of the SF Eagle, click here, here, and here. For the graffiti that sprouted after the doors shut, here.
Hang Up Your Troubles! Meat Hook Ritual as Catharsis for HIV Diagnosis
Jorge Vieto in "Ritual"
Friend of this site Jorge Vieto is featured in the short film Ritual, directed by Jorg Fockele. He hangs suspended by hooks, his body swinging free in a ritual of body/spirit integration. Vieto is a well-respected young Leatherman, and a Fraternal member of The 15 Association. He uses extreme physical rituals in part to process the emotions evoked by a positive diagnosis. Vieto spoke with Scott Brogan of the Bay Area Reporter about the psychology of the scene here.
Filmed in the Dungeon at Mr.S, Ritual will screen in the afternoon at 1:15 pm at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, Friday June 24th, as a part of the film compilation entitled STILL AROUND from The HIV Story Project. Brought to you by Frameline and the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival.
Posted in AIDS, Film, Leather, San Francisco, Spirituality, Subcultures
Tagged 15 Association, Art, Culture, Film, Gay, HIV Story Project, HIV/AIDS, Hooks, Jorge Vieto, Kink, Leather, Ritual, San Francisco, Sexy, Suspension
Glitter Emergency and More at Frameline’s 35th SF LGBT Film Fest
It is the middle of the SF LGBT Film Festival, high holy days are underway in the City by the Bay, Pride is coming, and outside the festival’s host venues, gay film buffs are rubbing their bleary eyes after marathon sessions in the dark. The cinematic apparatus, not that other dark! There is something for everyone at this annual festival, now in its 35th year. The shorts programs are some of the best, and for those with short attention spans, are just the ticket. One film is not doing it for you? Wait 5 minutes. The next one could be all that.
“All that glitters is indeed gold in this wonderful collection of shorts featuring several gems from our very own Bay Area filmmakers… Take a look at disgusting alien bodies and eavesdrop on the deaf relay system. Follow a camera off a bridge in a memorial for lives lost. A dispute on the high seas can only be settled by a dance off (of course), and we’ll see just how campy an AIDS camp can be. Rounding out the program is a silent comedy set to Tchaikovsky and starring Peggy the Peg-leg Ballerina.” via festival director Jennifer Morris
“Glitter Emergency” shows at the Victoria Theatre, 9:30 pm on Tuesday, June 21st, 2011. The Victoria is located at 2961 16th Street in the Mission district. Built in 1908 as a Vaudeville House, it is the oldest operating theatre in San Francisco.
Posted in Activism, AIDS, DIY and Maker Culture, Film, History, San Francisco, Subcultures, Video
Tagged Art, Culture, Experimental, Film, Frameline, Gay, Glitter Emergency, LGBT, Mission district, Music, Queer, San Francisco, SF LGBT Film Festival, Shorts, Victoria Theatre, Video
We Fund Artists! Want a Commission? Queer Cultural Center – SF Workshop June 29
The Queer Cultural Center will be awarding at least 20 commissions of between $250 – $1000 each for individual artists and groups to help create and stage innovative community-building projects. Cross-cultural, multi-ethnic and intergenerational projects are strongly encouraged. To be considered, you MUST attend the 90-minute introductory workshop on June 29th at 7pm at the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco. The address is 1519 Mission Street at 11th. For more information on the annual funding process, click here.
Posted in Activism, DIY and Maker Culture, San Francisco, Surveillance
Tagged Art, Arts Funding, Culture, Gay, Money, QCC, Queer, Queer Cultural Center, San Francisco
Following Savage Campaign for Queer Youth, Peter Fiske says “It Gets Better” But DOES It?
But does it? Well-known Leatherman and friend of this site Peter Fiske has made an “It Gets Better” video and posted it on YouTube. We are, of course, re-posting. Kudos, Peter! It is fantastic. Of course. Messages of future promise are great, and can be just the thing to turn despair into hope. But. But. But. The “It Gets Better” video pep talks, started by columnist Dan Savage last year in an effort to curb high rates of suicide among queer youth, have really taken off. Cool. More on them here. Great campaign, but…it is not enough. Not nearly.
By all means, keep these positive messages coming. But. But. But. There are a few problems here. First off, it does not always get better – and we know that. If it always got better, dead friend of this site and Frameline co-founder Mark Finch would not have jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. A popular, successful adult gay man kills himself. Or: youthful co-conspirator WRG, handsome, smart, set to inherit two fortunes, dead in a hotel room in Rio with a spike in his arm, the body stripped of valuables. They had to identify him by dental records. Just two examples. It did not get better for either of them, and they were pretty well set to overcome the past.
But. But. But. Another problem: The most vulnerable queer kids may be those least likely to be able to respond to these messages. Consider two scenarios:
One: You are 17, a junior in high school, with loving, educated PFLAG parents, a nice group of theatre friends, early acceptance to UC, and a problem with the school bully who taunts you with calls of “Faggot!” and elbows you in the hallways to the amusement of his toadies. It makes your stomach churn.
Two: You are 17, living on the periphery of San Francisco’s Castro district. You left Idaho and your violent Christian Identity family at 13 when your mother caught you with another boy. She broke a bottle over your head as you fled the house. See the scar? Arriving in SF, you met guys who turned you on to meth and fucked you raw. Already shell-shocked from childhood, you seroconverted at 14, have been on the streets for four years, and look really rough. Half-crazy with rage and despair, you kick trash cans and shout in frustration, sometimes sit on the curb sobbing. Everyone avoids you.
