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With the exception of the urbane archetype, each prototype has its roots in cultural myths which may be construed as exclusively male. The other three have social applications in the gay lifestyle. The classical and natural have no counterpart in reality because they lack symbolic elements which can be adapted to contemporary dress. The least complex, the classical and natural, are purely pictorial and exist primarily as myth structures in gay magazines, and more recently in ‘art photography’. Five basic archetypal images can be identified: classical, natural, western, urbane, and leather. The adapted items are essentially neutral in the culture at large, but form a style within the gay culture. Gay Prototype, the cowboy Contemporary adaptation, flannel shirts, jeans, short hair. Within the gay community certain characteristics of the fantasy have been adopted as fashion, thereby creating a ‘gay look’, i.e.
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In gay magazines men are pictured in situations which were initially inspired by established male fantasies. First, the male fantasy archetypal gay images as they appear in both the gay media and gay urban enclaves second, the invention of a semiotic mode within the gay community.ĪRCHETYPAL IMAGES: Like the straight culture, gay culture has evolved a set of public, sexual prototypes. Two aspects of gay culture are analyzed here. For the purposes of this essay I have observed the gay enclaves of San Francisco and examined nationally distributed gay magazines. If research into gay iconography has been conducted, it has largely gone unnoticed. Unfortunately, until recently gay culture has suffered from a scholarly stigma. And since gay men needed a method to communicate sexual preferences, a sexual semiotic was developed. Long before the current women’s journals began picturing naked men as sex objects, gay magazines were exploring aspects of male eroticism. The gay culture’s new visibility has exposed a subculture developing its own myths, cultural heroes, stereotypes and sign language (semiotic). Furthermore, the earring or stud is often adopted by non-homosexual men, thus making the earring the most subtle of homosexual signifiers. Unlike the other signifiers, however, Right/Left placement of the earring is not always indicative of Passive/Active tendencies on the part of the wearer. Conversely, an earring in the left lobe may signify active behavior on the part of the wearer. Keys are also worn by janitors, laborers and other workers with no sexual significance intended.Īn earring in the right lobe may suggest that the wearer prefers to play the passive role during sexual activity. Conversely, keys placed on the left side of the body signify that the wearer expects to assume a dominant position. A key chain worn on the right side of the body indicates that the wearer desires to play a passive role during a sexual encounter. Keys are an understood signifier for homosexual activity. Red handkerchiefs are also employed in the treatment of nasal discharge and in some cases may have no significance in regard to sexual contact. A red handkerchief placed in the left hip pocket suggests that the wearer plays the active role in anal/hand insertion. A red handkerchief located in the right hip pocket implies that the wearer takes the passive role in anal/hand insertion. Red handkerchiefs are used as signifiers for behavior that is often regarded as deviant or abnormal. The blue handkerchief is commonly used in the treatment of nasal congestion and in some cases holds no meaning in regard to sexual preferences.
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Conversely, a blue handkerchief placed in the left hip pocket indicates that the wearer will assume the active or traditional male role during sexual contact. A blue handkerchief placed in the right hip pocket serves notice that the wearer desires to play the passive role during sexual intercourse. Handkerchiefs signify behavioral tendencies through both color and placement.