In the
late
'60s and early '70s, when modern gay radicalism was born, long hair
spoke of
nonconformism, sensuality, and a challenge to rigid gender norms. "I
remember," says one middle-aged man, now nearly bald, "how sexy and
free I
felt with all my long hair swirling around."
Time passes; fashions change. Among young gays, rebellious hippie
hairdos
gave way to butch short cuts. But some guys still love long locks,
because,
among other things, hair makes their cocks hard. Says forty-ish Paul,
"I find
it difficult to explain why I find long hair a turn-on. Like guys who
are
turned on by leather or No. 1 crops, it just is. It could be called a
fetish,
but it seems broader than that."
After all, longer hair can be a sensual delight. Says one tough-looking
top
with a liking for long locks, "I love to see a naked guy lying in bed
with
his hair like a halo on the pillow. And hey, when a long-haired man
gives me
head, I have something to grab onto - I use his hair like a leash to
guide
his mouth."
But though we're a community that's supposed to celebrate diversity, it
seems
many queer guys wear the badge of the Fashion Police. Says Paul, "I
sometimes
run into men who have a negative attitude toward me and others with
long
locks. They make comments like, 'You should get it clippered; the '60s
are
over.' And all the advertisements in gay publications feature men with
very
short hair. Don't the people doing the ads realize that not all of us
have
the same taste in men?"
Perhaps part of the problem is that over the years, long hair has often
been
associated with guys that don't seem very queer: heavy-metal bands,
professional footballers, Peter Stringfellow, Status Quo.
But
maybe some of it has to do with the changing self-definition of many
gays:
less rebellious now, less gender-bending. And long hair on men is a
marker of
a generation that's gotten middle-aged and thus - supposedly - less
sexy.
"I know this is not a major issue, more of a minor annoyance, " Paul
continues, "but I've even had friends tell me that they prefer longer
hair
but have cut theirs to 'fit in.'" So one day, after watching a TV
documentary
on the early days of gay parades, noticing how diverse the crowds
looked,
Paul decided to take hair-roots... er... grass-roots action. He founded
a
group called "Queers Who Shun Shears." A dozen longhaired men got
involved,
planning to march in pride parades and start a Web site.
One thing's for certain, though. Trends may come and go, but fetishism
marches on. At least one gay fetish Web site has pages of pictures of
naked
longhairs, right next to pics of foot fanciers and bound-up bottoms.
And, as
the tough top points out, hair can be a fetishistic sex toy: "There's
so much
more you can do with long hair than with a skinhead crop. I like to have my
feet
massaged with hair or to wrap it around my hard-on. Feels great."
Remember, many fashions get recycled; yesterday's castoffs are
tomorrow's hot
styles. So don't throw away that old hairbrush; like chinos and
platform
shoes, long, silken, below-the-shoulders hair and bushy Afros may make
their
reappearance sooner than you think. And in the meantime, Paul and his
pals
are getting stiff when they see long, beautiful hair.
Simon Sheppard
Now here's your chance to meet the man behind this column. OutUK has an interview with Simon Sheppard or you can take a look at some of his books that are currently available:
Looking for something very sexy and just as smart? Man on Man collects the best and hottest gay sex writing by Simon, who is also
co-editor of Rough Stuff: Tales of Gay Men, Sex, and
Power as well as a collection of gay erotica called
Hotter Than Hell.
In KINKORAMA : Dispatches from the Front Lines of Perversion he takes readers behind the unmarked doors and black vinyl curtains that lead to the sometimes shocking, often hilarious, relentlessly arousing scenarios of extreme sex. There
are also stories of bears in Tales from the Bear Cult: Beat Bear Stories from the Best Magazines.
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