Attraction to, and sexual activity with other men was thought of as something you did, not something you were. The term “homosexuality” was in fact not coined until 1869, and before that time, the strict dichotomy between “gay” and “straight” did not yet exist. But it is crucial to understand that you cannot view these photographs through the prism of our modern culture and current conception of homosexuality. The poses, facial expressions, and body language of the men below will strike the modern viewer as very gay indeed.
I shared a handful of these images in our very early post on the history of male friendship, but today I wanted to share almost 100 more in order to provide a more in-depth look into an important and highly interesting aspect of masculine history: the decline of male intimacy over the last century.Īs you make your way through the photos below, many of you will undoubtedly feel a keen sense of surprise - some of you may even recoil a bit as you think, “Holy smokes! That’s so gay!” One of the things that I have found most fascinating about many of these images, is the ease, familiarity, and intimacy, which men used to exhibit in photographs with their friends and compadres.
In my unending search for just the right vintage images for our articles, I have looked through thousands of photographs of men from the last century or so.
