A series of photographs of gay bears by
Alan Charlesworth featured in the New York Times' Lens blog
has been criticized for suggesting that the group accepts all gay
men.
The piece includes a slideshow of 18
photographs and an accompanying profile of the artist, who is
described as confused about his place within gay culture. That is,
until he found gay bears – big, burly men who are attracted to
other men.
“It's not perfect body, gym-toned,
and no facial hair,” Charlesworth said. “That's what society
deems as being a normal, stereotypical gay male. That's not what I
identify with.”
The Times
wrote: “The more he photographed, the more he came to see that
being a bear had little to do with adhering to one body type. He
said he now sees the culture as a way for gay men to be accepted as
part of a group, no matter what its members look like.”
And Gawker's
Rich Juzwiak responded, “That's ridiculous.”
“Even within the range that
Charlesworth describes, he is still capturing guys who all tend to be
bigger and more hirsute than others. The idea that this somehow
represents an all-embracing pool of men is just untrue. … If gay
bear culture were really so accepting, it wouldn't need to exist as
such – it would just be an amorphous free-for-all.”