Girth & Mirth

Last updated

Girth & Mirth (G&M) is an organized network of social groups for a gay subculture based on positive attitudes towards larger bodies and fat fetishism. First formed in San Francisco in 1976, early chapters were established in Boston and New York. [1] Girth & Mirth gatherings were predecessors of the Convergence events, launched by the national Affiliated Bigmen's Club (ABC) in 1986, and collaboratively organized with various G&M chapters in subsequent years. [2] The popularity of Girth & Mirth clubs led to a broader chubby culture that intersected with bear groups in the early 1990s. [3] [4] Over time Girth & Mirth chapters overlapped with, or became absorbed by, ABC, which itself was renamed the Big Gay Men's Organization (BGMO) in 2013. [5]

Contents

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fat acceptance movement</span> Social movement seeking to change anti-fat bias in social attitudes

The fat acceptance movement is a social movement which seeks to eliminate the social stigma of obesity. Areas of contention include the aesthetic, legal, and medical approaches to fat people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bear (gay culture)</span> Term for hairy and large men in LGBT community

In gay culture, a bear is a man who is fat, hairy, or both.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subculture</span> Smaller culture within a larger culture

A subculture is a group of people within a cultural society that differentiates itself from the conservative and standard values to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, political, and sexual matters. Subcultures are part of society while keeping their specific characteristics intact. Examples of subcultures include BDSM, hippies, hipsters, goths, steampunks, bikers, punks, skinheads, gopnik, hip-hoppers, metalheads, cosplayers, otaku, otherkin, furries, hackers and more. The concept of subcultures was developed in sociology and cultural studies. Subcultures differ from countercultures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bandidos Motorcycle Club</span> International outlaw motorcycle club

The Bandidos Motorcycle Club, also known as the Bandido Nation, is an outlaw motorcycle club with a worldwide membership. Formed in San Leon, Texas, in 1966, the Bandidos MC is estimated to have between 2,000 and 2,500 members and 303 chapters located in 22 countries, making it the second-largest motorcycle club in the world behind the Hells Angels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leather subculture</span> Subculture involving leather garments

Leather subculture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities that involve leather garments, such as leather jackets, vests, boots, chaps, harnesses, or other items. Wearing leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures. Many participants associate leather culture with BDSM practices and its many subcultures. For some, black leather clothing is an erotic fashion that expresses heightened masculinity or the appropriation of sexual power; love of motorcycles, motorcycle clubs and independence; and/or engagement in sexual kink or leather fetishism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chub (gay slang)</span> Slang term for an overweight gay man

A chub is an overweight or obese gay man who identifies as being part of the chubby culture. Although there is some overlap between chubs and bears, chubs have their own distinct subculture and community. There are bars, organizations and social events specifically catering to this subculture, which allows members of the community to socialize with each other and develop social networks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice</span> Group of skinheads opposing racism

Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP) are anti-racist skinheads who oppose white power skinheads, neo-fascists and other political racists, particularly if they identify themselves as skinheads. SHARPs claim to reclaim the original multicultural identity of the original skinheads, hijacked by white power skinheads, who they sometimes deride as "boneheads".

Fat fetishism or adipophilia is a sexual attraction directed towards overweight or obese people due primarily to their weight and size.

Peckerwood is a term for a woodpecker which is used in the Southern United States and it is also used as a racial epithet for white people, especially poor rural whites. Originally an ethnic slur, the term has been embraced by a subculture related to prison gangs and outlaw motorcycle clubs. The term was in use as an inversion of woodpecker by the 1830s, with the sense referring to white people documented from the 1850s. African-American folklore in the 1920s contrasted the white "peckerwood" bird with the African-American blackbird. The word became a common term in Jive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gayle Rubin</span> American cultural anthropologist, activist, and feminist

Gayle S. Rubin is an American cultural anthropologist, theorist and activist, best known for her pioneering work in feminist theory and queer studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Suresha</span>

Ron Jackson Suresha is an American author and editor of books centering on gay and bisexual men's subcultures, particularly the Bear community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Nelson (photographer)</span> American photographer

