Beefke imagery was appropriated by the gay muny for s own benefs to bee a visual ttimony of same-sex sire durg the pre-Stonewall era.
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* gay beegf *
Beefke Photography & the Gay Communy: 1940s to 1960s. The beefke imagery was quickly appropriated by the gay muny to bee a visual ttimony of same-sex sire durg the pre-Stonewall era. By the 1940s, a wi variety of homoerotic imagery had begun to be available to a wi public through male fns or physique publitns.
Magaz such as Physique Pictorial, heavily illtrated wh sexy photos of bodybuilrs, were g fns as a pretext and were maly targetg a largely unrground gay subculture. At the end of the 1950s, photo studs such as Bob Mizer’s fluential Athletic Mol Guild (AMG), the Wtern Photography Guild, and Spartan of Hollywood emerged and gradually dropped the pretense of physil culture or bodybuildg tert to market their photographs (somewhat) more openly to gay nsumers.
This was soon to be followed the 1960s by an unrground dtry promotg a more erotic versn of this type of imagery for s gay muny mostly through anonymo mail orrs at a time when the productn, distributn, and also posssn of homosexual imagery was illegal. For stance, Peter Berl and Bce of LA‘s photographs and illtratns of hypermascule men reveal a signifint erotic turnout, while Walter Kundzicz’s Champn Studs, opposn, promoted a return to natural though playful homoerotic pictn.
Our celebratn of post-war gay, bisexual, and straight movie stars wearg next to nothg at all. * gay beegf *
Yet beefke culture is not jt to be nsired as a tool promotg a homoerotic athetic. It was iologilly a symbol of gay liberatn, by exposg the sexist myth of the female body as the only erotic vector, embracg the homoerotic ntent, and driftg away om the heterosexual paradigm of sire. Ever sce the silent film era, Hollywood beefke photos have tillated both female and gay male fans.