THE WHY NOT – Victor J. Banks’s scorching excursion through the gay world of the lost and the not-so-sure…
This is the cover of a gay pulp novel. How do I know it’s got gay subject matter? Maybe the lavender background with pink lettering gave it away! Well, I’m often lost and not-so-sure, but there’s one thing I am sure of – those green top-siders are FABulous!
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Yeah, campy humor, I know. But when you’re leaning on an antique wood burning stove getting your ass probed, clever lines escape me.
This is another set of photos from a magazine I just scanned and added to the VIP Room called “No Holes Barred”. Sign up now to see the rest.
When I first started working in porn, my mentor told me some good advice, “Never let guys dance in gay porn.” When I first saw that shot of the skinny boy in a striped bikini bottom from a 1965 gay porn magazine, it reminded me of that sage advice, because he certainly was right! It’s not sexy, but it was pretty daring to try it.
My second impression of this photo was that it looks a lot like Olympic skater Johnny Weir, another example of someone who loves to take risks.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE VINTAGE GAY PORN AND NO JOHNNY WEIR
I use the term “clone” on Vintage Bareback often to describe a style adopted by gay men in the 1970’s, but it’s a term that is now foreign to younger gays. Finally, a visual aid has surfaced that accurately depicts the uniform of a “gay clone” and distinguished it from the “gay jock” look.
I hope this is informative! Please bookmark this page for future reference.
“The men on this site are ever so groovy, it’s like a gift! Is it my birthday?”
Maybe I’m the only one who notices these things (or cares) but part of the fun of collecting vintage gay porn is spotting things in the background. No Holes Barred is a magazine with a photo set that looks very familiar. I’ve seen that same plaid couch a couple times, and maybe even recognize one of the models, but there is no indication anywhere who shot it or where the location was.
I picked these two examples of things in the background most people would miss. First is the poster on the wall of Senator George McGovern. He was a Democratic presidential candidate in 1972 (lost to Richard Nixon) and somewhat of a liberal because he was against the Vietnam War. The youth backed him because they didn’t want to get drafted, so that’s why it was common to have his poster on the wall.
The other interesting thing you might miss in the second photo was the shoes. I had a pair of shoes exactly like those in 11th grade, and it wasn’t till I went on the Senior Class Trip to New York that I was able to find platform shoes with higher heels. Around the time these photos were taken, the really tall platform shoes for men were only worn by rock stars because they had to get them custom made. I was so proud to have the highest pair of platforms in my school that fall!
So what about the sex in this magazine? As the title suggests, it’s “No Holes Barred”! If you like penetration shots, this magazine has a lot of them. Join the VIP Room to see the set.
“In fashion, one day you’re in, the next day you’re out.”
Part Two of my analysis of a new magazine I added to the VIP Room, “Muscleboy” from 1965 deals with the sociological aspects of some of the first emergence of gay identified fashion in magazines. Though this magazine was clearly geared to be the porn of it’s day (and really tame by today’s standards) it was a breakthrough to do a fashion spread (or editorial) with photos of obviously gay models wearing clothing that could purchased from an actual brick and mortar store. Again, this is from 1965, the era portrayed in Mad Men, when men’s fashion was very strict. To us, the clothes look goofy, but back then they must have thought they were from Mars!
The store was called “Town Squire” at 1318 Polk Street in San Francisco, the center of what was the gay neighborhood at that time. Just the fact that a store existed that openly catered to gay men is astounding. Innocent as it sounds, it was actually daring to put an address for such a business in print in a magazine like this during a period when employers and the government actually conducted witch hunts to find suspected homosexuals. And here’s an address where you could find them shopping!
And on a slightly related note, the blond guy in the fashion spreads also did some shots without wearing any fashionable clothes – or anything at all, as you can see below. Those eyes are some of the most seductive I’ve ever seen. Other than being adorable, I added this last photo as an example of what might have been defined as “glamor” to a young homosexual during the mid-60’s. Can you now see where Liberace got his taste?
This may sound marginally creepy, but I was instantly turned on by the title “Muscleboy” Magazine and couldn’t wait for it to arrive. Turns out it was an early attempt at being a gay lifestyle magazine much like “OUT” Magazine today. Along with softcore pretty boy posing, it had articles, advertising and fashion spreads featuring clothes from a gay store on Polk Street in San Francisco.
There are so many interesting tidbits to say about this magazine, both erotically and culturally, but I’ll start with an observation that covers both. As I paged through the magazine for the first time, I noticed several pages were “enhanced”. My guess is that the original owner of this magazine was so starved for nudity and hardcore material that he drew penises on many of the pictures! Other times, his technique was to use an eraser to create outlines of where a hard cock would bulge in a pair of pants.This magazine must have been quite well-loved, and since it is from 1965, there really wasn’t much else to be found. The enhanced photo above is a good example. He added a big, fat cock where only a white posing strap existed, drew star bursts from the nipples, added hoop earrings, and some sort of whiskers or something. And if you look closely, there is even a man’s hand reaching out to grab that big dick, and rough outlines of a rope tying his wrists together.
At first I was disappointed that I purchased a magazine that wasn’t in pristine condition, but after I thought about it, I think it’s even more of a relic with the added enhancements, and there is a bit of artistic flair, too. Style points awarded.
I’m going to show some examples of other interesting observations from completely different perspectives in the coming days, but why wait? Just go get a VIP Membership and look at the 72 pictures I scanned from “Muscleboy” right now!
I got these magazines in the mail a few weeks ago and I wanted to give you a little heads-up of what’s coming to Vintage Bareback because they are so cool.
Young Physique Magazine was produced by Joe Weider, the same publisher that still puts out Muscle and Fitness Magazine (you know, the one you always stare at in the supermarket line…). But back before Weider was legit, he put out magazines that were essentially softcore gay porn. These two were from 1960 and 1961 and featured sample photos of guys dabbling in the early days of gay porn like Athletic Model Guild, Vulcan Studio, Western Photography Guild, Milo, and Bruce of Los Angeles.
When you think of Weider and M&F Magazine, you think of giant steroid bodybuilders, but the models at that time were definitely more boyish, er, make that porn-ish! Most of the poses were nude but with the dicks discreetly covered and not-so discreetly homoerotic. There were some ads for bodybuilding related products like vitamins and barbells (that shipped from Weider’s own warehouse) but most of the ads were for photo sets from the aforementioned photographers.
I haven’t scanned these particular magazines yet, but they are so outstanding and rare that I wanted to give you a little tease to join so you can marvel at the thousands of pages of vintage gay porn magazines I have already added to the VIP Room. And stay tuned, there is lots more to come!
This website got a good review from Gay Demon! Vintage Bareback was rated 6 out of 10, which doesn’t sound that great, but based on the fact that most other sites are also rated 5,6,or 7 it’s pretty damn good! I have yet to see a single gay porn site rated 10 on Gay Demon, and only two or three rated 9.
Click the link and read the review for yourself, I think it will convince to become a VIP Member!
