CARNAL NATION

MuscleBearCub.com (not safe for work) is a website I created as my entry into “Web 2.0”, otherwise known as a Social Networking site. In laymen’s terms, that means “hook-up site.”

MuscleBearCub.com (not safe for work) has been my pet project because the type of guys I am planning to present at MuscleBearCub.com are also the same type of guys I'm attracted to in real life - beefy, hairy, "real men." After careful consideration of various styles that the gay male community has adopted, the “look” identified by the term "Muscle Bear Cub" could easily be a phrase you will hear a lot more often.

So where did "bears," "muscle bears," "bear cubs," and the hybrid "Muscle Bear Cub" come from?

The "clone" look of the late 1970's (i.e., shorter hair, plaid shirts, tight jeans, boots, cookie cutter moustache, and painfully thin) replaced the gay "hippy" look of the early 1970's Stonewall era. The hippy aesthetic of willowy bodies, long hair, colorful flowing clothes and jewelry has in recent years, been adopted by a younger generation calling themselves "faeries." The "punks" of late 1970's and early 1980's (i.e., spikey, multi-colored hair, tight, ripped clothing and standard-issue motorcycle jackets) merged with the some of the clones and branched off into the burgeoning leather scene of the 1980's. The leather scene moved from underground to mainstream as it became more and more obsessed with title contests and the accumulation of leather accessories and sex "toys."

After punk music became passe, the music itself was no longer a common denominator of cohesion, especially among gay punks. Many of the more "agro" punks broke off from the increasingly clone-like leather community and found a purpose in ACT-UP in the early 1990's. ACT-UP kids had unwittingly created their own style - motorcycle jacket covered in political stickers, black 501's and clunky boots. My personal observation (and a lot of people will resent this statement) is part of the reason ACT-UP recruited so many members is because so many of the original activists were young, sexy "bad boys" with a cohesive fashion sense. ACT-UP demonstrations often became opportunities to hook up with the sexiest guys in town.

The tried-and-true 1970's clones (that didn't die from AIDS) went on to invent the "circuit party," the gay subculture that is still, to this day, the predominant gay subculture that funds the related industries of gay travel, music, magazines, bars, and fashion. The early circuit queens, partly to show they hadn't succumbed to wasting away with AIDS and partly as an ego boost to "prepare" for their next circuit party, began to grow their muscles bigger and bigger. They wanted to look better on the dance floor when they took their shirts off and waved their hands in the air (like they just don't care...). Taking a cue from bodybuilding contests and fitness magazines, circuit queens started shaving their chest and body hair to properly display their hard work in the gym. Nutritional supplements, steroid use and body fascism soon followed. Porn studios searched out these types and further encouraged them to shave their pubes. Sculpted crotch hair gave the illusion that their dicks looked bigger and allowed the penetration shots to be seen more clearly.

In 1989, Bear Magazine emerged and coined the term "bear" to represent gay male humans that had ursine physical characteristics. Bear Magazine had a ten-year run, but folded just as the bear movement came into its own. Twinks don't stay twinks forever and we all put on a few pounds as we get older. Bear Magazine, bear clubs, and the resulting bear circuit parties (which evolved from the blending of leather oriented "motorcycle runs" and conventional circuit parties) gave hope to guys who, by growing a beard and a belly, felt left out of the rest of the gay world.