Phillip Riches shot a spandexy feature for the September 2010 Attitude. Some random photographer shot random pictures of a very muscular cyclist who forgot to take his clothes off before he showered. While which is which is obvious, the way they become better by being next to each other is more subtle. Feel free to stare.
[Phillip Riches shots via Homotography]
These shots (reproduced here by permission of the artist) are from Walter Jenkel’s 2009–2010 series “Elogio a la Pereza” (Praise to the Laziness) featuring model Toni Pinto. View the complete series on his site to see more of his exceptional awareness of light.
Jenkel plays with both overtly staged poses (such as the photo you’ll find with the model in cuffs and collar crouching by a dog bowl) and moments which seem unrehearsed, natural and unposed. Seen as a whole, this combination of posed and unposed, of eye contact and sideways looks, creates a tension for the viewer.
We may take on the role (unwillingly or willingly) of an active voyeur, feeling as if we are peeking at a young man in his private moments. But then, young men often share their private moments with the world without the unfortunate shyness that often comes with age and bad experience.
Alternately, we may take on the role of a passive witness, as if we’d heard a loud noise and turned to identify the source, only to find that same young man shouting, drinking, smoking, making a mess, tugging at his clothes, flashing his butt, flashing his smile, looking sad, looking bored, looking beautiful.
Praise to Walter Jenkel.
For men, bottomless is the new topless. Male nipple privilege is the ability to strip to the waist in public undeterred in a way females would generally not experience. Men often don’t care about being topless, or otherwise do care and wear their nudity as a suit of armor.
If people do look, we are strong and invulnerable, and even among gays, often untouchable. Even going shirtless in a gay bar does not guarantee acceptance of touch. There is a bravado in the topless male (even if purposefully submissive and seductive) however earned or not.
So fashion model (yes he’s a model star not a porn star) Hugh Plummer invites us to see bottomless as the new topless. For those of us for whom male eroticism is not exclusively genital, it would not be a shock to have bottomless males stake out their territory in public. We’re already looking at other body parts that are equally, or sometimes even more, erotic (arms, legs, chests, lips) and those are not hidden.
Bottomless males can simultaneously convey bravado and vulnerability.
I see an industry for waist ties — patterned, soft fabric expressions for that nude day at the office. I see cheek ovals — sturdy, cushioning fabric that covers only the part of the bottom that touches seating. I see gender equity in nudity. I see nudity meaning both bottomless and topless.
I see Hugh Plummer making it all okay.
If it were 70 years ago, this onesie I spotted would not make a radical statement since pink used to be seen as masculine. For a suprising history of pink, check out a Colour Lovers timeline or the article How the Colour Pink Lost Its Masculinity.
No, pink lipstick was never seen as masculine.
Some people shoot flowers. I photograph giant egos (Shatner) in miniature plastic (mass production) carefully altered by a twisted mind (friend).
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