Bears Gay Culture: Histori, Disurs and Anthropomorphism (Chapter 4) - The Bear: Culture, Nature, Herage

gay culture bears

One of the many long-standg gay subcultur, a bear an LGBTQIA+ ntext is a large, hairy queer man who self-intifi wh the 'bear' label. Beg a bear b genr exprsn, genr inty, and sexualy; a large, hairy straight man would not be a bear. They are generally...

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PHYSIL, BEHAVRAL, AND PSYCHOLOGIL TRAS OF GAY MEN INTIFYG AS BEARS

* gay culture bears *

One of the many long-standg gay subcultur, a bear an LGBTQIA+ ntext is a large, hairy queer man who self-intifi wh the 'bear' label. The Bear Book II: Further Readgs the History and Evolutn of a Gay Male Subculture.

Published fal eded form as:PMCID: PMC5442596NIHMSID: NIHMS860386AbstractThe Bear muny exists as a subculture reactn to the larger gay muny. While qualative data document such self-intifiers as mascule-actg gay men who weigh more and have more body hair, there has to date been no quantative analysis of this group’s characteristics. In rponse, we nducted two large-sle studi of gay men intifyg as Bears (n = 469) to survey their self-reported physil, behavral, and psychologil tras.

Our studi dited that Bears were more likely to be hairier, heavier, and shorter than mastream gay men.

BEAR NECSI: AN SIR’S LOOK AT AN ATYPIL GAY CULTURE AND MUNY

Bear is a subcultural term ed primarily by gay men, referrg to a subset of men who embrace and subvert tradnal masculy and fy the stereotyp typilly... * gay culture bears *

Bears were more likely than mastream gay men to enact diverse sexual behavrs (e. Keywords: Bears, Gay Culture, Gay and Bisexual Men, Self-teem, Masculy, ObyINTRODUCTIONThe gay muny is ultimately a heterogeneo one wh many subgroups and subcultur—one of the monali among them beg the sire to have same-sex enunters.

They nsir “real” masculy to clu havg fort wh other men’s bodi and chew the more normative gay male body-mol (i.

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 culture bears *

Bee there is a arth of general rearch regardg this muny, and no studi to date that e quantative methods, we cid to explore this muny quantatively—g an Inter-nvenience sample, followed by a purposive suggted, the Bear culture exhibs and valu a greater sense of domant (but not necsarily domeerg) “thentic masculy” parison to other subcultur wh the gay muny (e. Though ostensible siari and overlappg tras exist between Bears and other gay male subcultur (e. In rponse and ntrast wh Leathermen, Bears mata their mascule inty whout adoptg negative hypermascule tennci to acmodate all partners, spe their size or body is some theoretil support for why the Bear inty spltered om the gay male mastream culture.

4 - BEARS GAY CULTURE: HISTORI, DISURS AND ANTHROPOMORPHISM

Comg out is hard enough. But buckg stereotyp n be even harr. The photographer Alan Charlworth explor “bears,” or larger men, gay culture. * gay culture bears *

” Bears may do somethg siar by alterg the meang of their heavier, shorter, and hairier physiqu, relative to mastream gays. G., twks, partyboys, A-listers) that are anthetil to, and even antagonistic towards Bears, men who are hairier and heavier exist and adopt an inty to afont the stereotypil “alpha” gay male. Popular culture, the media, and Wtern hetero- and homosexual expectatns have normalized the ial male body as one that is lean, mcular, and v-shaped (wh broad shoulrs, a narrow waist, and a flat but well-fed stomach) (Olivardia, Pope, Borowiecki, & Cohane, 2000).

CATEGORY:BEAR (GAY CULTURE)

Otter is a term ed by gay men, referrg to a subset of men who blend the physil and social tras of both bears and twks, both vokg and fyg tradnal... * gay culture bears *

G., poor self-image/self-teem) velop both heterosexual and homosexual men exhibg ls sirable physil tras (Beren, Hayn, Wilfley, & Grilo, 1996; Morrison, Morrison, & Sager, 2004; Pepl et al., 2009; Weer, 2009; Yelland & Tiggemann, 2003).

However, where mastream gay men report wantg partners wh those prevly stated, admired or revered characteristics (Moskowz, Rieger, & Seal, 2009), Bears may not (Manley et al., 2007).

BEAR (GAY CULTURE)

A bear is a bigger, equently hairier guy who embodi raw masculy gay culture. The Bear pri flag was signed 1995 by Craig Byrn. * gay culture bears *

Whereas mastream gay men often do not engage sired or preferred sexual behavrs bee of fears of rejectn or judgment (Kamski, Chapman, Hayn, & Own, 2004), those the more acceptg Bear muny reject the fears due to their beg ultimately “feme” nature (Hennen, 2005). G., uratn, fistg, voyrism, exhibnism) (Grov, Parsons, & Bimbi, 2010) to the active existence of the Bear muny and regnn of this subculture by the larger gay/bisexual male culture, more rearch is need to explore the gree to which the prevly mentned physil, behavral, and psychologil differenc actually exist. In explorg the smaller subcultur of the larger gay/bisexual male culture, soclogy, psychology, and even public health n better expla and addrs the needs of men wh same-sex attractns.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY CULTURE BEARS

Bears Gay Culture: Histori, Disurs and Anthropomorphism (Chapter 4) - The Bear: Culture, Nature, Herage .

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