{"id":488,"date":"2018-06-22T04:00:55","date_gmt":"2018-06-22T04:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/?p=488"},"modified":"2018-09-28T01:16:27","modified_gmt":"2018-09-28T01:16:27","slug":"grrrr-the-bear-flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/grrrr-the-bear-flag\/","title":{"rendered":"Grrrr – The Bear Flag"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, I know, I said in the last post that we were working on all of the state flags of the United States in order of admission to the Union, and well, this isn’t a state flag.\u00a0 And no, I am not referring to the Bear Flag of California.\u00a0 We did that in a earlier post which will make it awkward when we get to that spot in the admission to the Union order.\u00a0 But we’ll deal with it another day.<\/p>\n

This flag is the identifying flag of the gay male subculture identified as Bears.<\/p>\n

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Bear Flag on Our Flagpole<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, a reasonable question is: What is a Bear?<\/p>\n

In the beginning, in San Francisco in the 1970s, a “bear” was any man with body hair, usually more rather than less.\u00a0 However, over time, the term can to be more inclusive and was understood to include men of size, hairy or not, and men who outwardly appeared and acted very masculine, or butch.\u00a0 By 1987 there was a magazine dedicated to the subculture and its admirers, named, appropriately enough, Bear Magazine.<\/p>\n

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Bear Magazine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A noted American gay commentator, author, and professor, Jack Fritscher, has noted that bears celebrate “secondary sexual characteristics of the male: facial hair, body hair, proportional size, baldness”.<\/p>\n

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International Bear Rendezvous San Francisco 2007<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, although the bear culture movement originally emphasized inclusiveness and a welcome to all attitude, over time, as seems to happen to cultural movements, bear subculture developed cliques and groups within the larger movement.\u00a0 One of the most noted subgroups is the “musclebear” group of men who exhibit the characteristics of body hair and masculinity, but who are also well muscled, in contrast to many of the earlier “bears.”<\/p>\n

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MuscleBear<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These men may, or may not, be welcoming of others who do not fit their definition of social and sexual appropriateness.<\/p>\n

There is also concern among some about a lack of diversity in the bear movement since an emphasis on body hair tends to have the effect of limiting group membership to men of European or Middle Eastern descent while excluding other less hirsute ethnicities such as African and Asian men.<\/p>\n

That said, the bear subculture is a worldwide movement with events and clubs taking place and existing throughout the United States,<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Europe,<\/p>\n

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Bears in Madrid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Australia,<\/p>\n

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Melbourne Australia Bears<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

and Latin America.<\/p>\n

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Mexico City Bears<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am saddened but not surprised by the rifts in the bear community based on body size and muscularity.\u00a0 Gay male subculture in general places enormous pressures on its members to conform to often absurdly strict and unrealistic body types and shapes.\u00a0 And these expectations change over time.\u00a0 In the 1970s, the “straight trade” look of blue jeans, plaid shirts, naturally thin or muscular bodies, and mustaches was required to be considered top tier.\u00a0 By the 1980s the ideal had shifted to young, bronzed, slender, and blonde without a trace of body hair, an effect that can be achieved with a razor and hair dye, while the opposite cannot.\u00a0 By the 1990s, the trend toward bigger muscles started to occur and continues to this day although now we have swung back around in time such that facial and body hair, along with muscles and more muscles, are very much “in” which grossly disadvantages men who are not naturally hairy since you can’t reverse razor hair on to your body.\u00a0 I support anyone finding whatever they want, provided it isn’t harmful to self or others, attractive, but I start to get annoyed when those preferences turn into a value assessment of the person who does, or does not, possess those said characteristics.\u00a0 We’re all human, we all have feelings, and we all want to feel wanted.\u00a0 Being dismissive or rude it never attractive.<\/p>\n

Muscles, regardless of body hair, continue to remain supreme such that gay men report one of the highest incidences of body dysmorphia<\/a>, eating disorders<\/a>, and exercise related injuries among all groups, including women and teenage girls.\u00a0 I think this one shirt sums it all up nicely:<\/p>\n

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T-Shirt Sums It Up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As much as LGBTQ people are judged, shamed, and discriminated against by those outside of the subculture, the truth remains that we are our own worst enemies much of the time<\/p>\n

As but one example, my trainer at the gym (I hear the irony but my interest is in improved overall health and mobility, not social conformity since my social groups are generally aged out of body consciousness) is constantly self critical because he is “too short” or he isn’t “working his legs enough,” or he is losing his hair, as if any of these things would reduce his value as a kind and loving person, which I know him to be.<\/p>\n

Suffice it to say, that while not NBA material, my trainer is not abnormally short and even though he is shorter in stature than many men, his incredibly muscular, obviously so, body shape should compensate, and yet it doesn’t.\u00a0 When I was younger I tried very hard to conform, but a combination of genetics and overall health meant that I would never achieve the ideal and I had to learn to live with that.\u00a0 To some extent, and to the degree that I identify with any group, I find a bear mind-set attractive.<\/p>\n

Enough ranting, on to the flag!<\/p>\n

The Bear Flag, formally known as The International Bear Brotherhood Flag was designed to represent the bear subculture within the LGBT community.\u00a0 It is said by some authorities that the color of the flag, dark brown, orange\/rust, golden yellow, tan, white, gray, and black were meant to represent the colors of all the furs of animal bears throughout the world.\u00a0 While not necessarily meant to represent skin or hair tones, some commentators interpret it as such, and perhaps that serves to increase the message of inclusion which is to be applauded and celebrated even if it wasn’t the original intent.<\/p>\n

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Bear Flag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While this story is disputed by some, others claim that the Bear pride flag was created by Craig Byrnes.\u00a0 Byrnes’ undergraduate degree in psychology involved designing a senior project about the bear culture that had exploded since the early 1980s, of which he had first-hand experience.\u00a0 Mr. Byrnes thought it might be fitting to design a flag that would best represent the bear community and include it with the results of his research.\u00a0 He created four variations with a sewing machine and he won approval to display the four 3\u2019\u00d75\u2019 prototype flags at the Chesapeake Bay Bears “Bears of Summer” events in July 1995.\u00a0 The winning design was a version created by Paul Witzkoske and that version remains the commonly recognized International Bear Brotherhood Flag to this day.\u00a0 If you were wondering, the design is trademarked!<\/p>\n

In our next installment we will look at a variation of a more famous “bear flag” that happens to celebrate not bears, but galactic facsist overlords and terrorists.\u00a0 Stay tuned as we revisit, you guessed it, the universe of all things Star Wars.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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