18/12/2024
Alexander Cheves writing for the gay magaznine Out.com reports on the one hundredth anniversary of the jock strap and its particular and enduring appeal amongst gay men. In a wide ranging historical article, which we suggest you delve into with your morning coffee, Cheves notes "Its journey from practical sports gear to a symbol of queer hedonism is hardly clear. We know some facts: Jockstraps, or jocks, go back to the cobblestone streets of 19th-century Boston. The first was designed in 1874 by C.F. Bennett for the Chicago sporting goods company Sharp & Smith. Early bicycles, called penny-farthings, had a big front wheel and tiny back wheel, and people who rode them were called “bicycle jockeys,” a term borrowed from horse racing. In Boston, male bicycle jockeys were, um, uncomfortable on the city’s rough, bumpy streets (I know the feeling). They needed support and protection for their junk. Thus, the first jockstrap was called a “bike jockey strap,” with a supportive front panel and two elastic straps wrapped around the legs. The jockstrap’s cultural significance took an unexpected turn in the mid-20th century. In the 1950s and 1960s, it became embraced by the gay community as a symbol of hypermasculinity. A new, masculine gay ethos was emerging that embraced (and parodied) the rugged aesthetics of stereotypically straight, blue-collar male types: construction workers, cowboys, bikers, and the like. Tom of Finland comics and muscle magazines like Physique Pictorial ensured that every newly empowered disco queen had a jockstrap for slutty nights out. On the cover of Rolling Stone in February, out actor Kristen Stewart, sporting a Bike jock, proved they are no longer just for men: They are a teasing, implicitly queer-coded way for anyone to look hot and butch (Stewart was not the first cover girl to wear a jockstrap: Kim Kardashian wore one in 2022 for Interview magazine). But please, comrades, let’s keep this. Keep the jockstrap gay. Every week, more things seem broken in the world. Jockstraps are maybe a small thing to love, insignificant in the scheme of things, but I still remember being a baby gay, newly out, and wearing my first jock in a bar. That power in being fresh meat, open for play, is the same thing I want every new gay to feel, and I take comfort that, no matter what happens, some fella out there is feeling #himbo, feeling hot, " Read the full article by Alexander Cheves at Out.com https://www.out.com/out-exclusives/jockstap-150-year-birthday-anniversary