Edmund Christian Nelson was an American photographer and co-founder of Bear Magazine in the 1980s, was the photographic pioneer in the gay-oriented erotic photography of mature men with hairy bodies and facial hair. His work directly led to the legitimizing of the bear community as a social group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bear flag (gay culture)</span> Pride flag used by the bear subculture

The International Bear Brotherhood Flag, also known as the bear flag, is a pride flag designed to represent the bear subculture within the LGBTQIA+ community. The colors of the flag—dark brown, orange/rust, golden yellow, tan, white, gray, and black—symbolize species of animal bears throughout the world. Though not necessarily referring to human skin color or hair color, the flag was designed with inclusion in mind. The bear culture celebrates secondary sex characteristics such as growth of body hair and facial hair, traits associated with bears.

Tim Barela is an American gay cartoonist who is best known for his creation of the comic strip Leonard & Larry. The Leonard & Larry strip first appeared in a 1984 issue of Gay Comix, then were later featured in The Advocate and Frontiers magazines. The comic series has been collected in four volumes published by Palliard Press, and a single volume by Rattling Good Yarns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rainbow Motorcycle Club</span>

The Rainbow Motorcycle Club is a gay men's motorcycle club based in San Francisco, California. The club was founded in San Francisco in 1971 by Ron Johnson, Mario Pirami and Paul Denino. Some commentators have credited the RMC as being instrumental in the creation of the bear subculture among gay men during the 1980s and 1990s.

Lawrence D. Mass is an American physician and writer. A co-founder of Gay Men's Health Crisis, he wrote the first press reports in the United States on an illness later became known as AIDS. He is the author of numerous publications on HIV, hepatitis C, STDs, gay health, psychiatry and sex research, and on music, opera, and culture. He is also the author/editor of four books/collections. In 2009 he was in the first group of physicians to be designated as diplomates of the American Board of Addiction Medicine. Since 1979, he has lived and worked as a physician in New York City, where he resided with his life partner, writer and activist Arnie Kantrowitz. Having written for the New York Native since the 1970s, he currently writes a column for The Huffington Post. An archival collection of his papers are at the New York Public Library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Fritscher</span> American writer

John Joseph "Jack" Fritscher is an American author, university professor, historian, and social activist known internationally for his fiction, erotica, and nonfiction analyses of pop culture and gay male culture. An activist prior to the Stonewall riots, he was an out and founding member of the Journal of Popular Culture. Fritscher became highly influential as editor of Drummer magazine.

Convergence is an annual North American social gathering of gay men of size (chubs) and their admirers (chasers). The event is considered the longest running social gathering of its kind in North America and serves a particular community, also known as the Chubs and Chasers community; a vibrant sub-culture of the gay community at large. Convergence is held during the US Labor Day holiday weekend. The event has a history that goes back to 1986, when the first Convergence was held in Seattle, Washington. Since then, the event has been hosted annually in different cities across North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Radcliffe</span> American gay pornographic actor (born 1960)

Jack Radcliffe is an American former pornographic film actor. Radcliffe is considered a pornographic icon, and in particular, an icon of gay bear subculture and its physical aesthetics.

References

  1. Suresha, Ron. "The Birth of Girth and Mirth: an interview with Reed Wilgoren". Archived from the original on 2017-04-09. Retrieved 2017-04-08.
  2. Textor, Alex (1999). "Organization, Specialization, and Desires in the Big Men's Movement: Preliminary Research in the Study of Subculture-Formation". International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies. 4 (3): 217–239. doi:10.1023/A:1023223013536. hdl: 2027.42/44662 . S2CID   55158491.
  3. Suresha, Ron Jackson (2009). Bears on Bears: Interviews & Discussions. Revised Edition. ISBN   9781590212448
  4. Whitesel, Jason (2014). Fat Gay Men: Girth, Mirth, and the Politics of Stigma. NYU Press. ISBN   9780814724125
  5. What is Girth & Mirth aka a Big Men’s Club? [ permanent dead link ]