stevo

[theotherqpc]

let us put aside discussions on gender politics and assume that these proponents of "The Masculine Lifestyle Community" operate on traditional western gender roles as we witness this screen capture from their website:

Comments

[kiltbear]

Coming to your blog via a link in hossinseattle.

I think all the vitriol is kinda funny. Its a magazine that says "Masculine" but the publishers seem to be very happy to call it "Martha Stewart for bears".

Bear in mind that I was "chosen" for the IBR spread for issue #2 a couple of years back... but I am really surprised that so many folks are finding this mag offensive. I just think it is trying to hit a nitch market that is under-represented.

I'm 5'7" and 230lbs. Having a fluffy magazine that doesn't point to skinny washboard stomaches as the only way to be correctly gay is a plus. It allows more folks to "see themselves" represented in the media. So totally on the surface, I've taken it as a great way for fat hair guys (of which I am one) to be publicly validated.

Yeah, yeah, so my shrink reminds me, we should all be "self validating" but not everyone is so well self actualized.

[theotherqpc]

i admittedly have never read the magazine, save a few articles on the site, but from the headlines and pictures on the site, i'm not very impressed. the emphasis seems to be on catering towards gays with money (redecorating, hot vacation spots), white men (save the mixed-race NFL player and the token black guy on the cover of the "diversity" issue), and guys with a fair bit of internalized homophobia (oh, we're not like those guys, we're gruff and masculine).

fuck that, i'm a faggot chink piece of trash. i'm not, as the publisher believes, a "chaser." and hell if i give a shit about whether people think i'm masculine or not.

yes, i think it's important for larger/hairier men to know that they can be the objects of desire, but if it is insinuated that this can only happen if they go to IBR, sleep on 450 threadcount sheets, cruise make meaningful social connections through Bear411, and sacrifice their personalities in the name of ursine empowerment, something is seriously wrong. We are (or at least hope we are) individuals with

[kiltbear]

Well, it IS a money making enterprise, not a Not Profit Organization, so yeah, they will focus on folks who have the goods. I think this is the case with most every glossy fashion magazine, so you're criticisms would prolly aptly apply to those as well.

You definitely hit some major points if one were to strictly rely on something like this for all their validation. Who is Jean-Paul Gaultier? Actually the magazine is a bit more homey than that.

I think there are less assumptions and more a selected target audience that you don't fit. It is definitely not for you. I don't read it, either, but it doesn't piss me off, it just misses me as a mark.

But I definitely like what you say about beards and holes!

Woof! (or should I say OINK!)

[theotherqpc]

you bring up a good point comparing it to a mainstream fashion rag - indeed, i do think the two are quite similar.

i suppose most of my animosity towards the magazine comes from a recent incident with one of its publishers. i was once content to ignore the whole thing, but Stevo came up to me a few days ago and asked if he could interview me on what it's like to be a "chaser."

i'd never met the man before, and i sure as hell don't consider myself a chaser; as i see it, the only way he could have come up with this label was by my looks. i wonder what would've happened if i asked him for an interview on what it's like to be a pretty white guy whose idea of racial diversity is one token black man amongst a horde of whites?

[kiltbear]

Um... I am SO gonna piss you off... I'm sorry ahead of time...

If Stevo were to meet me in a gay bar and assume that I liked to suck cock gay men, he wouldn't be wrong...

A bear chaser is someone who likes bears but isn't one themselves... your profile says you are a cub-wanna-be so I will take it for granted that you don't look like a bear... Your interests and friends reads like a who's-who of the LJ bear community... (at least the folks I know on it.)

Where were you when he came up to you and asked this question? A bear bar or event? If you are a non-bearish person, at a bear event, its not too far off the mark to guess that you either have an affinity for the bear lifestyle (loaded term) or bears themselves. Was he wrong?

Do you have negative conception of what a chaser is? I've never thought of it as a pejorative.

[theotherqpc]

the "cub-wannabe" part of my profile is tongue-in-cheek.

yes, i was at Fiesta when this happened, though the event seems to be attended largely by people who, though fat and hairy, don't buy into the "bear lifestyle" - witness the defacing of Stevo's whiteboard message. I even had one of the organizers of the event thank me for openly expressing my disgust since he had to remain neutral on the topic.

i don't dislike the term "chaser" per se, but i don't have any affinity for it either. i'm just tired of the whole nomenclature - all of the "what is a bear?" talk is evidence enough, i think, that the labels are poor tools of communication. i'll just say that i think beards are sexy, bellies are nice, and i have no problem with body hair.