THE SSO A-Z GUIDE TO QUEER SYDNEY

X IS FOR

XXL If you go down to the woods tonight – or at least to Manacle or the Flinders – you’re sure of an extra extra large surprise. Big men have always had a place on the gay scene, a place free from twinks and body hair fascists, where the only six pack is at home in the fridge.

The first organised chubby social group in the United States, called Girth and Mirth, was formed back in 1976 in San Francisco. It’s now a worldwide phenomenon and chubs, and their close brothers the bears, have spawned a whole industry. Club XXL, for instance, has branches in London, Birmingham and New York. Surely Sydney, with its wealth of men not exactly fitting the stereotypical Australian surfer look, can’t be far behind?

Website biggercity.com has over 100,000 members but almost one third of its community, the largest portion, are not chubs at all, but chubby chasers – men of smaller stature who love the wider man. Perhaps the best thing about chubby boys is that they are an accepted, visual and enthusiastic part of the gay community. And that’s more than can be said for their straight equivalents who are an amusement at best and derided at worst. So, long live the XXL gay man.

X-Rated What is it about that large X marking on a DVD, magazine or – God forbid – video cassette that excites some and disgusts others? And where did the whole concept of pornography originate? Some argue the Kama Sutra, written in the first century BC, was man’s first attempt at articulating his sexual desires. Others blame Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, who has caused a surge in breast enlargements since his magazine hit the racks in 1953.

It was the gay community that turned pornography into an art form. Notable early gay porn films include Le Salon’s Cycle Studs and Wakefield Poole’s Boys In The Sand. But it was the invention of the video player/ recorder in 1975 that fostered what was to become a multi-million dollar industry celebrating names like John Holmes, Jeff Stryker and Ryan Idol and causing schoolboys to blush at the mere mention of Debbie’s trip to Dallas.

Today some argue that porn has become stale – that the art form is more about tight abs, big cocks and even bigger breasts. But for many it will always be like the Kama Sutra on film, teaching us new ways to play and, more importantly, ways to play safely.