Muscle Boys

Gay Gym Culture

Erick Alvarez

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781135275600
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Sciences sociales
• Subtopic: Études LGBT

What was once a lifestyle for a small number of gay men in big cities has become a way of life for many, and the gay gym is now a culture on its own. Muscle Boys: Gay Gym Culture explores the evolution and current structure of this gay subculture that surfaced in San Francisco, West Hollywood, and New York during the 1970s.

Covering ancient Greek gymnasium culture, modern bodybuilding practices, and homoerotic muscle-bound media, Muscles Boys examines the origins of the male athletic ideal. A sociological investigation on masculinity, fitness, HIV, steroids, and sex in the locker room, Muscle Boys dissects the gay gym experience, and celebrates gay body culture and its role in modern gay life.

Author Erick Alvarez offers a candid study of the gay gym from his perspective as a physical trainer in the San Francisco Bay area, and from his interviews and online surveys of nearly 6, 000 gay men. Muscle Boys: Gay Gym Culture is an enlightening read for anyone interested in gay body culture, and a valuable resource for academics working in GLBT studies, human sexuality, psychology, or athletics.

Chapter 1
Gay Gym Culture

This book started as a study of the gay gym, that cultural phenomenon and, until recently, somewhat obscure social institution that first surfaced during the 1970s in the gay ghettos of San Francisco, West Hollywood, and New York. But as I started consulting references and interviewing gay men at gay gyms, I had some important realizations: One, there is a startling number of gay men who are sharing a lifestyle; that it is them who make the gym gay; and, that over the past three decades, they have created a subculture all of their own. Two, in comparing one gay gym with another, even within the same city, the dynamics of one gay gym can be dramatically different from the others’ depending on the demographics of each particular one (younger men, older men, bears, circuit boys, etc). Third, and most important, that far away from the gay ghettos, in every American city, suburb, and rural area, as well as abroad, gay men of every age, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status are living and practicing the lifestyle established by the gay gym and revolving around new norms in terms of aesthetics, body image, self-image, athletics, socialization, and, most important, interpersonal relationships. Because of these realizations, the book shifted its focus from the gym to the gay men who go to the gym and the social ethos that brings them together. These men are better described by the popular jargon used today: muscle boys.

In less than two decades, the physical and social trends of the gay gym have propagated far from the gay ghettos of San Francisco and New York; this is largely due to travel habits of modern gay men and the use of the Internet. The culture of the gay gym has been globalized. What had once been the domain of a small number of trendy gay men in urban enclaves is now a lifestyle for many gay men—urban, suburban, and rural. The gay gym has become a cultural trend, a sub culture all on its own. This subculture—gay gym culture—is what this book is about.

The body culture of the gay gym—identified by a focus on a built muscular body—is most present in media, but it has come to affect gay life in many ways, from the way we identify and describe ourselves to the way we meet for sex, dating, or more serious relationships. Simply browsing at the personal ads on any popular gay Web site is case in point that lifestyles built around working out and the gym are used not just to describe an increasing number of gay men, but desired and sometimes required from their potential partners and friends.

In the most basic socialization between gay men, the longstanding “What do you do?” has been replaced by “Where do you work out?” From mating to entertainment, gay gym culture has become such a powerful and influential ethos that unless you isolate yourself from gay life it affects you one way or another. Whether you are twenty-two or forty-nine, and whether you are a self-described gym rat or you have never set foot in a gym, if you are a gay or bisexual man living today, then this book is also about you.

In this chapter we will take a look at the demographic that makes up modern gay gym culture and discuss its stereotypes and ideals. We will look at Western history, dating back to the Greeks, to find out where gay gym culture came from, because in examining how a subculture emerged and evolved in the first place we get more than statistics—we begin to understand it. Last, I will discuss the most visible product of the gay gym—the gym-built body—and the role that it plays in modern gay society.

WHAT IS GAY GYM CULTURE?

Gay gym culture is somewhat confusing because the entire genre often gets categorized under one group as if it was made up entirely of an identical set of men. Yet my research shows that it is made up of a diverse group of men: the gym and issues associated with it can represent very different things. For this reason I have identified the six principal subgroups that make up gym culture today:

1. The Muscle Boy—This is the largest group within gay gym culture; it is made up of eighteen-year-olds to men in their forties who do not strongly identify with some of the other subcultures of the gym such as the circuit or bear culture.

2. The Older Male—The forty-plus group is largely made up by gay Baby Boomers, many of whom have been active at the gym for years and even decades. For this group, health is becoming the number-one reason for participation in the gym, with socialization and aesthetics coming in second and third.

3. The Poz Jock—This group is made up HlV-positive men who use the gym and exercise as an important aspect of managing HIV and AIDS. Bodybuilders by default, this group has been very influential in introducing steroids into gym culture and determining current standards of musculature and definition for the male body.

4. The Athlete—Sports men and jocks make up this group. For these men, the gym is an extension of their sport, a cross-training tool. This group is largely made up of noncompetitive, recreational athletes, and sometimes includes elite and professional athletes.

5. The Circuit Boy—Party boys and men make up this group. They train hard to meet the standards of the circuit and have the strength and endurance to party all weekend. A cosmetic athlete, the circuit boy is for the most part influenced by the high beauty standards and aesthetics of the circuit and gay urban nightlife.

6. The Muscle Bear—One of the newest additions and fastest-growing groups within gym culture. Big, burly, and strong as hell, these unconventional guys are not concerned with looking pretty. Real men, they say, look buff, hairy, and rugged.

Why It Matters

Gay gym culture is present in just about every aspect of gay media and gay life. Open up a magazine, watch any of the gay-themed television shows, or attend a gay social event, and the product of the gay gym—the gym-built body—is there to remind you.

