What do you make of this?

[LetsPOZBreed]

I think there's always been those in our community that are a bit scared of the whole leather/rubber thing.  They don't understand it, and don't want to understand it.  There are those in our community that turn their noses at any kind of fetish (including those that don't involve gear at all).  I also don't think this type of judgement is anything recent; though you're prob more apt to hear it said out loud in a public forum (as you did).  

I get them not wanting to go because it'll be incredibly busy; I don't get this whole polishing a turd thing.  Are they implying that those in leather are somehow doing this to mask imperfections?  Do they believe it's the only way those guys would get any action?  Honestly, I haven't really done the leather and rubber thing...but I've never passed judgement on it; I have close friends who are into it, and they're perfectly happy doing so.  Far be it from me to tell anyone how to enjoy their sexuality.  

[AlwaysOpen]

Well, one thing that I have not noticed addressed here- we are ALL, gay, straight, any race, etc indoctrinated into  this type of social pecking order from a very young age. The poor kid in kindergarten who peed his/her pants was made fun of or avoided. The kid in 3rd grade who wore the same shirt and pants all week. Any gym class was pure hell from 1st grade right thru graduating school.(talk about pecking order- how about the dividing up of the gym class for 2 teams- and the desperation on the faces of the kids as the remaining ones standing there got down to the last 2 or 3 and the silent prayers of" don't let me be the last picked.." ) It was subtle, ingrained into our being as we developed. And through experience, I believe everyone learned a survival skill was to not be the one being made fun of as much as possible. Try to be with the group who seemed to direct the humiliation, try to blend in and not be a target for their barbs. Even launch a few of those barbs at  others to "prove" you were one of the "right group".  Sure made hiding your sexuality a little easier if you didn't stand out like a sore thumb.Or a bad home life, or sexual abuse, or,.. you get the idea.

Yes, it sucks we do it within our tribe of "gay", but it is no different from the 2 matronly women on the same subway car tsk tsk'ing the woman wearing a dress too tight or short or dated. I think back centuries ago when I was a kid and the Saturday morning cartoons had the 2 overly polite and courteous chipmunks Chip and Dale, who always were falling over each other trying to be nicer,kinder than the other one. Back then it was just another cartoon filling in a gap until the Roadrunner and coyote did battle with each other, or Bugs Bunny out witted Elmer Fudd. Now I realize it was a morality lesson hidden as a cartoon, that it seems had little to no effect on the kids. 

 

[fskn]

@AlwaysOpen, you make a good observation about human behavior. I think it's similar to what I was saying: equality means we're realizing that gay people are just like everyone else, (occasional) meanness included.

I wonder, though, whether putting other people down to make ourselves feel better is an inherent human trait (and possibly even an inherent animal trait, though in animals, the pecking order is established unconsciously: the alpha wolf dominates the pack, the bird with the prettiest feathers wins the mate, etc.).

Either way, there is a lot we could do reduce this behavior. Teaching people that social group interactions are not a zero-sum game would help. Why on earth do some attractive people assume that considering other people attractive, too, will somehow diminish their own status?

20 minutes ago, AlwaysOpen said:

I think back centuries ago when I was a kid and the Saturday morning cartoons had the 2 overly polite and courteous chipmunks Chip and Dale, who always were falling over each other trying to be nicer,kinder than the other one. Back then it was just another cartoon filling in a gap until the Roadrunner and coyote did battle with each other, or Bugs Bunny out witted Elmer Fudd. Now I realize it was a morality lesson hidden as a cartoon, that it seems had little to no effect on the kids.

Have you seen the cartoon violence episode of the Simpsons? (The official episode title was "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge".) Due to Marge's complaint, the kids' cartoon show is rewritten so that the cat and mouse are best friends for a week. They drink homemade lemonade on the porch, sit in the rocking chair, waltz to Big Band tunes, and read each other bedtime stories. The only problem is that the children stop watching, because they prefer to see the cat and mouse being mean to each other.

[funpozbottom]

10 hours ago, hntnhole said:

Well, we gotta wear something ...... jeans and a T-shirt aren't a "costume" - they keep us outta the clink ......

We wear clothing to protect us from the elements and self/socially imposed modesty.  To that extent, Yes, we need to wear something.  But when you buy a particular brand or style of clothing for it's "fashion", then you have take your attire beyond it's necessary function. While there is a small semantic difference, costume is just another word for fashion. Fashion usually refers to current trends and costume is used for pretty much everything else, however, since trends change so frequently, today's fashion could be tomorrow's costume -- and visa versa.

The point that I was trying to make is that, the fashion police don't need to be called out just because someone is dressed differently -- especially when you're talking about what someone wears to a sex club.

 

9 hours ago, AlwaysOpen said:

 I think back centuries ago when I was a kid and the Saturday morning cartoons had the 2 overly polite and courteous chipmunks Chip and Dale, who always were falling over each other trying to be nicer,kinder than the other one. 

Chip and Dale were two of my favorite cartoon characters. There was something about those two living together that I found ... intriguing.

 

 

[hntnhole]

I remember Chip & Dale too .... but my favorite was Sky King, racing around the countryside in that '59 Buick Estate Wagon - chasing down bad guys in the Songbird !!!

As to "fashion", I've never paid attention to it.  Since I don't see colors all that well, that may be part of it.  I remember when I was a kid, my mother would lay out clothes that "matched" in colors.  She said that the girls would laugh at me if the colors "clashed" - and I couldn't care less if the colors clashed and the cuntlets laughed.   All I care is that I'm legally "dressed", and not caught when I'm not ....