Is the gay leather scene dying?--Two

Sexy. I hope not!

God, I hope so.

It looks so silly.

So much fun!!!

[quote] But predatory property developers, changing attitudes to gender and the rise of rubber threaten the scene’s existence.

Interesting comment on contemporary life, OP.

I thought rubber was for watersports?

Sexy

Please let it be true.

[quote]Please let it be true.

NEVER!

It seems dated. Who wants to look like a 70s or 80s throwback.

It is true. If it weren't, you wouldn't be asking.

I think it’s due to the demise of the working class.

Without as many blue-collar workers, nobody wears or cares about leather anymore. It makes you look like trash.

And biker culture was a Boomer thing that’s largely evaporating, too.

It's ridiculous - it's like - how can I put on the most menacing masculine costume of all time? And then they open their mouths and a pink purse falls out.

For a small part of the scene, leather is about S&M play and all that goes with it. For the vast majority, it's just an outfit they put on to feel masculine.

I've always thought it was an expression based on internalized shame and homophobia. No one thinks you're masculine by wearing it. Absolutely no one.

the pups now outnumber the leather enthusiasts

Some of the outfits are borderline Nazi looking. I don't like that look at all.

Bad boy Nazis with hot bodies are hot

Tom of Finland isn't drawing those images anymore and the Nazis and bikers who wore those uniforms are long gone, too.

Leather is sexy when models wear it.

In real life, leather is usually worn by wrinkly old men

I thought it died alone, a long long time ago.

It'll go away, and then it will come back again. I think it looks ridiculous and I feel bad for the guys who spend $150 at Mr. S. for the equivalent of a belt but there are plenty of guys who are into it.

That said, do they still use real leather for these getups? Now that fur is almost entirely taboo, it seems like leather would be next. Animal-friendly pleather doesn't sound like it carries the same macho cache.

The leather scene died when all the exclusively male gay spaces became vilified. The only bar still catering to the leather crowd in my area only does so with one night weekly, and then that night is open to all leather enthusiasts, not just gay men. Add in the "pup play" stuff, and the leather scene is reduced to just another form of cosplay.

It looks ridiculous. Especially the hats.

[quote]It looks ridiculous. Especially the hats.

Oh... I don't know....

It ended 20 years ago.

The Leatherman is still doing brisk business on Christopher Street with both the wimps AND the gimps.

I love the leather crowd, a very non-judgemental group of men. you don’t have to be a skinny Twink or. muscle queen or some thing like that. You can have a belly and still be sexy which by the way I do have a belly and I am sexy. I love it, I’m not into the hard-core stuff, fisting blood or things of that order, but at least I know when I’m too old to there’s gonna be scene for me, regardless my age or shape.

R25 mmmm, tasty

Isn't it an Eldergay jam?

It can’t be dying off, I just saw Terry Miller the other day in his full leather regalia. So it must still be a thing

Of course it's a thing for Terry, Tom of Finland pays him.

YASSSS!

Never liked it. Unless it was flawlessly done.

[quote]Of course it's a thing for Terry, Tom of Finland pays him.

Terry Miller

Terry

It's for olds so, yes.

When I was a 17 yo gayling with a fake ID, I remember being simultaneously turned on and terrified at the sight of the two leathermen in line ahead of me to enter Herbie's Ramrod Room in Boston's Fenway district circa 1971 or so. They were large and hairy and covered with animal hides from head to toe and, to my young eyes, beyond butch.

Until I got close enough to hear one telling the other how you had to chop the walnuts - but not too finely - before adding them to the banana bread batter.

Lol R46 - exactly. I never liked the play acting butch thing. SF was the epicenter of that. Now in Amsterdam and Germany you got some real butch guys in leather - that could be hot. But those days are gone. I don’t miss them. Like women wearing stripper lingerie for their husbands.

I hope so.

I had no particular view of the leather scene until asked by a dying friend to return a leather hat belonging to his estranged lover. Given the name of the venue and told tuesday’s were leather nights I turned up looking for my friend’s ex. At first a hotel full of leather men had little effect until I noticed the wash of sibilant ’S’s and sea of girly gossip. The contrast between the visuals and the ‘soundtrack’ was so odd I got the giggles just as I get the giggles when watching prissy queens trying to look butch bootscooting. In case that makes me sound like a homophobe, I’m camp as a row of pink tents myself.

R13 - I think you just spilled your lipstick and pocketbook in your lap.

Some of it can be hot, but a lot is repulsive. Not every man can carry it off

Most of the 'hot' pics in this thread are of men with great bodies, who, frankly, would look good in anything - and better in something different than leather.

You can't gauge leather by a pic of a model in leather. That's just not reality. As most of said, leather is worn by older men with lackluster bodies who put on this menacing look.

I see it as a sign of low self esteem.

I remember when I first went to Pride parades in NYC and Bostonnin the 80s, and when the leathermen groups would walk by, I was so enormously disappointed.

I was hoping for hot musclemen in leather like the ones depicted at r17 and r31, and instead they all looked like David Cross in leather at r28.

R54 - my experience exactly. Sexual acting always grates on me. Be who you are.