Browse through the personals ads online or any gay newspaper or magazine and you will find only a few out of thousands that do not use the parameters and ideals of the gay gym to describe their body types. Interests based on particular body types, fitness-related life-styles, and gym-related social activities, all associated with gym culture, often determine what it is that gay men today are looking for in a potential mate. In short, gay gym culture has become a very influential part of modern gay identity.

In this book I will candidly examine just how much the ideals set forth by the gay gym affect the many aspects of modern gay cultural life and in doing so discuss the following questions:

• Why do we go to the gym?

• How is the gym connected to modern gay socialization?

• How does gay gym culture influence self-esteem?

• How does body image affect sex, dating, and relationships?

• What is the connection between masculinity and muscles?

• Is the gay athlete a new phenomenon, or is he just out of the closet?

• How does the party scene and circuit culture shape our ideals about body image?

• What is the role of the gym in the aging process for older gay men?

• Why are gay men using steroids? How did the trend start?

• What is the role of the media and the porn star in our standards, fantasies, and ideals?

• Why does the locker room generate much controversy, anxiety, and excitement among gay men?

Gay gym culture carries a lot of weight (not just literally) because it is establishing a social structure and hierarchy, and gay men are increasingly using the parameters of gym culture to identify socially. Our identification within these groups comes quite close to the heart, affecting and—to a large extent—deciding our choices for friends, sex partners, dates, and even life partners. When it comes to socializing, the gym and our relationships to our bodies are equally as important—if not more so—as socio-economic status or education level.

Methods Used

I first surveyed and interviewed 200 gay and bisexual men in San Francisco at the various gay and gay-trafficked gyms. Respondents came in all shapes and sizes, races, ethnicities, and across the socio-economic stratum. They were Asian, white, Latino, African American, and every mix in between. They came young and old, and included those with a high school education and those with PhDs. Some identify as bears or athletes, others as circuit boys, some have been working out for thirty days and others for thirty years.

The demographics of the respondents were so diverse that I became interested in expanding my research outside of San Francisco. With the help of Andy Wysocki and Bill Sanderson, publishers of two of the most popular muscle-bound Web destinations in the world (bigmuscle.com and bigmusclebear.com), I conducted an online survey. Andy and Bill posted information about my research for this book with a link to the survey on both Web sites making it available to the combined 40,000 members (at the time) of bigmuscle.com and bigmusclebear.com. Members of both Web sites were given the option to take the survey anonymously; I explained in a disclaimer that their answers and information obtained would, in part or whole, be published in this book.*

The results were overwhelming. Five thousand five hundred and seventy six gay and bisexual men around the world took part in the survey. Respondents were as young as fifteen and as old as seventy-nine, and they came from as far north as Iceland and as far south as Argentina, and from as Westernized-as-it-gets Los Angeles and Dallas to cities such as Kuala Lumpur and Dubai—they hailed from a total of sixty-five different countries. Crawfish farmers and opera conductors alike shared their feelings, experiences, thoughts, and concerns about the issues this book discusses, from body image and steroids to sports and sex in the locker room.

In addition to the data that surveys and interviews can provide, my professional life for a period of twelve years took place at the center of gay gym culture. From 1992 to 2005, I worked as a personal trainer at gay gyms throughout San Francisco. During this period I closely worked with and trained hundreds of gay men, while meeting thousands more. Some of these interactions lasted a few minutes, and others a few years, and in the process I’ve come to learn and understand what gay gym culture is and what drives the muscle boys. I present to you over a decade of observation and thought, an intimate insider’s account of what gay gym culture and muscle boys are all about.

*To ensure accuracy, the survey was conducted utilizing surveymonkey.com software. The survey was posted on bigmuscle.com and bigmusclebear.com. When a member took the survey, the member was directed to the surveymonkey.com Web site. Members of both Web sites have to be registered with valid e-mail addresses to avoid “bogus” takers.

STEREOTYPES

In each of the chapters in this book that covers a particular subgroup of gay men, I discuss the gym and the reasons that this distinct group involves itself with the gym. Although I will explain the general aspects of a given group and even though most of us have a tendency to attach a person to a group or to a stereotype, it should be made clear that because it is also in our nature to be multifaceted, many of us oscillate between groups and subcultures. However, because every group within gym culture has a stereotype attached to it, let’s look at what this means.

Humans are social animals; as far back as we know we have lived and traveled in herds. It is our nature to gravitate toward groups of those that are like us, and, in the process, we get stereotyped as representative of that group. Stereotypes are more than a hypothetical representation of a set of rules and norms; they are the generalized version of these rules and norms. Stereotypes are largely a mental picture of what other people are like.

In the gay community, most of the subcultures seem to have a body type attached (i.e., jock, bear, muscle boy, leather man, circuit-boy, twink, etc.). It is interesting to ponder to what extent our body types determine the social circumstances we will end up in. How much does our physique open doors, and how much does it close them? An entire generation of young gay men is growing up and socializing based on how they are built and what they look like, and this will, no doubt, have a weighty effect on the future of gay culture. Avoiding stereotypes does not help us overcome them; understanding them does.

With this in mind, in this book we will discuss the muscle boy stereotypes and subcultures for what they are, not because they are good or bad. Yet in fully understanding them, we will also discuss the perceptions, negative and positive, associated with each. For this reason I invite you to also look at these subgroups as stages in a person’s life. The muscle boy will be part of that group only as long as he is of a specific age, the circuit boy will be part of that group as long as his ideals represent those of the circuit, and the athlete only when his lif...