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What it's like to be gay, hairy, and fetishized

One writer on queerness, masculinity and the fetishization of body hair

The hair on my chest, ass, and thighs has been the property of others for as long as I’ve had it.

When I was in high school, boys in the gym locker room would make their eyes as big as a tree frog’s and cackle in the direction of the tangled, coarse, chestnut-colored mess of hair on my chest. To avoid unwanted attention, I changed clothes in the bathroom stall.

SEE ALSO: How Brooklyn became the world’s queer mecca

The boys who laughed at the sight of my chest hair did not have as much as me, but were often the same ones who called me “faggot” or confronted me about my sexuality in front of large groups of people in the way that makes closeted, young gay boys’ hearts fall to their feet. My chest hair protected my masculinity in some ways, but also called attention to my difference. It was a weapon, but also a liability.

I came out as gay when I was a freshman in college. While my experience with my own body hair has changed, it’s still a point of conversation. Especially when it comes to sex. Often, it’s brought up even before we get into the bedroom.

(The essay goes on...)

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by Anonymousreply 73August 3, 2019 3:37 AM

[quote]Within queer spaces, there are unwritten standards for these different tribes, and they’re strict. On apps like Scruff and Grindr, the user is given the option to specify what tribe they belong to. For instance, a “bear” is a man of bigger form who has lots of hair. An “otter” is smaller than a bear but equally as hairy. While gay culture has allowed men to become proud of their queer identities, this also has had a detrimental effect – it excludes those who are outside these spheres.

[quote]These apps go so far as to have a feature in which men can input their own exclusionary sexual preferences in their information section. While they believe this to be “preference,” it’s tied to white supremacy and racism. Often, the ones who are setting these exclusionary sexual rules are the same who self-promote their own idea of masculinity, racism and misogyny with headlines such as “Masc looking for masc,” code for no fats, no femmes, blacks or Asians.

by Anonymousreply 1August 1, 2019 10:35 AM

We don't 'fetishize' body hair. We like it cuz it grows on mins.

Secondary sexual characteristics, y'all.

by Anonymousreply 2August 1, 2019 10:37 AM

R2, no one has suffered like the author!!! (Who I think is picture in the article) His hair is the property of men who fetishized it in queer spaces!

by Anonymousreply 3August 1, 2019 10:40 AM

These attention seekers are exhausting. If no one paid him any attention he'd still be whingeing about how "queer spaces" exclude hairy men. If guys do approach him, he feels fetishized. These morons live in a state of constant victimhood.

by Anonymousreply 4August 1, 2019 10:41 AM

^ troo dat

by Anonymousreply 5August 1, 2019 10:42 AM

I'm glad that this writer was able to draw attention to a topic of such import, and we are so, so lucky that he was able to enhance his considerable rhetorical gifts with the aid of demurely-posed photos that emphasise his own model good looks.

So brave!

by Anonymousreply 6August 1, 2019 10:46 AM

then wax it off you daft cunt

by Anonymousreply 7August 1, 2019 10:59 AM

Another millennial complains that the world doesn't revolve around him, doesn't reward him, and doesn't work the way HE wants it. His LinkedIn profile is a lesson in specialness and vapidity.

by Anonymousreply 8August 1, 2019 11:06 AM

No, r8! He is just "a creative writer preoccupied with writing stories that exhume the ordinarily intimate"!!!

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by Anonymousreply 9August 1, 2019 11:12 AM

My god, that article was insufferable

by Anonymousreply 10August 1, 2019 11:15 AM

Rule of thumb: those guys who are precociously hairy are usually short with small to medium dicks.

by Anonymousreply 11August 1, 2019 11:16 AM

He's not even that hairy!

Here's another sample of his writing:

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by Anonymousreply 12August 1, 2019 11:20 AM

Thank goodness I'm hairy, or no one would fuck me. Happy to be fetishized all they want.

by Anonymousreply 13August 1, 2019 11:36 AM

I'm just DYING to read "How Brooklyn became the world’s queer mecca".

by Anonymousreply 14August 1, 2019 12:22 PM

Speranza was Oscar Wilde's mother's pen name

by Anonymousreply 15August 1, 2019 12:24 PM

I was just going to say, R12, that I have more hair on my body than he does, and I don't consider myself that hairy - I've seen a lot hairier. What a bizarre article.

by Anonymousreply 16August 1, 2019 12:39 PM

Well it’s on a site that no one will ever see it. That’s why the author had to post it here. Everything connected with this story and mostly the author. Me and my girls will look for him to beat him with a car aerial.

by Anonymousreply 17August 1, 2019 12:45 PM

I have body hair ! I have problems ! LISTEN TO ME !!!!

by Anonymousreply 18August 1, 2019 12:46 PM

He has a lot of chest hair for someone still in their early twenties but it’s not anything to get worked up about. His Instagram is telling. He’s the type of guy that takes pictures that try to be artistic with vague, cryptic captions.

