Leatherman gay culture
Leatherman
Glenn Hughes. Village Person. 1950–2001. Buried in this very outfit.
Store Clerk:Something that says... leatherdaddy?
Tobias:Oh, is there such a thing?
— Arrested Development
The LGBT community has a variety of subcultures and groups. One component has historical roots in the BDSM community and in biker culture, resulting in a noticeable number of gay men wearing horseshoe mustaches and a LOT of cured animal hide in suggestive cuts.
The leather tradition is generally traced back to gay servicemen returning from World War II. They became the biker gangs of The '50s, and the subculture grew from there. The BDSM part sort of merged in later, though it's not a bonafide requirement that a leatherman be into kink. In fact, some of the older leathermen (the "old guard") include few, if any, BDSM tendencies. Just a strict code of honor, obedience to tradition and hierarchy and a strict position of rules.
A akin but distinct group are bears, masculine types with body hair, heavy-set builds, and/or "traditionally" masculine behaviour. There is a lot of overlap b
LEATHERMEN
photography byMIKE RUIZ
“The heaviness of the chaps compresses against thighs wrapped in denim. Each leg stands tall; one rooted in history while the other walks towards the future. Boots that acquire stood in the seedy, the sleazy, the sexy, and subversive cultures lengthy misunderstood, are buffed to a military polish. The harness encompasses the heart that has struggled for identity and visibility, adorned with a vest shielding it from the elements and provide a canvas to mark its history. Muir cap crowns the head and as worn hands slide into gloves, a man is transformed, the reckoning of a Leatherman.
To be a Leatherman is to be an individual within a collective. While we hold traditions that are stemmed from a elongated history with struggles both within and outside the male lover community at grand, we know the future belongs to the youth, the pups, the kinks. They will describe the 21st century look, as leather evolves and blends with rubber and neoprene, each with their own story and their hold journey. It is a history with much strength in our virtues and have had to forge a modern community from the ashes of the AIDS crisis, which decimated an entire generation.
A Brief History Of Leather And The Gays
Give to me your leather, receive from me my gays…
By Fraser Abe
Cubs, pups, otters, silver foxes and bears, oh my. The homosexual ecosystem has a abundant taxonomy of subcultures that all somewhat stem from one Adam(4Adam)’s rib – the leather community. It’s been around since the 1940s, when the notion of otters and the like were just a twink-le (get it?) in some queen’s eye. We’re here to break down the history of leather for you, going all the way back to the greatest generation.
It’s generally assumed that leather identity got its start in the 1940s, as an offshoot to post-World War II motorcycle clubs that began popping up around the same time. Gays had flocked in droves to large cities obeying Blue Discharges from the army, a way of removing homosexuals from service, as dishonourably discharging and imprisoning gays became impractical with the huge number of recruits during WWII. It led to big groups of homosexuals in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.
Meanwhile, a dissatisfaction with the post-WWII white picket fence view of America was building, especially as seen in films like 1953’s The Wild One, starring Marl
The Old Guard: Classical Leather Culture Revisited
Editor’s Note: The article below by Guy Baldwin on the Old Guard is the first and only reprint of this piece that Mr. Baldwin has ever authorized. It appeared in Issue 20 of International Leatherman (now extinct) in October, 1998. The essay is copywritten so while you may link to it, reproducing any of it anywhere without Baldwin’s permission would be both illegal and disrespectful.
by Guy Baldwin
I am continually surprised at how frequently conversation in what I’ll call “leather circles” turns to “The Old Guard.” Whether it is on the Internet, at any of the various leather conventions held all around the state nowadays, at contests, in bars, or even over a card game, the Old Guard seems like the topic that will not die. Even more interesting to me is the evidence that, except for rank novices, almost everyone seems ready to offer comment on it. When I occasionally rotate up at leather events, I am quizzed endlessly and carefully about it. The longish essay I published about it back in the late 80’s remains one of the most frequently quoted things I’ve ever written.
Stranger still is the truth that the Vintage Guard is usual
The Sexy, Secret History of Leather Fetish Fashion
This article is part of a series on AnotherManmag.com that coincides with LGBT History Month, shining a light on different facets of queer culture. Head here for more.
“When I’m wearing my leathers, I like the way I get to be such a symbol, a trope, of masculinity and sexuality,” explains Max, a 38-year-old gay man from London. Max is a “leatherman” or “leatherdaddy”, two common descriptors for same-sex attracted and bisexual men who fetishise leather clothes and accessories.
“Fetish fashion” is the term used to characterize the intrinsic link between clothing and sexual fetishes, with materials like leather, lace, latex, and rubber holding particular prominence. Dr Frenchy Lunning, author of the 2013 book Fetish Style, writes that fashion has historically been the easiest way to “traverse” from one spectrum of fetish to the other. Lunning gauges that, in the history of preference fashion, there have been two climaxes – no pun intended – with the first occurring between 1870 and 1900. “The Victorians went crazy over silk and velvet,” writes Pat Califia, author of Public Sex: The Tradition of Radical Sex. “As quickly as new substances were