These are two pretty extreme, but true, examples. “It Gets Better” is a good message, but it is not enough. The kids need more than words. Even the UC-bound good gay kid needs more than words. And seriously damaged youth need a lot more. They also need the tools to survive a world which will continue at times to be hostile. Food. Shelter. Protection. Health care, including mental health and substance abuse help. Access to education, job-training, connections and good adult mentorship. Spiritual support, including services for survivors of religious abuse. They do not need to be encouraged in magical thinking: “Oh…if I can only get to San Francisco! It’s like Oz! Everything will be fabulous!” Yes, sometimes it gets better. But: it does not always get better, and it does not automatically get better. If we actually want to see the kids flourish, we need to open our eyes to the full scope of the horror under which some queer kids come up – and add real resources that are equal to our encouraging words. We need to get real.
Posted in Activism, AIDS, Human Rights, Leather, San Francisco, SCANDAL: Politics, Crime, Revolution and More., Sickness and Health, Spirituality, Youth
Tagged Abuse, Culture, Dan Savage, Gay, Homeless, IDAHO, It Gets Better, Leather, Pep Talk, Peter Fiske, Queer, San Francisco, Spirituality, Suicide, Video, Violence, Youth
NY Times Article: Chewing Gum Art in London
Interesting article in the New York Times: artist Ben Wilson makes art out of tiny blobs of gum on London Sidewalks. You can read the article here.
-AidanAbroad
Posted in England, Europe, Signage, Skate and other boarding, Street Art, Grafitti, etc.
Tagged Artist, Ben Wilson, Chewing, Culture, Gum, London, Signage, Street, Street Art, Grafitti, etc.
Other Blogs: Joe My God’s classic Pride Rant “Watching the Defectives”
One of the web’s very best, Joe Jervis of Joe. My. God. has been blogging for over eight years, and has built a loyal and lively readership. Unlike many queer sites which strive to create safe spaces for their readers, JMG operates more like a free zone. The unmoderated comments section is always entertaining, informative and challenging…and often offensive. This is a good thing. Debate is healthy. Covering up rot just breeds more rot. And we’ve all got our rotten elements. Air helps dissipate the stink.
Joe published a rant in 2006 in which he talked back to the ‘normal’ gay people who want to rid pride parades of ‘defectives’ – those nice folks who discuss “how we might go about ‘discouraging’ certain ‘elements’ from taking part in the parades.” We all know who the elements are. Joe’s nice gays spell it out: “Why must all the coverage be drag queens and leather freaks in assless chaps?” The more outre the image, the better the press.
Of course, freaks have always made for good spectacle. The ancient Romans even bought and sold deformed human slaves at specialty ‘monstrosity markets.’ We no longer generally buy and sell living human bodies, but we do trade in representations of those bodies: images, words, memes. We deal in abstracts: Semiotic Weaponry – wars of words. Violence is inherent in communication. We undo and remake one another with our choice of words, appearance and other social signifiers. We attract and repulse one another. Vanillas might be put off by Leather’s overt sexuality and we might gag on their cologne. Punks and preps trade shade. We insult each other on purpose and accidentally. Dykes can see patriarchal oppression in a nice basket, and few gay men want to look at naked jiggling double D-cups – even with those little pieces of electrical tape over the nipples. One guy’s hot hairy bear is another’s disgusting old fat man. You think that intersex or trans boy is an attractive man? The guy next to you might think she’s a stupid self-deluding bitch. Feelings are real, but they are not facts. We can modify our interactions to minimize psychic damage, but the potential to offend others with our particular “defects,” or to participate in a particular ideology by our presence, will always be there. Only solitude and silence guarantee against this. We can stake out a spot on the mountaintop or disappear into the depths of a shimmering nishikigoi pond. Not a bad plan for serious self-reflection, but eventually we just might want to rejoin the party. Maybe.
Joe continues: “I’m not worried what the outside world thinks about the drag queens, the topless bulldaggers, or the nearly naked leatherfolk. It’s OUR party, bitches. If you think that straight America would finally pull its homokinder to its star-spangled bosom once we put down that glitter gun, then you are seriously deluding yourself. Next year, if one of the Christian camera crews that show up to film our “debauched” celebrations happen to train their cameras on you, stop dancing. And start PRANCING.” For the rest of the rant, click here.
Posted in Drag, Internet, Leather, SCANDAL: Politics, Crime, Revolution and More., Spirituality, Subcultures
Tagged Culture, Drag, Freaks, Gay, Intersex, Joe Jervis, Leather, Pride, Punk, Queer, SCANDAL: Politics, Crime, Revolution and More., Semiotic Weaponry, Semiotics, Spirituality, Trans, Violence, Watching the Defectives
Rest in Peace. Rest in Power. George Wong
Friend of this site George Wong passed away the morning of June 6, 2011. George was a long-time officer with Avatar Los Angeles and a Gay Games gold medalist in volleyball. He will be missed. For the Leatherati obituary, click here.
Posted in Leather, Los Angeles, Men, Obituary, Subcultures, volleyball
Tagged Avatar, Culture, Gay, George Wong, Kink, Leather, Los Angeles, Obituary, R.I.P., Volleyball
The Gay Highwaymen 