What Exactly Is The Gay Bear Brotherhood Pri Flag, And What Do It Mean?

4 - BEARS GAY CULTURE: HISTORI, DISURS AND ANTHROPOMORPHISM

For those who are still the dark as to what all those labels for var typ of gay mal actually signify, this lk generoly... * gay bear animal *

Summary The emergence and alignment of gay male culture and sub-culture to the disurse and image of the bear has an uneven and plex history. Gay male bears and the signifitn of the bear are now entrenched the modifitn of gay culture, and many of the social and sexual practic allied to bears problematilly appropriate and subvert both gay and straight male inty polics. An implic tramark of gay bear inty ‘is the adoptn of a nventnally mascule appearance and the acpanyg rejectn of the stereotyped notn that gay men nnot monstrate mascule behavur’ (Surha 2002).

CHICKENS AND OTTERS AND BEARS, OH MY! SIX TYP OF GAY YOU SHOULD PROBABLY KNOW BEFORE YOU TWEET

* gay bear animal *

Yet, many of the social and sexual practic associated wh bear culture unrsre some broar nflicts across gay and straight male culture. Signifint tensns which exist, such as the relatnship between male social, erotic and sexual sire, the ontologil and psychologil posn of men, patriarchy, hetero-sexism, homophobia, normativy, misogyny, and the problems of discrimatory and tersectnal posns allied to factors such as race, age, class and geography, all unrp the inty of the gay bear.

This chapter will exame and posn some of the issu and nsir how the varied histori, disurs and visual signifitn of the bear as a gay man and a wild animal have been anthropomorphilly assiated and employed to nstct the bear as a specific symbol of gay masculy and culture. Jt as gay bears attempt to ‘challenge relatnal aspects of masculy, enuragg a tradnally mascule appearance while allowg for non-tradnal male exprsns of affectn, timacy, and nurturance’ (Manley et al 2007, 92) they do so ways which might be viewed as rctive and reflective of patriarchal and phallocentric domance.

In this way the gay bear functns as a ccial paradox ntemporary gay male culture; at once a way for gay men to negotiate and exprs their masculy and sire, whilst also remag a ntent symbol of how genr bari and discrimatory sexual nstcts might be reerated and BEARS: INDETERMINATE HISTORIESThe history and velopment of gay bears as well as their formatn as a gay male subculture allied to the image of the bear as an animal are multifaceted. For those who are still the dark as to what all those labels for var typ of gay mal actually signify, this lk generoly breaks down laymen’s terms.