Leather!

The leather subculture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around sexual activities.  Wearing leather garments is one way that participants in this culture self-consciously distinguish themselves from mainstream sexual cultures.  Leather culture is most visible in gay communities and most often associated with gay men ("leathermen"), but it is also reflected in various ways in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and straight worlds.  Many people associate leather culture with BDSM (Bondage/Discipline, Dominance/Submission, Sado/Masochism, also called "SM" or "S&M") practices and its many subcultures.  But for others, wearing black leather clothing is an erotic fashion that expresses heightened masculinity or the appropriation of sexual power; love of motorcycles and independence; and/or engagement in sexual kink or leather fetishism.

Gay male leather culture has existed since the late 1940s, when it likely grew out of post-WWII biker culture.  Early gay leather bars were subcultural versions of the motorcycle club with pioneering gay motorcycle clubs including the Satyrs, established in Los Angeles in 1954; Oedipus, also established in Los Angeles in 1958, and the New York Motorbike Club.  Early San Francisco clubs included the Warlocks and the California Motor Club.  Leather clubs for gay men started in Amsterdam and Berlin in the 1950s.

These gay clubs, like the clubs of straight motorcycle culture in general, reflected a disaffection with the mainstream culture of post-World War II America, a disaffection whose notoriety — and therefore appeal — expanded after the sensationalized news coverage of the Hollister "riot" of 1947.  The 1953 film The Wild One starring Marlon Brando wearing jeans, a T-shirt, a leather jacket, and Muir cap, played on pop-cultural fascination with the Hollister "riot" and promoted an image of masculine independence that resonated with some gay men who were dissatisfied with a culture that stereotyped gay men as effeminate.  To that end, gay motorcycle culture also reflected some men's disaffection with the coexistent gay cultures more organized around high culture, popular culture (especially musical theater), and/or camp style.  Perhaps as a result, the leather community that emerged from the motorcycle clubs also became the practical and symbolic location for gay men's open exploration of kink and S&M.

Throughout the history of the leather subculture, a variety of traditions have been observed, often diligently.  While most or all are based on military protocols and ritual, these traditions varied widely between regions, causing much debate today over which traditions are the "original" or "true" traditions, or whether the "romanticized versions of leather history" ever existed at all.

As time has progressed and BDSM has become more mainstream, the traditions of leather has adapted. The first major evolution has become known as "New Leather" or "New Guard".  However, even this is the subject of some disagreement, as many noted authors and historians assert that there is little or no substantive differences.

Today, the leather subculture is one of many facets to semi-organized alternative sexuality.  Many individuals describe long periods of introspection leading to their choice to identify as "leather".  Others do not necessarily associate their leather lifestyle with BDSM, and simply enjoy the sensory experience of leather.

The more specifically homoerotic aesthetics of men's leather culture drew on other sources as well, including military and police uniforms.  This influence is particularly evident in the graphical illustrations of leathermen found in the work of Tom of Finland.  The pornographic films of one of his models Peter Berlin from Berlin, such as his 1973 film Nights in Black Leather, also reflected and promoted the leather subcultural aesthetic.  In the 1970s Berlin had a huge leather scene with several leather clubs in the gay area around Nollendorfplatz.  In 1975 Europe's biggest gay fetish event started, Easter in Berlin Leather Festival.

Aspects of leather culture beyond the sartorial can also be seen in the 1970 murder mystery novel Cruising by Jay Green. The novel was the basis for the 1980 movie of the same name starring Al Pacino, which depicted aspects of the men's leather subculture for a wider audience.

Rob Halford, the lead singer of heavy metal band Judas Priest, openly identifies as gay and wears black leather.  And lastly, perhaps no figure has more vividly represented the leather subculture in the popular imagination than the leatherman portrayed by Glenn Hughes of the Village People.

Numerous major cities host Leather Pride events, including San Francisco's Folsom Street Fair, Berlin's Easter in Berlin Leather Festival (Europe's biggest gay fetish event) from 1975 and Folsom Europe, New York City's Folsom Street East, Chicago's International Mr. Leather (the title is currently held by Andy Cross of San Francisco, pictured below) and Amsterdam's Leather Pride.  The 10,000-square-foot, two-story Leather Archives and Museum, based in Chicago, has much information and details on the beginning of the leather subculture.

In addition to activities in Chicago, the LA&M serves the leather world by preserving material from various leather communities, and sends traveling exhibits around the country.  In 2005, Viola Johnson started traveling with The Carter-Johnson Leather Library (http://www.leatherlibrary.org) and telling self-promoting stories from her 35 years of personal involvement in the leather subculture.

Now … if only I could get Tom into leather ….