I will never forget being chastised at The Eagle in nyc one night by a very tall, very built German guy in leather. He was pissed at me cuz he could smell my deodorant. What the fuck. Later I saw his alpha male ass dancing to Erasure and I had to laugh.

German are/were the real deal. The only leather men who could really pull it off we’re German.

Tom of Finland and men.com are trying to bring back leather, baby! They just announced a partnership with multiple porns and they're going to have celebrities like Casey Spooner, Terry Miller and Matthew camp in the movies.

Relying on Terry Miller for advertising ?! Are they hoping to bring down the age of leather men from 80 to 60?

“When you can no longer get it up, dress up”

Casey Spooner, Terry Miller AND Matthew Camp? Such star power! Leather will be back in a big way soon, no doubt.

Fuck you, R2

When I was 20 years old I thought it was the hottest thing ever. The way the Leatherman carry themselves, their attitude, and the smells!

Now that I'm older the scene just looks silly. I just see a cosplay version of Lord Humungus from The Road Warrior!

Elements of the leather scene have leaked into the gay social scene. Seeing queens with hot pink leather harnesses are circuit parties are all the rage now. It’s ridiculous and denigrates the actual leather scene... but what are ya gonna do?

Let's get serious. The majority of leather men are old wrinkly men. Every now and then they're a young cutie, but rarely.

All the photos on this thread are models, not people in the leather world

I thought going to International Men of Leather in Chicago would be so hot until....I saw pictures of men in leather who actually attend.

They all looked so pathetically dweeby

I think it was a unique and special thing when it was done in the 70s, 80s and 90s. But it was adopted by more mainstream gays.

I still remember being at a Levis and leather place about 20 years ago. All these gruff guys, no eye contact, dimly lit room, etc. They were playing an old boombox in this space (it was a basement bar - a bigger club was upstairs). Suddenly, Cher's "Believe" came on. These formerly gruff, butch men suddenly sashayed as if the rent was past due and they were being paid to priss and sissy it up.

I just find a lot of the leather guys as sad as the bear guys. Both seem to have no identity other than the club they've joined. There's not a lot of "there" there. Give me a confident guy who's not desperate for attention, doesn't have anything to prove, and likes to have fun in leather - that sounds like a lot more fun.

[quote]The majority of leather men are old wrinkly men.

You should hope to one day become an old wrinkly man.

The guy in R80 looks like he's wearing a bustier and/or auditioning for the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The guy at R83 is what I was talking about a bit in my post.....there's the ubiquitous bear claw and "woof".....just seems so fake and forced.

The rise of rubber is killing leather?

NO!

Predatory property owners? What a dopey and misleading remark OP.

I just remember being at the Lure one Wednesday night during Pork and looking around at all the guys and I just started laughing because all the guys looked like some kind of caricature or cartoon character. The majority of the crowd at Pork on Wednesday's was hot but it did look like a cast of cartoon characters.

I think the look and feel of leather gear is hot as fuck and I like to get leathered up for sex from time to time, but I'm not into the scene at all. It's like a lot of gay cliques, if you don't know all the rules and follow everything to the letter you're shunned and I can't be bothered with that fuckery.

AIDS killed em

OP's guy is hot as hell. I want that body one way or another.

It’s just another form of drag. Expensive drag.

I wear leather every day - I ride a motorcycle - but leather queens sneer at me because my jacket is faded and I wear a reflective safety vest over it. And I’m not muscular. And I don’t have thousands of dollars to blow at Mr. S on perfect harnesses and boots and chaps.

Good for them if S&M (standing & modeling) makes them happy. Too bad so many of them are Mean Girls.

R103 - id fuck you over those “stand and model” queens any day.

I thought the leather "scene" meant S&M, not just dominant/submissive role play... but actually sadism/masochism. More than just the visual dress up, it was indicative of sexual preferences and practices. Is that not true?

Nope.

A twink who puts on a harness does not instantly become a “leather man,” any more than a lifelong Manhattanite who dons a Stetson and a pair of pointy boots becomes a “cowboy.”

sexy

The leather scene bores me. I like kinky stuff but all the get-ups are either boring or funny looking.

Kinky stuff as a whole seems to be dying out in the wake of the #MeToo movement. People are scared to explore because they don't know what they could be used against them and defined as rape in the Orwellian world of today's kangaroo court.

Soy slowly killed the leather scene

I find a leather-wearing partner very sexy in bed, but the scene is pathetic. Tons of definitions and names.

Have you seen the leather guys who go to Chicago’s IML?

Rarely is there a hot guy as seen on all the links on this thread. Most are nerds and dorks in harnesses. It’s hilarious

I recall a few years back in RI Pride parade there were the Lawn Chair Bears marching. And let's just say for a moment I kind of like the bears.

No, it's not dying. Just as there will always be drag bars, there will always be leather bars.

You'll see leather guys at pride marches and in major metropolitan areas. The leather scene will be located in the industrial and manufacturing neighborhoods of major metropolitan communities. They are located in remote areas of cities that don't typically see much business activity after sundown.

Of course, there will ALWAYS be a gay leather scene! Do you realize how many leather craftsmen will be put out of business if the gays stopped buying leather?

