A lengthy reply to fargonrob's Post
This was a comment to fargonrob's post What is a Bear?
Sounds to me like what you are describing as a "real bear" is more of what a "real person" should be.
I run and socialize in "bear" circles but because of what it has become over the years - and the fact that as a black man I've kind of always been on the fringe of that culture and marginalize - I will say first and formost I am Marvin.
My experience with bear culture was that it was more insular as a result of larger gay culture it sprang from that you mentioned. As it grew and became more visible, accepted and established in the gay community, I think anyway, that is when it lost its founding principle and became the superficial image driven culture it is today. Those ills began way before the Gen-X Bears sprang into existence. mostly in the form of the clubs hold bear pageants and naming Mr. Grizzly, Bear, Cub or what ever, insert your city, state, region here. I think that is something that spilled over from the leather community.
The Gen-X factions did bring with it some of the larger gay culture but I think that was a testament to changing times. All of the blood, persecution and fighting for just the ability to be acknowledged by society in general that was sacrificed by the older guard. Prior to the bear movement coming out was hard enough, but for a lot of guys coming out into a world where it seemed you would just be trading one alienation for another and doubling down on it was just impossible. The Bears made it easier on a lot of guys because they found a place where they could have support and belong.
The internet also played a huge role in bear culture as they kind of grew and evolved side by side. The age of a more accessible internet and its inherent anonymity made it possible for people to explore their sexuality from the safety of their homes and ease their way out of the closet with out ever showing their face. For people that didn't fit the mold of what society would have had you believe a gay man was pretty much through the mid to late 90's this was the best way to connect with other gay people who might otherwise shun them in a face to face situation. I was one of those people who used the internet as my first steps out of the closet. I started out on BBS systems logging in secretly on the computer which was right in the living room of my family home with a 2400 baud modem and only 1 phone line in the house. This was tricky maneuvering with my mom and 2 siblings lurking around and constantly competing for phone time. Seeing the bear movement grow on the internet from pre-AOL days has been interesting.
So, cross over from leather culture, the Gen-X inclusion and strong ties to the internet have been major molding factors to the bear movement over the past few decades. Gen-X and the internet both serving to bring bears out of their cozy caves and into the spot light. Present during most of this evolution of a culture has been an undercurrent of people that wish to place defining characteristics on what a bear should be. Not to date myself again but some of you will remember the rotting equine corpse that was repeated flogged on the BML about what makes someone a "Bear." For the noobs the BML = Bear Mailing List. It was a usenet group / mailing list that had ongoing discussions about thing bear related and of bear minded interest. I think I was on it for all of 3 weeks when I got tired of never ending debate of what a "Bear" is or isn't. That subscription was cancelled quickly.
This seed of dogmatic superficiality was unwittingly nurtured by the rise of the bear pageant that I mentioned before. This was a tradition brought over from the leather community and it can be seen in the fact that the winners of these pageants get leather sashes and vests to pronounce their titles. In the beginning the men that were chosen as those that represented what was most bear like among the groups were more of the average joe, accepting type. As the years progressed and as bear oriented media grew the physical principles of what a bear should be began to migrate more to leather community / Tom of Finland standard. This is what i think gave rise to the splinter faction we all know as Muscle Bears.
From the beginning of the new "Muscle Bear" movement this group was perceived to be cliquish and conceited toward the rest of the bear "community." Mostly in part because a lot of them shallowly subscribed to what can be called the Brush Creek standard. Partly because this prevailing attitude caused a backlash from the rest of bears towards anyone assumed to be a muscle bear. These ill wills on both sides of the coin caused a great divide and brought the debate of Bear-Not Bear to the surface and it remains alive and well today, popping up in one form or another to spark a lot of anger, arguments and hurt feelings along the way.
Personally, while the bears are the community that I hold a soft spot in my heart for and embraced me while coming out (in some cases at arms length - but that's another discussion on socio-politics in this country) they have issues. The reality is we are all human and while that gives us a potential to elevate ourselves as a culture to the ideals of acceptance and inclusion we are still vulnerable to the uglier side of human nature which seeks to exclude and shun others. Much like the bear culture shuns and excludes "twink" and drag culture.
I guess what I'm getting at with all this is for me personally, I go with what I know to be true for my identity and that is being Marvin. Marvin has the ability to operate in several different social circles but at the end of the day when I look in the mirror I try to make sure it's always Marvin that's looking back. We still need things like the bears for people still on a path to self realization but at some point it has to be put into perspective and taken for the nonsense it really is. We are all human. For better or worse.