He’s a kid, and hopefully he’ll realize how tiresome his schtick is with a few more years of real world experience.

by Anonymousreply 19August 1, 2019 12:50 PM

A hairy ass is disgusting, You can't clean it properly. Yech.

by Anonymousreply 20August 1, 2019 1:36 PM

Impeccably clean and hairy asses among Muslims in the Middle East. Where there is a will, there is a way.

by Anonymousreply 21August 1, 2019 1:51 PM

I'm gay, hairy, built and have a shaved head, beard and a big dick. If anyone wants to fetishize me they are welcome to - how I look is not all I am, and other people's opinions are none of my business.

by Anonymousreply 22August 1, 2019 1:53 PM

I am a millennial who has always been hairy. I've never been fetishised by it... Usually people are repulsed by my hair. If I grew up in the 70s, I'd be a sex symbol I feel.

I have so much chest hair pubic hair etc I don't bother ever shaving. That would be a hour long ordeal constantly. I just let it grow and fuck what society thinks of hair. Though I don't like hair personally but meh.

by Anonymousreply 23August 1, 2019 1:57 PM

Do you smell special when wet?

by Anonymousreply 24August 1, 2019 2:03 PM

I really think the aim for thinkpieces like this is to just irritate everyone.

by Anonymousreply 25August 1, 2019 2:25 PM

"As a young boy, my perception of what it meant to be masculine was tainted by boys who mistook my quiet nature and hairy chest for an oxymoron. Later, I confused my hairy chest for a sexual asset. Today, I question why I gave it all so much power."

... he writes at the end of a 1,000-word essay. One that's adorned with alluring photos of his hairy body, even as he implicates other gay men for fetishizing him. Talk about mixed messages.

I cut him some slack because he's young. But he should work on being less solipsistic. At least he interviewed one other gay man. He should have talked to more.

On a prose level, he's a decent enough writer, so at least his BFA wasn't for nothing. The most provocative part of the essay was his unsupported assertion that the "preferences" feature of hookup apps are "tied to white supremacy and racism." I don't know if I totally agree with that, or at least I don't think it's fair to simply trot it out as fact, but it is an idea worth investigating. I'd suggest he report that out through interviews with a couple dozen gay men of all shapes, sizes, races, ages etc ... and maybe he'd have something actually worth writing about.

by Anonymousreply 26August 1, 2019 2:32 PM

That photo at r9 -- how much work can we see in it? What has he had done?

by Anonymousreply 27August 1, 2019 2:54 PM

The writing in r12 is tedious and pretentious.

by Anonymousreply 28August 1, 2019 6:06 PM

People ought to be grateful for whatever's attributes others' find attractive. Warm fuzzies for all the hairy blokes who don't mind a bit.

by Anonymousreply 29August 1, 2019 6:39 PM

R25 the aim is to establish an identity as a writer but never learn how to report anything or communicate truth. It's navel gazing and encouraged by the WWW as well as our shitty colleges.

by Anonymousreply 30August 1, 2019 7:49 PM

Can we also point out that in the scheme of things, he's not particularly hairy?

He may have hit puberty very early (sounds like it if he had a hairy chest in high school) but there are much hairier guys out there.

by Anonymousreply 31August 1, 2019 7:55 PM

Agreed MF R31

by Anonymousreply 32August 1, 2019 8:04 PM

He's pretty much a pretentious twat.

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by Anonymousreply 33August 1, 2019 8:29 PM

He's also a "model"!

by Anonymousreply 34August 1, 2019 8:36 PM

It’s heartening that many on here have already taken him to task. Insufferable is right.

by Anonymousreply 35August 1, 2019 9:17 PM

A college buddy of mine was tall, handsome, rich, a French aristocrat, generous and charming, and ttbm (horse hung).

by Anonymousreply 36August 1, 2019 10:11 PM

But was he hairy?!

by Anonymousreply 37August 1, 2019 10:18 PM

comme il faut

by Anonymousreply 38August 1, 2019 10:19 PM

[quote]One writer on queerness

This bitch is exhausting. Skip

by Anonymousreply 39August 1, 2019 10:19 PM

I mention him because everyone found something to fetishise about him. But he was above all that, and married a "handsome" woman, another french aristocrat.

by Anonymousreply 40August 1, 2019 10:21 PM

[quote] My chest hair protected my masculinity in some ways, but also called attention to my difference. It was a weapon,

We Cry Baby women use our chests as weapons!

by Anonymousreply 41August 1, 2019 10:24 PM

I love these pieces.

