Category:Bear (gay culture) symbols

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE GAY BEAR BROTHERHOOD PRI FLAG, AND WHAT DO IT MEAN?

Wonrg about the Gay Bear Brotherhood Pri Flag, ’s origs, and meangs? We have you vered wh this gui! * gay bear culture symbols *

One such flag is the Gay Bear Brotherhood Pri Flag – a flag you might already have seen flown at any number of pri ftivals around the world, om Bangkok to Reykjavik…and everywhere between! In gay culture, a bear is a larger and often hairier man who projects an image of gged masculy. Sendary sex attribut such as the growth of body hair and facial hair (which are typilly nsired “bear” characteristics) are celebrated gay bear culture.

This visual intifitn wh the gay bear subculture seems timely, for 2010 appears to be my Ann Ursi, Year of the Bear. A “bear” is a hairy, beard, brawny-to-bulky gay man, ually displayg aspects of tradnal masculy.

Their work mak clear that the bear muny began to alce San Francis the late 1980’s, fluenced by gay biker clubs and created by men who did not f or did not appreciate the prevailg gay athetic that valorized slenr, smooth-bodied youths. The proto-bears did not relate to the well-groomed urban gay liftyle; they found nventnal masculy many quali worth prervg. Gay social groups lled bear clubs anized ci like Los Angel, Hoton, and New York, some servg whole stat or regns like Connecticut’s bear club, the Northeast Ursamen, that began 18 years ago.

SYMBOLS OF GAY AND LBIAN CULTURE

* gay bear culture symbols *

Sponsored by the clubs, weekend gathergs lled “bear ns” began, first gay-iendly spots like the Rsian River, Provcetown, and San Francis, and later plac where you might never expect such gathergs to occur, such as Roanoke, Virgia, where the lol club, Virgia Mounta Bears, has twice hosted an annual weekend event lled Mounta Bear Madns.

At the same time that I was absorbg the manly woodland fluenc, I was also explorg gay bars and g to terms wh my queer inty. The mastream gay bars I most often equented left me ld. While the larger gay muny had never ma me feel wele, bears ma me feel as if I uld be two thgs that had always seemed irrencilable: my homosexualy and my untry roots.

The bear muny, like the leather world, has also ma me ls apologetic for cherishg many aspects of tradnal manhood, which I’d been raised to admire and which I emulated to some extent my own homomascule genr evolutn. “Homomasculy” is a term Surha attribut to Jack Frscher, the former Dmmer magaze edor and thor of the classic gay and pop culture novel, Some Dance to Remember (1999), featurg a bearish ma character.