Review
Almost all pics, but note the quote from John F. Kennedy, "America's Hope Is in Physical Fitness," and an editorial using this quote as a springboard for what might be interpreted as a defense against the censorship of male physique/bodybuilding magazines. Physical fitness is not new, the editorial claims. In fact, one institution has kept it going: America's bodybuilding physique magazines.
Yet by this point, the homoerotic vintage physique magazines like Grecian Guild Pictorial and Physique Pictorial had branched off (and not amicably) from ones like Bob Hoffman's Strength & Health. The "Grecians" had become the queers. And their mags with extremely risque photos of nearly nude men not necessarily pumping iron were considered obscene materials and thus the postal inspectors often seized them.
Perhaps to be safe, the back cover page does not contain anything suggestive, just a picture of a sculpted head of Apollo from the archaic period of ancient Greece. his issue, in addition to the pics, contains two brief fitness articles entitled "Yes! We Do Need Exercise!" and "Wasting Away!" Not much detail in the text; the latter article seems dwarfed by the picture of the bulging muscle hunk on the opposite page, his genitalia "whited out" by the photographer. Some of the more risque photos in this magazine include a bare-chested hunk with really bulky legs, wearing cowboy boots, pulling on a rope (note the expression of strain, which could also be possibly interpreted as a prelude to some other activity: who is on the other end of that rope?)
On pages 5-6, a dark and handsome hunk looks at himself in the mirror. If one looks closely, there's no trace of the posing strap (which looks painted on the picture) in his reflection. Of course the genitalia are concealed simply by the way he is reclining, but the voyeur looking at voyeur can perhaps create a "double" fantasy. On another page, an all-American jock type with very styled hair shows off his bare ass blatantly while stretching a rope between his hands.
Other risque photos include a bare-chested hunk holding a whip (!) and a stud drying himself off, exposing some really cute ass cheeks. In line with the aesthetic mission of many of these publications, coding the homoerotic male body not only voyeuristically but functionally, this issue contains a feature called "Artist's Pad," showcasing the pics (some of which look like superheros or characters from Greek mythology) as "reference material for sketching."
On another page, there's a lesson in figure drawing, perhaps an excuse to begin with a nude picture (no genitalia) and then add clothes, which, in this case, would become fetishistic "gay macho" clothes in the 1970s: tight jeans, construction boots, gloves, and tight T-shirts. Yes, how aesthetically fulfilling!
Contributors
James Kissel, and others uncredited
Key Words
Bodybuilders | Boots | Muscles | Rugged Guys | Rope | Thongs | Tight Jeans | Vintage Physique Magazine
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