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LIFTG THE GAY GYM STEREOTYPE

By Dan Woog The OutField For some gay men, the gym is a place of terror. For others, 's a home away om home. For Erick Alvarez, the gym is the subject * gay muscle culture *

For some gay men, the gym is a place of terror. “Mcle Boys: Gay Gym Culture” is a wi-rangg, sightful look at exercise, gay-male style.

It roams through history, soclogy, fashn and porn, stoppg to dissect topics like the Inter’s effect on body image, and the difference between gay and straight gyms. Alvarez – a Costa Ri-born, San Francis-raised personal traer – unrstands gay men who work out.

MCLE BOYS: GAY GYM CULTURE

* gay muscle culture *

Gettg f raised his self-nfince, and eased his ncerns about beg gay. “Thirty years ago, gay men were not necsarily accepted at the gym, ” Alvarez not.

“There was a stereotype that gay men were limp-wristed and ail. Today, Alvarez says, “beg gay is equated wh fns, athleticism, havg a great body.

Acrdg the Alvarez, “average men” make up the largt group of gay gym-goers.

A HANDY GUI TO ALL GAY MEN

The gay world is often reprented as some sort of monolhic whole that has the same culture. That is a lie. It is actually broken down to a handful of substrata to which each gay belongs. Here they are. * gay muscle culture *

Gay athlet – a sub-group whose numbers crease every year – work out to bee stronger, and to rce the chance of jury. “But as gay men general beme more health-nsc, the mcle bear beme the bear ial.

Their newly fed mculature, says Alvarez, fluenced a generatn of non-posive gay men. “Gay culture is segmentg between men who work out and those who don’t, ” Alvarez says. In addn, he says, “a lot of people have a problem wh the new ‘gay ial.

’ For gay men who don’t f , this adds one more layer where they feel different om the mastream. One of the most ntroversial subjects the gay muny – and Alvarez’s book – volv not the gym self, but a nearby adjunct. “Gay men are eher fascated by the eroticism attached to the locker room, or disgted, ” the thor says.