The bear concept can function as an identity or an affiliation, and there is ongoing debate in bear communities about what constitutes a bear. Some bears place importance on presenting a clear masculine image and may disdain or shun men who exhibit effeminacy,[3] while others consider acceptance and inclusion of all behavioral types to be an important value of the community.[4]
History
Bears at the 2009 Marcha Gay in Mexico City
In the mid-1980s, gay men in the San Francisco Bay Area who called themselves "bears" met informally at Bear Hug (sex) parties and via the newly emerging Internet. The term "bear" was popularized by Richard Bulger, who, along with his then-partner Chris Nelson (1960–2006), founded Bear Magazine in 1987. George Mazzei wrote an article for The Advocate in 1979 called "Who's Who in the Zoo?",[5] that characterized gay men as seven types of animals, including bears.[6]
At the onset of the bear movement, some bears separated from the gay community at large, forming "bear clubs" to create social and sexual opportunities of their own. Many clubs are loosely organized social groups; others are modeled on leather biker-patch clubs, with a strict set of bylaws, membership requirements, and charities. Bear clubs often sponsor large yearly events–"bear runs" or "bear gatherings"–like the annual events such as Southern HiBearNation in Melbourne; Bear Pride and Bear Essentials in Sydney; Bearstock in Adelaide; HiBearNation in St. Louis, Missouri; San Francisco Bear Weekend; CBL's Bear Hunt;[7] Bear Pride in Chicago; Atlanta Bear Pride; Texas Bear Round Up in Dallas; Orlando Bear Bash;[8] and Bear Week in Provincetown, Massachusetts (since 2001). Many LGBT events attract a significant bear following, such as Southern Decadence in New Orleans.[9]
"Sociology of the Urban Gay Bear", written by Les K. Wright, was the first article to appear in print, in Drummer magazine, edited by Jack Fritscher. Fritscher was the founding editor of San Francisco's California Action Guide (1982). With California Action Guide, Fritscher became the first editor to publish the word "bear" with the gay culture meaning on a magazine cover (November 1982).[10]
As well, with producer Mark Hemry in 1984, Fritscher co-founded the pioneering Palm Drive Video featuring homomasculine entertainment. Palm Drive Video expanded in 1996 to Palm Drive Publishing, San Francisco. For Palm Drive, Fritscher wrote, cast, and directed more than 150 video features. His work includes documentary footage of the first bear contest (Pilsner Inn, February 1987). A bear contest is a feature at many bear events, a sort of masculine beauty pageant awarding titles and sashes (often made of leather) to winners. This footage is no longer for sale as Fritscher declined to shift to DVD format and he closed the video company.
Mr. DC Bear Cub 2006 and Mr. DC Bear 2006
One example of a bear contest was International Mr. Bear, formerly held each February at the International Bear Rendezvous in San Francisco. It attracted contestants, often with local titles, from all over the world. The first International Mr. Bear was held in 1992, and the last was held in 2011. The contest included Bear, Daddy, Cub, and Grizzly titles with the contestant who received the highest score winning the bear title, regardless of what type he was. Example: "Mr. Washington, D.C. Bear, 2006". Gay "leather-bears" have competed in leather contests, and "muscle-bears" are another subculture noted by their muscular body mass.
The Bear History Project, founded by Les L. Wright in 1995, documented the emergence and early evolution of bear identity and bear community. It became the source material for much of The Bear Book (1999) and The Bear Book II (2001). Publication of The Bear Book led to the Library of Congress adding "bear" as a category. The Bear History Project is archived in the Human Sexuality Collection at Cornell University. It continues to be added to.[11]
The bear community has spread all over the world, with bear clubs in many countries. Bear clubs often serve as social and sexual networks for their members, who can contribute to their local gay communities through fund-raising and other functions. Bear events have become very common, to include smaller-sized cities and many rural areas. Most gay-oriented campgrounds now include some type of bear-related event during their operating season.
The bear community constitutes a specialty niche in the commercial market. It offers T-shirts and other accessories as well as calendars and porn movies and magazines featuring bear icons, e.g., Jack Radcliffe. Catalina Video has a bear-themed line, the "Furry Features Series". Other adult studios which feature bear-type men are Bear Magazine, 100% BEEF Magazine, BearFilms, Bear, Butch Bear, Raging Stallion, and Titan Media. There are also social media websites and smartphone apps that market to men of the bear community.
As the bear community has matured, so has its music and literature, as well as other (non-pornographic) arts, media, and culture. Examples include Bearapalooza, a traveling bear music festival; Bear Bones Books, an imprint of LGBTQ publisher Lethe Press, which markets fiction, nonfiction, and poetry titles written by and for bears; BearRadio.net, which streams bear and LGBT music and bear-themed podcast shows. "Bear Icons, the first bear-themed art exhibit (1999-2002), toured to Boston, Provincetown, New York City, and Washington, DC. The larger organized bear runs often host a "bear market" area where artisans, musicians, and others offer items for sale.
