The Grotesque, The Abject, The Body.

[mrzachyboy]

Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto
-Terence

Nothing human disgusts me...unless its unkind, violent.
-Hannah Jelkes in Tennessee Williams's Night at the Blue Iguana.It is curious that our culture is so obsessed with excess in the world outside of ourselves. Big food, big cars, big

Comments

[hippybear]

This is a very interesting post for me to read at this point in my life, for a lot of reasons

[mrzachyboy]

Thank you for reading, hippybear. The "bear community" is definitely an interesting case, and I am glad that you bring it up. Its celebration of excess, of male flesh and body hair, provides a counter to much of the gay community and much of society in general. Several really good books have been written about the bear community and its philosophical foundations. Along with the celebration of size and fur, the bear community grew out of a rejection of a new commodity culture. As our commodity culture began to see gay men as consumers with disposable income, more and more images of gay men were provided through media outlets, and an incredible range of grooming products and new fashion industry came with it. A new (gay) masculinity was created and marketed. "Bears," not fitting in with this new image of the ideal man, rejected it, returning to an older concept of masuclinity

[hippybear]

Okay, now I feel like I need to give a big WTF

[mrzachyboy]

I feel like the tone of my comment is consistent with the tone of my post, and it is the way that I would talk in person, to be honest. It wasn't my intention adopt a some sort of formal air or to be condescending. Though technically I was responding to a comment that you made, I think of comments as extensions of the original post. My comment was as much about expanding my own thoughts as it was about responding to you. You brining up the "bear community" allowed me to consider it in terms of what I was already discussing. Though responding to you, I realize that with formats like blogs, other people will read the comments. Though you may know a great deal about the bear community, other people that happen across my journal may not. And, it wasn't my intention to "explain the bear community"; it was to talk about a couple specific aspects of its development--its relationship to commodity culture and to notions of beauty and the grotesque.

[hippybear]

Maybe I am having a confusion of public and private space, or at least a confusion of academic distance and intimate journal-keeping. I will adjust accordingly.

I hope my mentioning of finding you sexy didn't put you off, or cause you to assume unnecessary distance in your tone. It was meant only as a point of discussion, and should not be construed as any kind of come-on or stalking signal. It was meant only to move the discussion forward, and not as a threat on any level.

[mrzachyboy]

yeah, I think that is always a problem with online communication (and especially with blogs); there is always a weird mix of public and private and academic and personal. I am probably not as careful (or consistent) with tone as I should be. I apologize for that.

and no need to worry about that. hehe.being thought of as sexy by a man like yourself is very flattering. It is always an ego boost when someone says something like that. I really appreciate it. ;-)