Sounds to me like what you are describing as a "real bear" is more of what a "real person" should be.
I run and socialize in "bear" circles but because of what it has become over the years - and the fact that as a black man I've kind of always been on the fringe of that culture and marginalize - I will say first and formost I am Marvin.
My experience with bear culture was that it was more insular as a result of larger gay culture it sprang from that you mentioned. As it grew and became more visible, accepted and established in the gay community, I think anyway, that is when it lost its founding principle and became the superficial image driven culture it is today. Those ills began way before the Gen-X Bears sprang into existence. mostly in the form of the clubs hold bear pageants and naming Mr. Grizzly, Bear, Cub or what ever, insert your city, state, region here. I think that is something that spilled over from the leather community.
The Gen-X factions did bring with it some of the larger gay culture but I think that was a testament to changing times. All of the blood, persecution and fighting for just the ability to be acknowledged by society in general that was sacrificed by the older guard. Prior to the bear movement coming out was hard enough, but for a lot of guys coming out into a world where it seemed you would just be trading one alienation for another and doubling down on it was just impossible. The Bears made it easier on a lot of guys because they found a place where they could have support and belong.
The internet also played a huge role in bear culture as they kind of grew and evolved side by side. The age of a more accessible internet and its inherent anonymity made it possible for people to explore their sexuality from the safety of their homes and ease their way out of the closet with out ever showing their face. For people that didn't fit the mold of what society would have had you believe a gay man was pretty much through the mid to late 90's this was the best way to connect with other gay people who might otherwise shun them in a face to face situation. I was one of those people who used the internet as my first steps out of the closet. I started out on BBS systems logging in secretly on the computer which was right in the living room of my family home with a 2400 baud modem and only 1 phone line in the house. This was tricky maneuvering with my mom and 2 siblings lurking around and constantly competing for phone time. Seeing the bear movement grow on the internet from pre-AOL days has been interesting.
So, cross over from leather culture, the Gen-X inclusion and strong ties to the internet have been major molding factors to the bear movement over the past few decades. Gen-X and the internet both serving to bring bears out of their cozy caves and into the spot light. Present during most of this evolution of a culture has been an undercurrent of people that wish to place defining characteristics on what a bear should be. Not to date myself again but some of you will remember the rotting equine corpse that was repeated flogged on the BML about what makes someone a "Bear." For the noobs the BML = Bear Mailing List. It was a usenet group / mailing list that had ongoing discussions about thing bear related and of bear minded interest. I think I was on it for all of 3 weeks when I got tired of never ending debate of what a "Bear" is or isn't. That subscription was cancelled quickly.
This seed of dogmatic superficiality was unwittingly nurtured by the rise of the bear pageant that I mentioned before. This was a tradition brought over from the leather community and it can be seen in the fact that the winners of these pageants get leather sashes and vests to pronounce their titles. In the beginning the men that were chosen as those that represented what was most bear like among the groups were more of the average joe, accepting type. As the years progressed and as bear oriented media grew the physical principles of what a bear should be began to migrate more to leather community / Tom of Finland standard. This is what i think gave rise to the splinter faction we all know as Muscle Bears.
From the beginning of the new "Muscle Bear" movement this group was perceived to be cliquish and conceited toward the rest of the bear "community." Mostly in part because a lot of them shallowly subscribed to what can be called the Brush Creek standard. Partly because this prevailing attitude caused a backlash from the rest of bears towards anyone assumed to be a muscle bear. These ill wills on both sides of the coin caused a great divide and brought the debate of Bear-Not Bear to the surface and it remains alive and well today, popping up in one form or another to spark a lot of anger, arguments and hurt feelings along the way.
Personally, while the bears are the community that I hold a soft spot in my heart for and embraced me while coming out (in some cases at arms length - but that's another discussion on socio-politics in this country) they have issues. The reality is we are all human and while that gives us a potential to elevate ourselves as a culture to the ideals of acceptance and inclusion we are still vulnerable to the uglier side of human nature which seeks to exclude and shun others. Much like the bear culture shuns and excludes "twink" and drag culture.
I guess what I'm getting at with all this is for me personally, I go with what I know to be true for my identity and that is being Marvin. Marvin has the ability to operate in several different social circles but at the end of the day when I look in the mirror I try to make sure it's always Marvin that's looking back. We still need things like the bears for people still on a path to self realization but at some point it has to be put into perspective and taken for the nonsense it really is. We are all human. For better or worse.