As more gay men have identified themselves as bears, more bars, especially leather or western bars, have become bear-friendly. Some bars cater specifically to bear patrons.[12]
Characteristics
Bears marching in Melbourne's Pride March 2011
Jack Fritscher notes that bears celebrate "secondary sexual characteristics of the male: facial hair, body hair, proportional size, baldness."[13] Since the late 2000s, cisgender women and transgender men with similar characteristics who identify as bears have been recognized in the culture.[14][15]
Over the years, bear culture has been subdivided. Many claim discrimination has increased within the bear community, as some men who self-identify as "bears" or "musclebears" do not welcome higher-body fat men (see chub) at their events. A common criticism of the bear community is that some self-described bears tend to exclude men who do not fit their standards of a "real bear". Fat (or lack of it) is seen by some as a political issue, some of whom see their overweight condition as a form of self-acceptance. Some also note a lack of racial diversity in the bear community, generally perceiving hirsuteness to be a standard of physical attractiveness that genetically favors white men aesthetically, socially and sexually among bears.[16] Example of a modern-day man, the beard is commonly thought of as a sign of masculinity.
Bear media
A variety of media has been established specifically to cater to bears. The Internet comic strip Bear with Me centers around the life of the bear Andy McCubbin, a rich entrepreneur and heir to the Howell/McCubbin fortune, and his friends and family.[17] A vast majority of the other characters are also bears. The comics are created by Tim Vanderburg under the pen name Bruin.[18] In Tim Barela's comic strip Leonard & Larry, a majority of the male characters are bearded men, some self-identified as bears, most not.[19] The webcomic Blur the Lines frequently features bearish men and the two main characters, Rick and Drew, associate with the bear community; the former identifies as a chub, whereas the latter identifies as a chaser/cub. (See below for term definitions.) The events and characters depicted in the strip are inspired by the life of the author and artist Bob Kusiak, who is also involved to some extent with the bear community.[20]
In 2012, Bear World was first published online in monthly PDF format. The magazine was the first lifestyle magazine for the bear community, offering an alternative from the beefcake and pornographic magazines in print. Over the years, Bear World has grown into the world's leading bear lifestyle magazine, having transformed into a popular news and magazine website.[21]
In 2013, gay singer-songwriter Tom Goss released his song "Bears", singing about the bear community's open-mindedness and size-inclusivity.[22]
The December 2007 issue of Instinct featured an article by writer and director Kevin Smith on its "The Last Word" page. Smith wrote about his gay brother Don and about his (Kevin's) being on the cover of A Bear's Life magazine and the related cover story, and his feelings about being a "bear icon" in the gay community.[23] Smith later made a cameo appearance in the 2012 film BearCity 2: The Proposal, playing himself in a brief conversation with a main character who works in the film industry.
In the 2015 Pixar movie Inside Out, the character Disgust says there are no bears in San Francisco. The character Anger disagrees, saying "I saw a really hairy guy. He looked like a bear."[24]
The San Francisco South of Market Leather History Alley consists of four works of art along Ringold Alley honoring leather culture; it opened in 2017.[25] One of the works of art is metal bootprints along the curb which honor 28 people (including T. Michael "Lurch" Sutton, biker and co-founder of the Bears of San Francisco) who were an important part of the leather communities of San Francisco.[26]
The Canadian artist Astra Zero is heavily influenced by bear culture in his work.[27]
Criticism
One study found bears were more likely than other gay men to engage in condomless anal sex with casual partners, which is concerning due to anal sex being the act with the highest rate of sexually transmitted infections. The study also found that bears were more likely than other gay men to have low self-esteem, which is a catalyst for their high rates of risky sexual behavior.[28]
Some bears of color have been vocal about the greater bear community's lack of racial diversity. Hence, bear of color subgroups were created so they feel more comfortable and seen.[29][30][31]
Some slang terms relating to the bear community include the following:
Big Boy–An Afrocentric term for bears, particularly those of African or African American heritage. Similar to chubs, big boy culture may be considered distinct, if related to, bear culture.[citation needed]
Chub–A heavy-set man who might be described as overweight or obese. These men are also a distinct subculture within the gay community, and may or may not identify with the bear movement.
