When the bears arrive, all that unease evaporates. But the perfect torsos, testosteroned rivalry, crystal-nerves and endless egg-whites all make for a somewhat overwrought time. To give one example: We have what the locals call "Circuit Week" over July 4 when all the party boys and drug addicts show up to take drugs, dance and drink bottled water for days on end. This came home to me this year in Provincetown, because in a gay resort town in the summer, you get to see the various sub-subcultures intermingle or follow one another. But somehow it makes sense.) The sexual tension isn't that tense, because the sexual imperative is less present than in other gay subcultures.
![dom bear straight gay videos dom bear straight gay videos](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Rb6f1A0MvJ0/TpTbtHQ4VXI/AAAAAAAADB8/P9raN6S8QVY/s512/karate%252520%252528134%252529.jpg)
If a bear sees another hot-looking bear, his most likely expression will be the one word: "Woof." (Yes, I know that sounds like a dog. They're flirtatious in a non-imposing kind of way. They're friendly - more Yogi than "Bears Gone Wild." They're mellow. Nature's narcotic.īears are known secondly for their attitude. One mode of interaction is the occasional sniff of each others' armpits. They don't know what cologne is and they tend not to wear deodorant. Bears at their most typical look like regular, beer-drinking, unkempt men in their 30s, 40s and 50s. A townie friend of mine suggested making T-shirts for the week, with the slogan "Fat Is The New Black." But obesity, while not unknown, is not that widespread. Yes, I know that might come off as a bit of a euphemism. The Ur-bears have bushy beards that meander down their necks and merge with a large forest of chest and back-hair to provide a sort of all-hair body environment. Of all the various characteristics of Beardom, this seems to be one of the most essential. "Bears" almost all have facial hair - the more the better. Perhaps the most obvious place to start is physical appearance. From a bunch of heavy, hairy fellas getting together casually, it's now a full-scale phenom, with "American Bear" magazine, a "bear flag," bear conferences, a "Bear Book," "Bearotica," and on and on. So here's my own idiosyncratic, CIA-unapproved take on what this new and obviously growing phenomenon in the gay sub-subculture amounts to.īearism grew up in San Francisco at places like the revived Lone Star bar in the early 1990s and has metastasized since.
![dom bear straight gay videos dom bear straight gay videos](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/news/2022/06/16/TELEMMGLPICT000299839393_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bqtw9CKHN4xyWkWwTWUQiRJ1pemit_zEYGhfpLIBeU7ao.jpeg)
![dom bear straight gay videos dom bear straight gay videos](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QAKhWHwGeCA/TI3kGjAbK_I/AAAAAAAAGA8/aWdkL1fh8QI/s512/PICT0847.jpg)
But my, er, gut tells me it's, er, a big deal. Quite what it means for the future of gay America is another thing entirely. And almost every bear and bear-admirer I asked during the festivities came up with different analyses of what it is or might be to be a "bear." But no one can deny that bears are one of the fastest growing new subcultures in gay America - and that their emergence from the forests into the sunlight is culturally fascinating. Part of being a bear is not taking being a bear too seriously. Bear Week? Well, where do I begin? Every time I try and write a semi-serious sociological assessment of the phenomenon, I find myself erasing large amounts of text. "It's so fucking hot." Then he reached over and rubbed. "You know what I think is so fucking hot about you?" he ventured. But it was five minutes to closing and this was Provincetown in July. A burly, stubbled, broad-shouldered man, who could barely keep tufts of hair from sprouting from under his T-shirt corners, leered at me across the bar.