Look at my fabulous chest hair! Look at it!

LOOK AT IT!

Let me tell you all about it, and how much sex I got because of it!

But now realize I'm fully woke, and realize I was being exploited because of it...

by Anonymousreply 42August 1, 2019 10:28 PM

Elder lez here, I take what I can get so long as she’s not an asshole. At my age, it’s all in the personality.

by Anonymousreply 43August 1, 2019 10:33 PM

OP, you belong here.

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by Anonymousreply 44August 1, 2019 10:45 PM

come and get it!

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by Anonymousreply 45August 1, 2019 10:49 PM

He need ta kwit! Or least show dik!

by Anonymousreply 46August 1, 2019 10:55 PM

stinky linky, r45.

by Anonymousreply 47August 1, 2019 11:09 PM

I bet she paints all over raw penises.

by Anonymousreply 48August 1, 2019 11:18 PM

Even with all that hair he still looks feminine.

by Anonymousreply 49August 1, 2019 11:18 PM

R49 it's because the excessive chest hair was repressing his masculine nature due to his natural defense responses due to the hegemony of masculinity imposing its dictats and norms without his consent. Don't you READ???

by Anonymousreply 50August 1, 2019 11:21 PM

Oh hell - I'm only half Italian and I got the hairy gene. From the age of 13 I had to start shaving daily. Now of course there's a lot of gray creeping in. But I still get attention in my decrepitude. Chest, back, arms, legs. Hair everywhere. I'm in my 50's and my hair line hasn't receded yet.

by Anonymousreply 51August 1, 2019 11:55 PM

My partner is very hairy. I like it.

by Anonymousreply 52August 1, 2019 11:56 PM

when I post semi nudes on Instagram I use a filter to make my chest and leg hair look more prominent and guys go crazy for it.

by Anonymousreply 53August 2, 2019 1:11 AM

There's a hair increasing filter? :-o

by Anonymousreply 54August 2, 2019 1:36 AM

There's only one response to shit like this: Get over yourself, dude.

by Anonymousreply 55August 2, 2019 1:45 AM

We Bought A Zoo!

by Anonymousreply 56August 2, 2019 1:46 AM

Fetishy?

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by Anonymousreply 57August 2, 2019 1:56 AM

The closer a man is to the “missing link,” the more I want to fuck him silly. You cunts can have all the shaved armpit Nancy boys to yourselves. Zero interest in the poor imitation of a woman.

by Anonymousreply 58August 2, 2019 2:02 AM

I’m naturally hairless and the poll results are disparaging. Time to Rogaine my chest and ass.

by Anonymousreply 59August 2, 2019 2:05 AM

R59 I think it only accidentally grows hair everywhere else if you are putting it on your head hoping to grow head there.

by Anonymousreply 60August 2, 2019 3:30 AM

Oh honey, you think you're a writer, keep trying.

by Anonymousreply 61August 2, 2019 3:55 AM

r36 ttbm?

by Anonymousreply 62August 2, 2019 5:21 AM

très très bien monté = very very well endowed

by Anonymousreply 63August 2, 2019 5:51 AM

I'm a guy that prefers a guy with little or no chest hair, but has a full bush and prominent happy trail.

by Anonymousreply 64August 2, 2019 6:00 AM

I couldn't read more than two sentences of that self-indulgent, "I'm-a-victim" piece.

I used to hate my body hair. I would use all those hair removal products which smelled horrible and burned my skin.

When I learned that many men liked my hairy body and didn't mind the hair at all, and in fact, were turned on by it, it helped me to embrace my body. So, fetishize my body hair all you want, it makes me feel better about myself.

by Anonymousreply 65August 2, 2019 6:11 AM

R65 agreed. Some fetishes actually help other people's self esteem in general.

by Anonymousreply 66August 2, 2019 10:47 AM

Hair should be illegal.

by Anonymousreply 67August 2, 2019 12:24 PM

Saying "queer" and "queerness" should be illegal.

by Anonymousreply 68August 2, 2019 12:44 PM

I like BENT dick. Really turns me on.

by Anonymousreply 69August 2, 2019 12:51 PM

I have it on good authority that if you’re hairy, bald and overweight, you only want it raw.

by Anonymousreply 70August 2, 2019 1:05 PM

I’m wondering if r50 is married.

Cause I’m proposing!

by Anonymousreply 71August 2, 2019 2:04 PM

He looks great in the photos,though their inclusion in the article makes him look rather silly.

by Anonymousreply 72August 2, 2019 2:09 PM

If this is what Emerson is producing as writers...

by Anonymousreply 73August 3, 2019 3:37 AM
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