Cub – a younger (or younger-looking) bear, sometimes (but not always) with a smaller frame.[32][2]
Otter–Considered a subspecies of "bear" by some, an otter is a hairy slim or small-framed man.[33][2]
Panda (or Panda bear)–A bear of Asian[34] or Pacific Islander descent.[2]
Polar bear–An older bear whose facial and body hair is predominantly or entirely white or grey.[34][2]
Trans bear–A transgender person, typically a trans man or otherwise of transmasculine experience, who is hairy and heavy-set.[citation needed]
Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures are subcultures and communities composed of people who have shared experiences, backgrounds, or interests due to common sexual or gender identities. Among the first to argue that members of sexual minorities can also constitute cultural minorities were Adolf Brand, Magnus Hirschfeld, and Leontine Sagan in Germany. These pioneers were later followed by the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis in the United States.
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.
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.
The leather pride flag is a symbol used by the leather subculture since the 1990s. It was designed by Tony DeBlase, and was quickly embraced by the gay leather community. It has since become associated with the leather community in general and also with other kink and fetish subcultures such as the BDSM community.
LGBT culture is a culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. It is sometimes referred to as queer culture, while the term gay culture may be used to mean either "LGBT culture" or homosexual culture specifically.
Castro clone is LGBT slang for a homosexual man who appears in dress and style as an idealized working-class man. The term and image grew out of the heavily gay-populated Castro neighborhood in San Francisco during the late 1970s, when the modern LGBT rights movement, sparked by the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City and the Summer of Love, gave rise to an urban community. The first recorded usage of the term is from Arthur Evans's "Red Queen Broadsides", a series of posters he wheatpasted around the Castro at the time. The look was most common from roughly the mid-1970s to around the mid-1980s. The Castro style regained popularity in the first decade of the 21st century, particularly among LGBT hipsters.
Ron Jackson Suresha is an American author and editor of books centering on gay and bisexual men's subcultures, particularly the Bear community.
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.
BEAR Magazine is a periodical geared toward gay and bisexual men who are or admire "bears", stocky or heavyset men with facial and/or body hair. It was initially published in San Francisco, California, in 1987 by Richard Bulger and his partner Chris Nelson and marketed to the bear community within the larger LGBT community.
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.
Twink is gay slang for a man who is usually in his late teens to twenties whose traits may include a slim to average physique, a youthful appearance, little or no body hair, and flamboyancy. Twink is used both as a neutral descriptor, which can be compared with bear, and as a pejorative.
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.
The National Socialist League (NSL) was a neo-Nazi organization of gay men in the United States that existed from 1974 until 1984. It was originally founded by Jim Cherry, but was quickly taken over by Russell Veh, a neo-Nazi and transplant to Los Angeles, California, from Ohio. Veh financed the party using the profits from his printing business. He also financed the league with a film distribution unit that specialized in Nazi propaganda films, including Triumph of the Will. The National Socialist League had chapters in various parts of California, and implied in their mass mailing on July 4, 1978, that they had established an offshoot organization in Manhattan.
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.
Drummer is an American magazine which focuses on "leathersex, leatherwear, leather and rubber gear, S&M, bondage and discipline, erotic styles and techniques." The magazine was launched in 1975 and ceased publication in April 1999 with issue 214, but was relaunched 20 years later by new publisher Jack MacCullum with editor Mike Miksche.
Jack Radcliffe is an American pornographic film actor. Radcliffe is considered a pornographic icon, and in particular, an icon of gay bear subculture and its physical aesthetics.
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. 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. The popularity of Girth & Mirth clubs led to a broader chubby culture that intersected with bear groups in the early 1990s. 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.
Tony DeBlase (1942–2000), also known as Anthony DeBlase, was part of the BDSM and leather subcultures. He was the designer of the leather pride flag.
Butch is a lesbian who exhibits a masculine identity or gender presentation.
↑ Ron Jackson Suresha, (2002). Bears on Bears: Interviews and Discussions. "Bear Ages and Stages", pages 54–58, 149, 179, 236, 260–262, 294. Los Angeles: Alyson Publications. Retrieved on 2008-09-29 ISBN1-55583-578-3.
↑ John Dececco and Les Wright, The Bear Book II: Further Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male Subculture. Routledge, 2016. ISBN9781136383274.
Kampf, Ray (2000). The Bear Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for Those Who Are Husky, Hairy and Homosexual, and Those Who Love 'Em. Haworth Press. ISBN1-56023-996-4
Luczak, Raymoind (2019). Flannelwood.
Luczak, Raymond (2016). The Kiss of Walt Whitman Still on My Lips (2016).
Smith, Travis and Chris Bale (2012). Guide to the Modern Bear.
Suresha, Ron (2002). Bears on Bears: Interviews and Discussions. Alyson Publications. ISBN1-55583-578-3
Wright, Les K. (1997). The Bear Book: Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male Subculture. Haworth Press. ISBN1-56023-890-9
Wright, Les K. (2000), The Bear Book II: Further Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male Subculture, Haworth, ISBN978-0-7890-0636-3
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