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Olympia finalist Bob Paris, “The myth that all bodybuilders were gay caused great psychic unrest among the straight men who ran the sport, great strivings to prove what a wholesome heterosexual pastime it was.”
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To the contrary, suggestions of homo-eroticism were met with over-the-top displays of masculinity.Īccording to openly gay bodybuilder and Mr. Yet rarely were these matters acknowledged. You could say the lines between bodybuilding and gay culture have always been blurry, even sordid, with bodybuilders participating in gay pornography or engaging in “gay for pay” (selling sexual favors), all which remain prevalent today. Publishing giant Joe Weider launched similar gay-themed magazines like Adonis and Body Beautiful as direct competition. The “come hither” men’s magazines of that era, like Irvin Johnson’s Tomorrow Man (which was small enough to discreetly fit into a jacket pocket) clearly targeted a gay audience with photos that were more about homo-eroticism than athleticism.Īnd its popularity didn’t go unnoticed by the mainstream muscle mag. I’m a bodybuilder so I come by it honestly, as the bodybuilding and gay communities have rubbed shoulders since the days of Eugen Sandow.Ī family-friendly version of bodybuilding’s history starts with the physical fitness boom of the 1940’s-50s, when strapping young men (and women) would perform feats of strength and athleticism on the sun-drenched beaches of southern California.īut a less talked about version dates back even earlier and is closely linked to underground gay subculture.
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A seemingly straight fitness guy pandering to the LGBTQ community for likes or shares or some other meaningless online currency.