Bel Homme XXIV

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

Running Hare XIV

Artist Ena Lund specializes in "sporting subjects — hounds, hares and other beasts — painted in a clear dynamic style." Her paintings on canvas have been praised for their ability to capture the vitality of living creatures.

Straight Talking . . .

Why Straight Sportsmen are Happy
to Pose for Gay Magazines

By Benjamin Cohen


Note: This article was first published January 21, 2013 by the London Evening Standard.


When I bought my first copy of Gay Times magazine as a teenager 15 years ago, the best one could hope for with celebrity representation might have been an interview with the openly gay Boy George — or maybe a straight “gay icon” such as Sinitta. You wouldn’t have expected to open up and read an interview with a straight sports star, never mind find them posing starkers for the titillation of thousands of gay boys.

Clearly, time has moved on. This Wednesday’s GT features a bevy of celebrities in the buff, and includes, most significantly, three of the attractive new faces to have appeared during the 2012 Olympics: diver Chris Mears, judo martial artist Ashley McKenzie [above right] and Luke Campbell [below], the gold medal-winning boxer.

For Chris Mears [left], who is straight, his reason for stripping off for a gay mag was simple: to take on team-mate Tom Daley. “I’m trying to steal his gay fan base by doing this shoot for GT!” he jokes. “I have no issues being around gay people. I know people through Tom who are gay and I’m good friends with them.”

Mears and his team-mates join a bevy of straight sportsmen who have recently stripped off to appeal to the gay community. They include Matt Jarvis [below], the West Ham footballer who appeared on the cover of Attitude and decried the lack of positive gay role models in sports, calling on closet players to come out.

In France, rugby players have a unique appeal for gay fans, thanks in part to Stade Français, the Parisian professional team which has produced a nude calendar and an accompanying homoerotic DVD each year since 2001. Initially targeting women, the calendars and the DVDs have now become — almost exclusively — the preserve of gay men, and regularly top the sales charts at many gay specialist retailers. Alexis Palisson [above right], who plays for France, also posed on the cover of gay magazine Têtu in the buff and claimed rugby was the sport most tolerant of gay people and players.

In one sense, the straight sportsmen who appeal to gays are compensating for the lack of gay role models in sport. Just one, England cricketer Steven Davies has come out; former Welsh captain Gareth Thomas is the only rugby player to have done the same. Justin Fashanu, the one professional footballer ever to have come out, killed himself in 1997 after years of abuse.

The straight sportsmen comfortable with their sexuality, however, are happy to experiment with their “gay side”. Mears jokes about his grooming habits and says he’s often propositioned for gay sex on Twitter, something that doesn’t faze him. There’s also a commercial imperative too: although small in number, the gay community is typically better off than the national average and prepared to splash out on celebrities who appeal. As Darren Scott, GT’s editor, told me: “I think any stars — straight or not — would be daft not to appeal to the gay community. We’re loyal, loving and dedicated. It’s an accolade to be referred to as a gay icon, although we have to give you that title — you’re not allowed to proclaim yourself one, thank you very much.”


See also the previous posts:
Olympic Male Beauty (Part 1)
Olympic Male Beauty (Part 2)
The "Sheer Magnificence" of Ricky Berens' "Pretty Good Show"
Wrestling: : "The Heterosexually Acceptable Form of Homosexual Foreplay"
The Domain of Eros
In the Arena

Tough Dudes

Jackrabbits are interesting characters. Sometimes when you encounter them they are gone in the blink of an eye. Other times, as you caught in your beautiful photos, they just sit there and stare back. They are also pretty tough. I once saw a red-tailed hawk dive down and grab a jackrabbit. The jackrabbit responded by kicking the hawk head-over-tailfeathers with its powerful back feet. Tough dudes!

– Gary Bogue

See also the previous posts:
The Rabbit That's Actually a Hare
The Hares of the Americas

Image: Barbara Yencho.

No Pants Subway Day

From Sweden to New York City, thousands of people took part in the 12th annual No Pants Subway Ride Day this past Sunday, January 13, 2013.

The event, which began in New York but has spread to cities around the world, is coordinated by a group called Improv Everywhere, which describes itself as a "prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places."

According to Improv Everywhere: "The idea behind No Pants is simple: random passengers board a subway car at separate stops in the middle of winter without pants. The participants do not behave as if they know each other, and they all wear winter coats, hats, scarves and gloves. The only unusual thing is their lack of pants."

Following are images from this year's No Pants Subway Day, along with a few from previous years. Enjoy!

NEXT: The 'No Pants Subway Ride' of 2014

Related Off-site Links:
Thousands Strip for 'No Pants Subway Ride' – Agence France-Presse via The Raw Story (January 13, 2013).
No Pants Subway Ride Celebrates Silliness – The Guardian (January 14, 2013).
No Pants Subway Ride 2013: Thousands of Straphangers Caught Without Pants – New York Post (January 14, 2013).
'No Pants Subway Ride' 2013: NYC Straphangers Go Pantless For Annual Tradition – The Huffington Post (January 14, 2013).
The Shanghai No Pants Subway Ride – Michael Evans (Shanghaiist.com, January 15, 2013).
Young Bulgarians Stage No Pants Subway Ride – Novinite.com (January 13, 2013).
'No Pants Subway Ride' Returns to Philly – MyFoxPhilly.com (January 13, 2013).

Creature of Mystery, Creature of Magic

Write George Ewart Evans and David Thomson . . .

Familiarity unveils mystery. Elusiveness and solitude enhance it. And of all the creatures linked with the mystery of magic, the hare is the most remote. The practice of magic is secret, its conception fearful and imaginative, and to cause fear arouses much the same emotion in a human being as to feel it. You cannot consciously make another person or an animal afraid without fearing something in yourself. The hare fears man as she fears any other beast of prey. Man has for centuries feared the hare because of the supernatural powers with which he has endowed her, in her solitude, her remoteness, her subtle, natural skills.

– George Ewart Evans & David Thomson
The Leaping Hare
p. 221

Image: Haslen.

Morning Light

Image: Subjects and photographer unknown.