Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, September 12, 2003 Page: 41 of 68
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"sophisticated" age.
In Ibson's words, "those photographs cap-
tured a world of feeling between men that
eventually would largely disappear from
view." In that golden age, "All-American
boys" would wrestle, skinny-dip together
and indulge in horseplay that might or might
not have had a sexual component. Today,
boys don't shower after gym class. And they
leave an empty seat between them when they
go to the multiplex together to see a movie.
Things have changed, and not for the better.
Like many non-western societies, even
today, 19th and early 20th century American
society was sexually segregated, which made
men feel more at ease with other men than
with women. As many of the photos in
Picturing Men show us, "Studio portraits of
the late 19th and early 20th centuries are fresh
reminders of how segregated by gender
American society remained during that time,
of the degree to which men and women were
often strangers to each other, inhabiting two
distinct social and cultural worlds. .. . When
it comes to nineteenth-century photographs,
clearly more emotional bliss was displayed in
those of men together than in those of men
and women."
All of this apparent innocence ended in
the 20th century when the new science of
"abnormal psychology" created a new cate-
gory of man called "the homosexual." Thus,
"a desire for same-sex activity would eventu-
ally cause a man 'to fear he was a homosexu-
al person rather than someone merely tempt-
ed to commit a sin.'"
Public affection or intimate friendships
between men ceased as men worried that
they'd be considered queer — by themselves
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In the buff: Picturing Men makes readers weep for the good ol' days.
and by others. By the 1930s, "The male ritual
of visiting the photographer together, once so
common and seemingly so full of meaning,
appears to have virtually died out."
As a social constructionist, Ibson down-
plays the existence of gay culture before 1900
and exaggerates the extent of nonsexual male
friendships in order to make his point. But
one does not have to agree with Ibson's thesis
in order to enjoy Picturing Men. The wonder-
ful photos in this book capture the variety
and vitality of male relationships in this gold-
en age, whether or not there is anything sexu-
al about them. In fact, there is nothing erotic
about these photos — except perhaps for
some of the beach shots and a 1912 photo of
the eight-man Stanford crew team, backs to
the camera, naked. More common are the
fully dressed couple or group shots of cow-
boys, miners, lumberjacks and sailors, more
comfortable with each other than with the
camera. Some of the men are dressed in busi-
ness suits, street clothes or uniforms, while
others wear fancy costumes, not excluding
drag. There are also props aplenty, such as
cigars, rifles or paper moons.
"A century of vernacular photographs
chronicles a regrettable journey for American
men, from a closeness that once was as full of
facets as#a diamond to a fear of closeness
aptly symbolized by the empty seat between
two guys in a movie theater." Though we
don't know if (non-gay) men will ever be as
comfortable with each other as they once
were, we can look back and appreciate these
remnants of a time when American male inti-
macy was more socially acceptable. ▼
— Jesse Monteagudo
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Call our Community Representatives today!
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Reatha Haly, 214.904.3326
Bernadette Vega, 214.904.3230
Jack Averitt, 214.904.3226
James Parker, 214.904.3247
DALLAS VOICE
SEPTEMBER 12, 2003
41
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Vercher, Dennis. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 20, Ed. 1 Friday, September 12, 2003, newspaper, September 12, 2003; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth616336/m1/41/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.