What About Gay Bob? | Natural History Mm

Contents:

• MEET GAY BOB, THE 1977 DOLL THAT URGED PEOPLE TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET
• WHAT ABOUT GAY BOB?
• GAY BOB DOLL, "COME OUT OF THE CLOSET WH GAY BOB
• GAY BOB DOLL AD: “COME OUT OF THE CLOSET WH GAY BOB” (1978)
• THE STORY BEHD GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OUT-AND-PROUD DOLL
• THE STORY OF GAY BOB, THE NTROVERSIAL 1970S DOLL THAT WOULD BE JT PLA OFFENSIVE TODAY
• PROUD GAY OOMPA LOOMPA

MEET GAY BOB, THE 1977 DOLL THAT URGED PEOPLE TO COME OUT OF THE CLOSET

Jun 12, 2020Failed to save articlePlease try agaThis article is more than 3 years 1860s Germany, Karl Herich Ulrichs urged other gay people to publicly reveal their sexual orientatn. In 1914, Magn Hirschfeld wrote of the revolutnary potential of rpected gay women and men g out en masse. By the late 1960s, g out was treated wh the utmost importance wh the gay rights movement.

It was the same year that Harvey Milk beme the first openly gay man elected to public office California. And while Milk was urgg his iends and muny to e out of the closet, the “World’s First Gay Doll” was dog the exact same thg. Digned to look like a batn of Pl Newman and Robert Redford and packed to his own rdboard closet, Gay Bob was the brachild of former advertisg executive Harvey Rosenberg.

WHAT ABOUT GAY BOB?

Rosenberg wanted Gay Bob to normalize the g out procs, while also actg as a fun accsory for those who were already out and proud.

GAY BOB DOLL, "COME OUT OF THE CLOSET WH GAY BOB

In an terview to promote Gay Bob, Rosenberg once said, “Bob’s perfect for an executive’s sk, dash board ornament, the attache se, the bathtub rim, a health club gym bag. Dpe Gay Bob havg a realistic penis, the snazzy fashn talog ntaed the doll's packagg was distctly child-iendly:.

GAY BOB DOLL AD: “COME OUT OF THE CLOSET WH GAY BOB” (1978)

Hi boys, girls and grownups, I’m Gay Bob, the world’s first gay doll. But remember, if Gay Bob has the urage to e out of his closet, so n you! Dpe his optimistic msage, nservative groups of the era viewed Gay Bob as a threat to fay valu.

Edward Rowe, the executive director of Protect Ameri’s Children, was quoted a 1978 issue of the Ptsburgh Post-Gazette scribg Gay Bob as “another evince of the speratn the homosexual mpaign has reached s effort to put homosexual liftyle, which is a ath style, across to the Amerin people. I n only hope that the children who are given the Gay Bob dolls will not prehend the meang and tent of the mpaign. Attempts to get the doll to partment stor were largely a failure, so Rosenberg primarily sold Gay Bob via mail orr ads gay magaz.

Two thoand people snapped up their own Gay Bobs the first two months of the doll beg available, and Bob was later stocked San Francis and New York boutiqu. In addn to wng Esquire’s “Dub Achievement Award” 1978, Gay Bob got his very own storyle Frank Zappa's 9-mute o to sexual experimentatn, “Sy B.

THE STORY BEHD GAY BOB, THE WORLD’S FIRST OUT-AND-PROUD DOLL

” In the song, a robotic voice tells a human man: “I share this apartment wh a modified Gay Bob doll. Ever try oral sex wh a miature bberized homo-repli?

Today, Gay Bob is simply an amg quirk on the timele of LGBTQ+ history.

At the time he was ma, tongue--cheek though he was, Bob was meant to crease the visibily of gay people everywhere. “We had somethg to learn om the gay movement, jt like we did om the Black civil rights movement and the women’s movement, ” Harvey Rosenberg once said. Thirteen ch tall and plastic, Gay Bob was marketed as the first openly gay doll and ma his retail but mail-orr talogs.

THE STORY OF GAY BOB, THE NTROVERSIAL 1970S DOLL THAT WOULD BE JT PLA OFFENSIVE TODAY

Gay Bob's packagg proudly (and wordily) explaed what “g out of the closet” meant:. "Hi boys, girls and grownups, I’m Gay Bob, the world’s first gay doll. At face value, Gay Bob’s msage about the mers of g out seems earnt, pog the valu of urage, honty, and livg thentilly; however, the brandg and sign of the Gay Bob doll are brash.

PROUD GAY OOMPA LOOMPA

Gay Bob’s story is ceptively plited and tertwed toy and LGBTQ+ history. Gay Bob was created by an advertisg executive named Harvey Rosenberg. Rosenberg put $10, 000 of his own money to gettg Gay Bob manufactured through his pany, Gizmo Development.

We had somethg to learn om the gay movement, jt like we did om the black civil rights movement, and the women’s movement and that is havg the urage to stand up and say, ‘I have a right to be what I am.