I hope so leather guys are nasty.

Leather should be banned, period.

R110 = Kevin Spacey. Hi, Kevin! Kinda thought you were lurking here.

[quote]Kinky stuff as a whole seems to be dying out in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

Are you high on meth?

I'll just let this sit here....

No thank you.

[quote] Is the gay leather scene dying

Yes.

This needed two threads to examine?

Pictures of porn stars in leather couldn't be further from reality

I hope not because, to me, there's nothing hotter than a hot guy in leather.

... and then she opened her mouth and her purse fell out.

Is it dead yet?

I'll never forget the time I went to Ramrod in Fort Lauderdale & two Manhattan leather queens were lecturing about no-load mutual funds to a dozen guys hanging on their every word. Utterly fucking surreal.

Then, there was the hairy fat alcoholic guy who kept getting caught sucking guys off on the back patio & didn't seem to grasp that the employees really, truly were *not* amused by his antics, and he just seemed really tragic.

Personally, I think most leather guys stink to high hell because their clothes can't be washed & end up smelling like old muddy shoes.

"Gay" culture overall is a shadow of what it once was. Marriage which normalized it, and the rise of the nonbinary etc people, which sidetracked it, have been the causes. And the internet as a way of meeting up and making connections.

Leather guys are the worst.

Apparently not as much as the trans community of color is.

Here's a piece for discussion....

Seeing shit like R140 makes me kinda hope the next asteroid doesn't miss.

It's all about the creepy "puppy" stuff now.

The pup guys are quickly approaching furry levels.

Obviously latter is for eldergays. Only works for perverts.

I think it's fucking silly. You have to wear something like that to get hard? Ridiculous. Fucking ridiculous.

Cum to me.....

Ugh...

Hot jacked muscly guys sometimes do the harness and leather jock strap because it's a way for them to showcase their bodies. It makes more sense than going out in underwear or a jock strap all the time. Most aren't really into the leather culture, they just want to wear as little as possible to the party. The actual leather scene these days is a throwback and mostly old guys who think it's someone's idea of hot.

I so hope not!

I would like to see the bloke in the R131 clip do that to a couple of people I know who are ex football firm/crime family employees. Seriously hard people don’t play dress up.

Do any of you wear leather pants? I read they are fashionable again thanks to Theresa May.

shit it died 25 yrs ago......isn't even covered in gay mags no more.

dirty stuff

[quote]isn't even covered in gay mags no more.

Gay magazines still exist? REALLY?

Sexy

^Is he waiting for the leather bus?

Meh, almost always looks costumey and desperate. No posing stereotypes, please. Much prefer a man without the pageantry. Sexy men don't need costumes.

R162 No, his pants.

We can only hope Op and that it's a quick death and also painless of course. ;-)

One thing to note is that most of the pictures posted in this thread are NOT typical of the usual leather guys. The guys in the pics are generally hot and built, whereas the majority of guys on the leather scene are not.

I'm discovering that I'm more into neoprene these days, for a number of reasons: it's not as expensive as leather, it's more comfortable to wear, it's easier to clean, it's easier to get on and off. It gives a similar 'look' as you can get leather-esque harnesses and jockstraps. I'm considering becoming vegan in the near-ish future too so the fact it's not an animal product is also appealing.

Honey it died fifty yrs ago.

And unrepresentative photos of muscle Mary's decked out in the skin dead animals is not going to bring it back...

^^^ "of dead animals"

Is that what that smell is?

their nasty bars helped foment all kinds of lethal viruses and diseases......we aint seen nuthin yet....

The only leather guys who look like that in any way shape or form are the beauty pageant contestants.

I think it’s due to the demise of a true ‘gay’ male identity (witj men BORN men) in place of Transmen or ‘sexually fluid’ Millennial and Gen X gender warriors.

oh no! Folsom is cancelled! what will the leather kinksters do?

Deargod, I hope so. Silly queens in leather drag just look so fucking dumb.

I recall years ago there was a leather and levis bar called The Yukon Trading Company in Providence, RI. I loved the place until they shut down and became a drag bar.

Property development, or redevelopment, is a fact of life. It's not as if the leather scene was particularly targeted by the real estate industry. If it had ever been extremely popular, there would have been leather bars right and left.

Just announced: the Washington DC Eagle is shuttering. Yes, it's dying.

Ahem...

Really sad about the DC Eagle, r187. Although often under subscribed it could get quite randy in there.

Feels like a phase most gay men go through in their 30’s. We work on our bodies and want to show that off. But bar culture is evaporating, so there are fewer places to wear a leather harness in public. Walking into a crowded gay bar with men of all types, including leather men, is sadly, a thing of the past. There was nothing most thrilling. But do keep your apps, I sure swiping right or left has the same excitement.

I hope it dies soon so we can bury the body and then salt the earth.

Why would wearing leather make someone feel sexy? I don’t get it.

Ask him

The leather scene in Scotland seems to be quite limited, with occasional club or pub nights in Glasgow and Edinburgh. They tend to go to a lot of events in Amsterdam and Barcelona from what I’ve been told.

Figures that whore would pop up anywhere there were cameras.