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Monday, December 3, 2012

Vintage 60's Beefcake Mags


Tomorrow’s Man, Man Alive, Body Beautiful and Grecian Guild Pictorial were just a few of the small sized "Beefcake" magazines that were publish from the 1950s through the 1960s. These mid-century physique or bodybuilding magazines( aka beefcake mags) were produced for gay men at a time when gay porn was illegal and very hard to come by. These magazines were easily found at urban magazine shops and news-stands across the country. Since the mostly nude models were at least wearing posing straps that covered their genitals, the sexy beefcake magazines weren't considered obscene by the standards of the time.  During the late 1960s, when fully nude male bodies became legal to publish, Beefcake declined and by the late 70's hardcore gay porn was more easily available. 

There is something incredibly charming and almost naive about these photographs. In our era where graphic gay porn is only a mouse click away, take a moment to imagine how stressful it must have been for a gay man, forced to be closeted by the societal constraints and
laws of his time, to buy one of these obviously gay magazines! Be grateful that these brave gay men forged the way for us.












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Jeff

2 comments:

  1. I remember when I was 16 in 1959 and first saw copies of Tomorrows Man at the newsstand. As a skinny teen, I used them for inspiration in my weight-gaining program. Those were the days of innocence, now gone, alas. They only cost 35 cents, and today are collector's items! I still have about a dozen from the old days, and when I feel nostalgic I take them out of the storage box and look at them, remembering the days of my youth.

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